Custom Referral Spam Blocker

How well this listing is tuned to rank in WordPress.org search, on the factors an owner controls. Not popularity, optimization.

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

How often this plugin actually ships. A steady rhythm is the maintenance signal a single "last updated" date can't show.

Share of active installs on each version of this plugin · 100% run the current release. Green is the current release; a big slice on older versions is a user base that has stopped updating.

Refined from the date this plugin crossed into its current band.

No paid tier is visible, so we don't put a figure on revenue or sale value: that would be guessing. The install base is a real asset to an acquirer, just not one public data lets us price. A small install base leaves thin data to model from. The recent download trend is too spiky to read.

1. ★★★★★ baxter94

   8.6y ago

   This plugin turn my website to 502, don’t use it :X. This topic was modified 8 years, 6 months ago by baxter94. This topic was modified 8 years, 6 months ago by baxter94. This topic was modified 8 years, 6 months ago by baxter94.

   Read on wp.org ↗
2. ★★★★★ marti garaughty

   10.1y ago

   Great concept but unfortunately it’s not blocking all spam referral sites.

   Read on wp.org ↗
3. ★★★★★ Coalay

   10.3y ago

   Wished it worked, but it doesn’t. All of the referrer spam I get has long text strings after the domain name — which seems to circumvent the blocker. So far, it has NOT blocked: timebie.com mlizcochico.com gamezebo.com keywords-monitoring-your-success.com notify.bluecoat.com adishofdailylife.com wotbox.biz ana-white.com free-video-tool.com techvibes.com myhomeideas.com laurenconrad.com sociableblog.com grammarist.com netsidebar.com gingerhotels.com fhm.com bluecoat.com dobbersports.com mp3boo.cc Update: In response to the author’s comment(s) below, I have changed my rating to a “5” — BUT the plugin still does not work for me and I’m still getting referrer spam from the domains listed above. This is not “ghost spam”. We’re using Rackspace + Cloudflare + WPRocket. I realize that some plugins don’t anticipate users with premium assets and are more geared toward budget hosts and basic configurations, but all of the plugins that I use that are dependent on Cloudflare or caching have options in the plugin settings so that they all work together — regardless of whether or not the user has a cache or a CDN. So, I’ll check back again in a couple of months and try the plugin again.

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4. ★★★★★ milprod

   10.3y ago

   Easy and effective.

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5. ★★★★★ Michaelmcguinness

   10.6y ago

   This plugin redirected the spam bots away, never to come back. But there is one small in the fact that it also redirects t.co which is not spam but a twitter referral. If this problem was fixed it would perfect.

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6. ★★★★★ csmicfool

   10.7y ago

   Spammers are immediately redirected away and do not foul analytics. List updates are pushed out very frequently.

   Read on wp.org ↗
7. ★★★★★ Anonymous

   10.7y ago

   Does one thing and does it right – this plugin BLOCKS REFERRAL SPAM! I couldn’t be happier with the regular updates to grow the database which, I believe is the largest in the known universe… Thanks for making a quality plugin.

   Read on wp.org ↗
8. ★★★★★ lajuana27

   10.7y ago
   Read on wp.org ↗

Automated install-time checks, tested on PHP 7.2.16 · WP 5.3

Translated into 1 language, 1 at 90% or more

Growth timeline

Install-tier crossings we have observed, and how long each tier took to outgrow

1. 2025-04-06 400+ → 300+ down after 1 days in tier
2. 2025-04-05 300+ → 400+ up after 2 days in tier
3. 2025-04-03 400+ → 300+ down after 1 days in tier
4. 2025-04-02 300+ → 400+ up after 1 days in tier
5. 2025-04-01 400+ → 300+ down after 179 days in tier
6. 2024-10-04 500+ → 400+ down after 357 days in tier
7. 2023-10-13 600+ → 500+ down after 1 days in tier
8. 2023-10-12 500+ → 600+ up after 4 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).

• Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ installs · 4.8★ · 1 shared tag A
• LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ installs · 4.8★ · 1 shared tag A
• Akismet Anti-spam: Spam Protection 5M+ installs · 4.7★ · 1 shared tag A
• Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ installs · 4.8★ · 1 shared tag A
• All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ installs · 4.7★ · 1 shared tag A
• XML Sitemap Generator for Google 1M+ installs · 4.8★ · 1 shared tag A

Embed this report card

Drop a live Pulse card for Custom Referral Spam Blocker into a readme, a review or a deck. It updates itself.

Custom Referral Spam Blocker: 300+ active installs, 4.0★ (10 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-08-30. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/custom-referral-spam-blocker