Footnotes for WordPress
by C. Johnson · Uncategorized
Also makes 2 other plugins · 8.1K+ installs across the portfolio →
Footnotes for WordPress enables easy-to-use fancy footnotes for WordPress posts.
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
D 47/100
Stale · Likely abandoned · Few reviews · Open vulnerability
Active installs
100+
≈150 estimated
Momentum
+36%
downloads vs prior 30d
Biggest opportunity: Add “mediawiki” to your wp.org tags. You rank #9 for it without listing it, close enough for a declared tag to move you up. WordPress.org counts only your first five tags, so with 2 listed it's a slot worth spending.
47 health vs 58 average across 25,737 Uncategorized plugins
Install conversion
How it's measured →0.9%
of downloads still active
At least 100 of 10.9K lifetime downloads are still running, above its category: the median Uncategorized plugin keeps 0.6%, across 17,769 plugins.
Downloads count every update, not just first installs, so older and more frequently released plugins read lower. Compare against other Uncategorized plugins, not across the directory. wp.org reports active installs as the bottom of a band, so the real rate is this or higher.
High removal-risk signals
63/100Maintenance and integrity signals that tend to precede a WordPress.org removal. Not an official status, a heads-up to act.
- Long abandoned. No update in 9+ years — the top precursor to removal once a vulnerability is found.
- Compatibility drift. Tested only up to WordPress 4.7.39, well behind 6.8.
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.
Under-optimized
Most to gain: Update recency
Updated 3592 days ago, past the ~180 days where wp.org starts discounting
Tested up to WordPress 4.7.39; the current branch is 6.8
4.0★ over 1 review, smoothed to 4.10★ and held back under 25 reviews
2 of 5 tags set · short description in place
To rank higher: Last updated 3592 days ago — ship an update; wp.org decays a listing's search weight after ~180 days.
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.
Not enough tracked days yet to call a direction. Momentum needs at least three keywords measured a week or more apart.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| mediawiki | #9 | #12 | down 1 |
| endnotes | #19 | #21 | 0 |
| footnotes your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| formatting your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
3 searches this plugin appeared in over the last 90 days, 2 listed. 1 left out as unrelated or noise (years, numbers, stray words). 2 of its tags aren't in the top 24 for their own search.
What to do about it
- Add “mediawiki” to your wp.org tags. You rank #9 for it without listing it, close enough for a declared tag to move you up. WordPress.org counts only your first five tags, so with 2 listed it's a slot worth spending.
Daily downloads
Since 5 Oct 2022 · 1,487 days · wp.org + Plugin Pulse archive
30-day downloads
Rolling 30-day volume · peak 101 · peaks are release surges
Directory rank
Ranked about #13,300 to #16,400, alongside the other plugins at 100+ installs. Plugins with the same install count swap places between wp.org requests, so this is where most of them sit. Checked monthly, last on 21 Oct 2026.
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
No release in a yearHow often this plugin actually ships. A steady rhythm is the maintenance signal a single "last updated" date can't show.
0
releases in the last 12 months
9.8y ago
latest release · v2016.1230 · 30 Dec 2016
7
tagged releases on record
Recent releases
What its installed base runs
via wordpress.orgShare 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.
Estimated active installs
The public count shows “100+”. Our estimate pins where the real number sits.
Crossed into this band 2.6 years ago; a band this size takes about a year or more to cross, which places it about 50% of the way through.
Install history since 23 Sep 2019
Recent reviews
All reviews on wp.org ↗- ★★★★★ sakshale10.1y ago
Been using this for about a month now and am very content. I would recommend it. It would have easily received five starts, except; The CSS explanation on how to change the reference list appearance is just ambiguous enough to be confusing. The author seems to be invisible. Not responding in the forums and the “official” plugin site is offline
Read on wp.org ↗
Security history
via Wordfence Intelligence1 open vulnerability affects the current version (2016.1230). 0 of 1 disclosed are patched.
- Open Medium · 6.4 Footnotes for WordPress <= 2016.1230 - Authenticated (Contributor+) Stored Cross-Site Scripting ↗2025-04-01 CVE-2025-31735 Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation Affects <= 2016.1230 No patch available
Vulnerability records provided by Wordfence Intelligence. Copyright 2012-2026 Defiant Inc. License and terms.
CVE records: Copyright 1999-2026 The MITRE Corporation. CVE terms of use.
Behavioral tests
via WP HiveAutomated install-time checks, tested on PHP 7.2.16 · WP 5.3
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 25 Oct 2026Can an assistant quote this readme? Eight deterministic checks over the wp.org listing, no model involved.
- ✓ Says what it does "Footnotes for WordPress enables easy-to-use fancy footnotes for WordPress posts."
- ! Has a FAQ No FAQ section.
- ! FAQ asks real questions No FAQ to judge.
- ✓ Names who it is for Names its audience or use cases ("if you want", "use this").
- ! Names what it works with Names no plugin, service or platform it works with.
- ✓ Headings and lists 3 headings and 3 lists.
- ✓ Enough to quote 6,488 characters of description.
- ✓ Tags match the text All 2 tags appear in the text.
Growth timeline
Install-tier crossings we have observed, and how long each tier took to outgrow
- 2024-03-24 200+ → 100+ down after 5 days in tier
- 2024-03-19 100+ → 200+ up after 2 days in tier
- 2024-03-17 200+ → 100+ down after 4 days in tier
- 2024-03-13 100+ → 200+ up after 1 days in tier
- 2024-03-12 200+ → 100+ down after 525 days in tier
- 2022-10-04 300+ → 200+ down after 413 days in tier
- 2021-08-17 400+ → 300+ down
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).
-
Footnotes Made Easy 2K+ installs · 4.4★ · 2 shared tags A -
Footnotes & Content 100+ installs · 4.2★ · 2 shared tags A -
Icon Footnote — installs · 3.6★ · 2 shared tags - A Advanced Excerpt 80K+ installs · 4.3★ · 1 shared tag A
- R Raw HTML 10K+ installs · 4.2★ · 1 shared tag C
-
TinyMCE Clear Float 10K+ installs · 4.3★ · 1 shared tag D
Embed this report card
Drop a live Pulse card for Footnotes for WordPress into a readme, a review or a deck. It updates itself.
<iframe src="https://plugins.wpmayor.com/embed/footnotes-for-wordpress" width="480" height="300" style="border:0" loading="lazy" title="Footnotes for WordPress — Plugin Pulse"></iframe> Footnotes for WordPress: 100+ active installs, 4.0★ (1 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-10-31. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/footnotes-for-wordpress
Spotted a number that looks wrong? Report a data issue and we'll check it against the source.