Cryptex | E-Mail Address Protection
by Andi Dittrich · Email & Marketing
Also makes 2 other plugins · 10.8K+ installs across the portfolio →
Cryptex transforms plain-text E-Mail-Addresses into Images - automatically - No scrapers. No harvesters. No spambots. That's our goal!
Try it live opens a temporary test site in your browser, which can take about 20 seconds to load. Plugins that rely on outside services or a full server may not work completely there.
Health
B 77/100
Few reviews
Active installs
800+
≈900 estimated
Momentum
+13%
downloads vs prior 30d
Biggest opportunity: Swap “email”, “privacy” and “robots” for “mail address”, “spambots” and “e mails”. “email” isn't earning its slot: you're not in the first 24 results for its own search. “mail address” sits at #10 untagged, close enough for a declared tag to move it up. “privacy” isn't earning its slot: you're not in the first 24 results for its own search. “spambots” sits at #10 untagged, close enough for a declared tag to move it up. “robots” isn't earning its slot: you're not in the first 24 results for its own search. “e mails” sits at #12 untagged, close enough for a declared tag to move it up. All five slots are taken, so one has to go.
77 health vs 66 average across 2,122 Email & Marketing plugins
Install conversion
How it's measured →3.6%
of downloads still active
At least 800 of 21.9K lifetime downloads are still running, above its category: the median Email & Marketing plugin keeps 0.9%, across 1,296 plugins.
Downloads count every update, not just first installs, so older and more frequently released plugins read lower. Compare against other Email & Marketing plugins, not across the directory. wp.org reports active installs as the bottom of a band, so the real rate is this or higher.
This plugin shipped 1 release in the last 12 months, and every existing install that updated counted as another download. wp.org publishes no split between first installs and updates, so we show the raw rate rather than guess at one.
Details
Directory ranking optimization
How it's scored →How well this listing is tuned to rank in WordPress.org search, on the factors an owner controls. Not popularity, optimization.
Excellent listing optimization
Most to gain: Rating quality
Updated 203 days ago, past the ~180 days where wp.org starts discounting
Tested up to WordPress 6.9.11, the current branch or newer
4.0★ over 4 reviews, smoothed to 4.09★ and held back under 25 reviews
5 of 5 tags set · short description in place
To rank higher: Too few reviews to rank on quality — nudge happy users to leave one.
Get the full rank-higher report →Search visibility
How it's tracked →Directory searches this plugin turns up in, and which way each one is moving. WordPress.org publishes no history of search positions, so this starts the day we first tracked a keyword and never backfills.
38
Momentum
Losing ground
-0.2
Velocity
places per keyword, 28d
16%
Breadth
of keywords climbing, 28d
+0.0
Acceleration
recent half vs earlier
wp.org is where the directory puts the plugin for that search. On merit is where it would sit if results were ranked on rating, support and updates, without the install boost. The last column is how far the wp.org position moved, from our first reading in the last 90 days to the latest.
| Keyword | wp.org | On merit | wp.org move, 90 days |
|---|---|---|---|
| grabbing your tag | #9 | #18 | down 2 |
| mail address | #10 | #18 | 0 |
| spambots | #10 | #15 | up 1 |
| e mail your tag | #17 | #22 | down 8 |
| e mails | #12 | #21 | up 1 |
| scrapers | #18 | #19 | 0 |
| mailto | #15 | #19 | 0 |
| email obfuscation | #16 | #18 | 0 |
| e privacy | #10 | #21 | up 1 |
| email your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| privacy your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| robots your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
51 searches this plugin appeared in over the last 90 days, 9 listed. 42 left out as unrelated or noise (years, numbers, stray words). 3 of its tags aren't in the top 24 for their own search.
What to do about it
- Swap “email”, “privacy” and “robots” for “mail address”, “spambots” and “e mails”. “email” isn't earning its slot: you're not in the first 24 results for its own search. “mail address” sits at #10 untagged, close enough for a declared tag to move it up. “privacy” isn't earning its slot: you're not in the first 24 results for its own search. “spambots” sits at #10 untagged, close enough for a declared tag to move it up. “robots” isn't earning its slot: you're not in the first 24 results for its own search. “e mails” sits at #12 untagged, close enough for a declared tag to move it up. All five slots are taken, so one has to go.
- Slipping on “e mail”. Down 8 places since 2026-09-18, now #17. Check what shipped around then, and what moved above you.
Daily downloads
Since 5 Oct 2022 · 1,488 days · wp.org + Plugin Pulse archive
30-day downloads
Rolling 30-day volume · peak 672 · peaks are release surges
Directory rank vs rivals
wp.org popularity rank over time · higher is better · when a rival's line climbs above yours, they've overtaken you
Rating trend
Star average over time · dips mark rough releases
Health trend
Composite health score, snapshotted daily
Update activity
How busy the existing users are, measured as downloads in the last 30 days for every 1,000 active sites. A spike means a new release everyone's pulling; a long, slow decline means an aging user base that updates less.
Release cadence
Occasionally updatedHow often this plugin actually ships. A steady rhythm is the maintenance signal a single "last updated" date can't show.
1
releases in the last 12 months
7mo ago
latest release · v7.2.0 · 12 Apr 2026
3
tagged releases on record
Recent releases
What its installed base runs
via wordpress.orgShare of active installs on each version of this plugin · 52% run the current release. Green is the current release; a big slice on older versions is a user base that has stopped updating.
Estimated active installs
The public count shows “800+”. Our estimate pins where the real number sits.
Crossed into this band 4 days ago and a band this size takes about a year or more to cross, so the real count is still just under 900.
Install history since 23 Apr 2015
Recent reviews
All reviews on wp.org ↗- ★★★★★ dazono8.2y ago
This is a fairly good and not too complicated plug-in which does a good job at scrambling e-mail addresses automatically on WP sites. Load the fonts you use and it can be fine-tuned to blend very well into the website. It may require a bit of work to fine-tune it to perfection, but it is well worth the efforts. This is not the plug-in for those who just wants something which works without any efforts. But the scrambling it does is well worth the effort.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ floriande8.4y ago
It causes exceptions, the formatting of the image looks very bad and it cannot be used on a professional website. Forget this plugin! This topic was modified 8 years, 1 month ago by floriande.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ Lewis Rosenthal12.6y ago
Elegant solution to an ongoing problem (harvesters). On static sites, I’ve had to cobble together my own javascript to combat the problem. This is much nicer. Thanks, Andi. Great work.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ sitars12.8y ago
Thank you for this!
Read on wp.org ↗
Behavioral tests
via WP HiveAutomated install-time checks, tested on PHP 8.1.12 · WP 7.0.1
Languages
via translate.wordpress.orgTranslated into 1 language, 0 at 90% or more
AI assistants
How it's measured →Whether ChatGPT and Claude name this plugin when asked the category question, and whether the readme gives them something to quote.
Not measured yet for this plugin’s topics. Its tracked searches are not among the measured topics. See the topics measured so far.
Readme readiness
5 of 8 pass · checked 27 Oct 2026Can an assistant quote this readme? Eight deterministic checks over the wp.org listing, no model involved.
- ! Says what it does Short description names no action; say what the plugin does for the site.
- ✓ Has a FAQ 6 questions in the FAQ.
- ✓ FAQ asks real questions 5 of 6 read like questions a user would type.
- ✓ Names who it is for Names its audience or use cases ("if you want", "suitable for").
- ! Names what it works with Names no plugin, service or platform it works with.
- ✓ Headings and lists 3 headings and 2 lists.
- ✓ Enough to quote 2,740 characters of description.
- ! Tags match the text Only 2 of 5 tags appear in the text ("grabbing", "privacy", "robots" missing).
Growth timeline
Install-tier crossings we have observed, and how long each tier took to outgrow
- 2026-10-28 900+ → 800+ down after 1 days in tier
- 2026-10-27 800+ → 900+ up after 4 days in tier
- 2026-10-23 900+ → 800+ down after 1 days in tier
- 2026-10-22 800+ → 900+ up after 1 days in tier
- 2026-10-21 900+ → 800+ down after 1 days in tier
- 2026-10-20 800+ → 900+ up after 25 days in tier
- 2026-09-25 900+ → 800+ down after 2 days in tier
- 2026-09-23 800+ → 900+ up after 1 days in tier
Competes with
The plugins that solve the same job, ranked by shared tags then reach, closest match first. The letter on the right is each plugin's health grade (A best, F worst).
-
Postie 10K+ installs · 4.6★ · 2 shared tags A -
WP-EMail 1K+ installs · 4.2★ · 2 shared tags A -
WP Mail SMTP by WPForms – SMTP for Reliable Email Delivery with Gmail, Outlook, Amazon SES, Brevo, Other SMTP & More 4M+ installs · 4.8★ · 1 shared tag A -
MC4WP: Mailchimp for WordPress 1M+ installs · 4.8★ · 1 shared tag A -
Cookie Compliance for WordPress – Cookie Consent, GDPR & CCPA 800K+ installs · 4.8★ · 1 shared tag B -
Easy WP SMTP – WordPress SMTP and Email Logs: Gmail SMTP, Office 365, Outlook, Custom SMTP, and more 500K+ installs · 4.6★ · 1 shared tag A
Embed this report card
Drop a live Pulse card for Cryptex | E-Mail Address Protection into a readme, a review or a deck. It updates itself.
<iframe src="https://plugins.wpmayor.com/embed/cryptex" width="480" height="300" style="border:0" loading="lazy" title="Cryptex | E-Mail Address Protection — Plugin Pulse"></iframe> Cryptex | E-Mail Address Protection: 800+ active installs, 4.0★ (4 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-11-01. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/cryptex
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