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Force Password Change

by Simon Blackbourn · Login & Users

Also makes 1 other plugin · 410+ installs across the portfolio →

Require users to change their password on first login.

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.

⚠ Stale⚠ Likely abandoned⚠ Few reviews

Health

D 44/100

Stale · Likely abandoned · Few reviews

Active installs

400+

≈470 estimated

Momentum

+13%

downloads vs prior 30d

Biggest opportunity: “password”, “passwords” and “registration” 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.

How scoring works →
44 Health · D
Maintenance 3/100
Rating quality 73/100
Support 70/100

44 health vs 61 average across 2,203 Login & Users plugins

Install conversion

How it's measured →

2.5%

of downloads still active

At least 400 of 15.8K lifetime downloads are still running, above its category: the median Login & Users plugin keeps 0.7%, across 1,476 plugins.

Downloads count every update, not just first installs, so older and more frequently released plugins read lower. Compare against other Login & Users plugins, not across the directory. wp.org reports active installs as the bottom of a band, so the real rate is this or higher.

Removal-risk signals

53/100

Maintenance 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 6+ years — the top precursor to removal once a vulnerability is found.
  • Falling behind WordPress. Tested up to WordPress 5.5.24.

Details

Version
0.6
Last updated
6.2y ago
Added
2012-11-19 · 13 yrs old
Requires WP
3.2
Tested up to
5.5.24
Requires PHP
—

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.

42 / 100

Under-optimized

Most to gain: Update recency

Update recency 2/100

Updated 2273 days ago, past the ~180 days where wp.org starts discounting

WP compatibility 22/100

Tested up to WordPress 5.5.24; the current branch is 6.8

Rating quality 54/100

4.0★ over 4 reviews, smoothed to 4.09★ and held back under 25 reviews

Listing tuning 100/100

5 of 5 tags set · short description in place

To rank higher: Last updated 2273 days ago — ship an update; wp.org decays a listing's search weight after ~180 days.

Get the full rank-higher report →

Daily downloads

Since 5 Oct 2022 · 1,488 days · wp.org + Plugin Pulse archive

+13% vs prior 30d
031 Oct 2026

30-day downloads

Rolling 30-day volume · peak 197 · peaks are release surges

18231 Oct 2026

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

Force Password Chang · #9687youUser Spam Remover · #5892New User Approve · #1350Password Strength Se · #2028

Rating trend

Star average over time · dips mark rough releases

431 Oct 2026

Health trend

Composite health score, snapshotted daily

4431 Oct 2026

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.

45531 Oct 2026

Release cadence

No release in a year
from wp.org release tags

How 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

6.2y ago

latest release · v0.6 · 10 Aug 2020

2

tagged releases on record

Recent releases

0.6 · 10 Aug 20200.3 · 19 Nov 2012

What its installed base runs

via wordpress.org

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.

v0.6 100%

Estimated active installs

The public count shows “400+”. Our estimate pins where the real number sits.

tracked estimate
400–500 ≈470

Crossed into this band 4 months ago; a band this size takes about a year or more to cross, which places it about 66% of the way through.

Install history since 6 Sep 2015

40031 Oct 2026

Recent reviews

All reviews on wp.org ↗
  1. ★★★★★ frebro
    11.5y ago

    Don’t listen to peterdere

    Read on wp.org ↗
  2. ★★★★★ peterdere
    11.8y ago

    I installed the plugin and after the first login, I was invited to enter a new password. As a test, I entered a very weak password, and indeed I got the message that it was too weak and would not be accepted. However, without entering a stronger password, I was still able to navigate away from the page and create and publish new content.

    Read on wp.org ↗
  3. ★★★★★ A. M. M.
    12.0y ago

    Nuff said

    Read on wp.org ↗
  4. ★★★★★ B.
    13.7y ago

    This is a great plugin for the simple task of forcing users to change password on first log in.

    Read on wp.org ↗

Behavioral tests

via WP Hive

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

✓ Low memory footprint
✓ Low page-speed impact
✓ Runs on latest PHP + WP
✓ No PHP errors
✓ No JS errors
✓ Activates cleanly
✓ No resource errors
✓ No external HTTP errors
✓ Optimized database use
✕ Frequently updated

Languages

via translate.wordpress.org

Translated into 1 language, 1 at 90% or more · development strings

Swedish 100%

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

2 of 8 pass · checked 27 Oct 2026

Can 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 Names no plugin, service or platform it works with.
  • ! Headings and lists 1 heading and 1 list; assistants quote headed sections and bullet lists, not paragraphs.
  • ✓ Enough to quote 1,021 characters of description.
  • ✓ Tags match the text 3 of 5 tags appear in the text; "passwords", "registration" do not.

Growth timeline

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

  1. 2026-06-30 500+ → 400+ down after 263 days in tier
  2. 2025-10-10 600+ → 500+ down after 197 days in tier
  3. 2025-03-27 700+ → 600+ down after 107 days in tier
  4. 2024-12-10 800+ → 700+ down after 42 days in tier
  5. 2024-10-29 900+ → 800+ down after 93 days in tier
  6. 2024-07-28 1K+ → 900+ down after 8 days in tier
  7. 2024-07-20 900+ → 1K+ up after 1 days in tier
  8. 2024-07-19 1K+ → 900+ down 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).

Embed this report card

Drop a live Pulse card for Force Password Change into a readme, a review or a deck. It updates itself.

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Preview card ↗

Force Password Change: 400+ active installs, 4.0★ (4 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-10-31. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/force-password-change

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