Generate Child Theme

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 · 49% 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.

At the current install trend, crossing 10K+ in roughly 135 days.

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. A declining trend compresses what a buyer would pay.

1. ★★★★★ ricardosilvestri

   2.1y ago

   If you’re at all uncertain about this plugin, fear not; it’s easy to use, and you get the peace of mind that comes with having a – very necessary – child theme. Highly recommended.

   Read on wp.org ↗
2. ★★★★★ Cliff

   2.2y ago

   It’s simple and it works. If you have added some CSS in your theme customizer, be sure to copy that across to the new child theme.

   Read on wp.org ↗
3. ★★★★★ kashka23

   3.5y ago

   Thought it would be an easy fix instead of manually creating a child theme, but it didn’t actually copy over the style sheet, so none of my featured images were showing anymore. When I tried to fix that, my site broke. Maybe it’s good for people who are more technical than I am, but then you probably wouldn’t need this plugin to begin with.

   Read on wp.org ↗
4. ★★★★★ paulman

   3.6y ago

   Great Catch plugin – does what it says – highly recommend it (used it on two sites and it was easy to use)

   Read on wp.org ↗
5. ★★★★★ Jonas

   4.4y ago

   thank you very much

   Read on wp.org ↗
6. ★★★★★ luisalvarez5

   5.0y ago

   Excelent

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

   5.1y ago

   Whenever I need to use a child theme I now always use the free Generate Child Theme by Catch Plugins. The only thing that you need to pay attention to is to never start your child theme’s name with a digit, or your website will crash like this. That is because the theme name is used to derive a function name, and like in other languages, the first character in a PHP function name is in ranges a-z or A-Z or underscore. This topic was modified 4 years, 11 months ago by pewgeuges.

   Read on wp.org ↗
8. ★★★★★ rockychq58

   5.3y ago

   My feeling is that plugins like this cannot be guaranteed to work with all themes. This was the case with my theme. Once installed and used to generate a child-theme I found certain styles were over-ridden. Worse was that the little icons that are attached to Elementor editing boxes disappeared. They stayed disappeared even after reactivating the main theme. Disappointing. I think the Plugin page should provide instructions on how to restore everything if it doesn’t work properly with a particular theme, and also add a warning about possible conflicts like this. If it works for you then this is a useful plugin but you won’t know until you use it.

   Read on wp.org ↗

Recent releases and news for this plugin

1. — Version 2.3 Bug Fixed: Security improvements — input sanitization and nonce verification hardened throughout Bug Fixed: Child theme file generation now uses WordPress Filesystem API instead of file_put_contents() Bug Fixed: Scripts 2.3
2. — Version 2.2 Bug Fixed: WordPress.WP.AlternativeFunctions.file_system_operations_mkdir Bug Fixed: WordPress.WP.I18n.MissingTranslatorsComment Bug Fixed: WordPress.WP.I18n.TextDomainMismatch Bug Fixed: plugin_header_invalid_plugin_uri 2.2
3. — Version 2.1.1 Compatibility check up to version 6.8 2.1.1
4. — Version 2.1 Compatibility check up to version 6.5 2.1
5. — Version 2.0.1 Bug Fixed: CSRF vulnerability while generating child theme (Reported by: Darius Sveikauskas https://patchstack.com) 2.0.1
6. — Version 2.0 Compatibility check up to version 6.4 2.0

2 disclosed vulnerabilities on record for this plugin, all fixed in the current version. Sites on older versions stay exposed until they update.

1. Medium · 4.3 Generate Child Theme <= 2.0 - Cross-Site Request Forgery via process_create_form() ↗
   2024-04-05 CVE-2024-31279 Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) Affects <= 2.0 Patched in 2.0.1
2. Medium · 5.4 CatchThemes Plugins (Various Versions) - Missing Authorization ↗
   2021-09-20 CVE-2021-24752 Missing Authorization Affects < 1.6 Patched in 1.6

Automated install-time checks, tested on PHP 8.1.12 · WP 7.0.1

Translated into 4 languages, 1 at 90% or more

Growth timeline

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

1. 2026-05-02 8K+ → 9K+ up after 2 days in tier
2. 2026-04-30 9K+ → 8K+ down after 1 days in tier
3. 2026-04-29 8K+ → 9K+ up after 448 days in tier
4. 2025-02-05 7K+ → 8K+ up after 1 days in tier
5. 2025-02-04 8K+ → 7K+ down after 1 days in tier
6. 2025-02-03 7K+ → 8K+ up after 2 days in tier
7. 2025-02-01 8K+ → 7K+ down after 1 days in tier
8. 2025-01-31 7K+ → 8K+ up after 9 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).

• WP Child Theme Generator 20K+ installs · 4.4★ · 3 shared tags B
• Quick Child Theme Generator 900+ installs · 4.2★ · 3 shared tags D
• Child Theme Configurator 300K+ installs · 4.7★ · 2 shared tags B
• C Child Theme Creator by Orbisius 10K+ installs · 4.0★ · 2 shared tags C
• C Childify Me 8K+ installs · 4.4★ · 2 shared tags C
• Child Theme Check 800+ installs · 4.3★ · 2 shared tags A

Embed this report card

Drop a live Pulse card for Generate Child Theme into a readme, a review or a deck. It updates itself.

Generate Child Theme: 9K+ active installs, 4.3★ (15 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-08-29. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/generate-child-theme