Desert Companion
by Desert Themes · Admin & Utilities
Desert Companion Enhances Desert Themes with additional functionality.
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 82/100
Few reviews
Active installs
10K+
≈19K estimated
Momentum
+25%
downloads vs prior 30d
Biggest opportunity: One page off on “homepage”. #12 puts you just past the first ten results, where almost all the clicks stop. The gap to close is small.
82 health vs 56 average across 5,895 Admin & Utilities plugins
Install conversion
How it's measured →1.8%
of downloads still active
At least 10K of 564.1K lifetime downloads are still running, above its category: the median Admin & Utilities plugin keeps 0.6%, across 4,188 plugins.
Downloads count every update, not just first installs, so older and more frequently released plugins read lower. Compare against other Admin & Utilities 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 10 releases 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
Recent review vibe
read from the latest 3 reviews to 2024-01-25Reviewers like how fast it is to get a site looking decent, though one earlier reviewer reports critical errors and a support and refund fight that never got resolved.
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 25 days ago
Tested up to WordPress 7.1.4, the current branch or newer
3.7★ over 3 reviews, smoothed to 4.08★ 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.
39
Momentum
Mixed: one swing, the rest drifting
+0.2
Velocity
places per keyword, 28d
17%
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| companion your tag | #9 | #15 | 0 |
| homepage your tag | #12 | #21 | down 2 |
| companion plugin | #9 | #16 | up 1 |
| admin your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| projects your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| widgets your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
6 searches this plugin appeared in over the last 90 days, 3 listed. 3 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
- One page off on “homepage”. #12 puts you just past the first ten results, where almost all the clicks stop. The gap to close is small.
- “admin”, “projects” and “widgets” aren't earning a slot. You list them, but you're not in the first 24 results for those searches. WordPress.org counts only your first five tags, so free the slot for a search you can win.
Daily downloads
Since 5 Oct 2022 · 1,488 days · wp.org + Plugin Pulse archive
30-day downloads
Rolling 30-day volume · peak 32.9K · 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
Actively maintainedHow often this plugin actually ships. A steady rhythm is the maintenance signal a single "last updated" date can't show.
10
releases in the last 12 months
25d ago
latest release · v1.4 · 6 Oct 2026
113
tagged releases on record
Recent releases
What its installed base runs
via wordpress.orgShare of active installs on each version of this plugin. 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 “10K+”. Our estimate pins where the real number sits.
Crossed into this band 57 days ago and the previous band took 23 months to cross, so the real count is still just under 20K.
Install history since 4 Oct 2022
Recent reviews
All reviews on wp.org ↗- ★★★★★ sandansan2.8y ago
This theme had me up and running very quickly. Great for non-tech dummies. Looks good almost immediately
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ faycalguer3.9y ago
im , very happy with desrt-theme , its a great servies for our website ♥thank you DESERTTHEMES ♥
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ stump22303.9y ago
The support is garbage and when you ask for a refund following the crap support they try to refuse. It kept giving critical errors.
Read on wp.org ↗
Latest updates
via wp.org changelogRecent releases and news for this plugin
- — Version 1.0.99 Atromax Theme Files Updated 1.0.99
- — Version 1.0.98 Tested – By WordPress 7.0 1.0.98
- — Version 1.0.97 Ploto Theme Files Updated 1.0.97
- — Version 1.0.96 Corvix Theme Files Updated 1.0.96
- — Version 1.0.95 Coviant Theme Files Updated 1.0.95
- — Version 1.0.94 NewsMemo Theme Files Updated 1.0.94
Behavioral tests
via WP HiveAutomated install-time checks, tested on PHP 8.1.12 · WP 7.0
Languages
via translate.wordpress.orgTranslated into 3 languages, 1 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
3 of 8 pass · checked 26 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 No FAQ section.
- ! FAQ asks real questions No FAQ to judge.
- ! Names who it is for Never says who the plugin is for or what they use it for.
- ✓ Names what it works with Mentions WooCommerce.
- ✓ Headings and lists 2 headings and 2 lists.
- ✓ Enough to quote 1,592 characters of description.
- ! Tags match the text Only 1 of 5 tags appear in the text ("admin", "homepage", "projects", "widgets" missing).
Growth timeline
Install-tier crossings we have observed, and how long each tier took to outgrow
- 2026-09-04 20K+ → 10K+ down after 701 days in tier
- 2024-10-03 10K+ → 20K+ up after 286 days in tier
- 2023-12-22 9K+ → 10K+ up after 21 days in tier
- 2023-12-01 8K+ → 9K+ up after 29 days in tier
- 2023-11-02 7K+ → 8K+ up after 54 days in tier
- 2023-09-09 6K+ → 7K+ up after 30 days in tier
- 2023-08-10 5K+ → 6K+ up after 104 days in tier
- 2023-04-28 4K+ → 5K+ up after 42 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).
- A Arile Extra 10K+ installs · 4.1★ · 5 shared tags B
- A Arile Super 3K+ installs · 3.6★ · 5 shared tags
- S SpiceBox 20K+ installs · 3.9★ · 2 shared tags B
-
Widget Disable 10K+ installs · 4.5★ · 2 shared tags A -
Shapely Companion 10K+ installs · 3.6★ · 2 shared tags B - D Daddy Plus 8K+ installs · 3.6★ · 2 shared tags
Embed this report card
Drop a live Pulse card for Desert Companion into a readme, a review or a deck. It updates itself.
<iframe src="https://plugins.wpmayor.com/embed/desert-companion" width="480" height="300" style="border:0" loading="lazy" title="Desert Companion — Plugin Pulse"></iframe> Desert Companion: 10K+ active installs, 3.7★ (3 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-10-31. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/desert-companion
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