Hotlink File Prevention

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.

1. ★★★★★ Rick Cheney

   1.8y ago

   THANK YOU for making this plugin. It works great EXCEPT your media library filenames cannot have hyphens in the filenames. Maybe they can have one or two hyphens, I don’t know because I didn’t test it but I found with four hyphens in the filename it didn’t work. This topic was modified 1 year, 8 months ago by Rick Cheney. Reason: spelling

   Read on wp.org ↗
2. ★★★★★ twentytwelveuser

   2.2y ago

   The plugin is activated, but other site still shows pictures from my site. RewriteRule 2017/03/Unity-Terrain03.png - [NC,L,F] Still there is no effect Added: The problem was in hosting settings – they disabled htaccess and used nginx. So I have to enable manual mode to turn on htaccess: Connect to the site with SSH Edit the config file for your site (example: ~/etc/httpd/php80/site-address.conf): <Directory /home/h12345678/site-address/docs/wp-content/uploads> AllowOverride All </Directory> 3. Use the plugin This topic was modified 2 years, 1 month ago by twentytwelveuser. This topic was modified 2 years, 1 month ago by twentytwelveuser.

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3. ★★★★★ Mike Oliver

   2.3y ago

   I had an image on one of my website demos linking to over 100k sites, this plugin worked perfectly to block it.

   Read on wp.org ↗
4. ★★★★★ trinhthidien

   4.6y ago

   Very good

   Read on wp.org ↗
5. ★★★★★ Wolfgang Hanus

   5.0y ago

   After hours and hours of searching I finally found this plugin. It works great! I would like to see a feature that allows you to protect multiple media files at once. So that you don’t have to click on each file individually. Many thanks to the developers!

   Read on wp.org ↗
6. ★★★★★ user098242734

   5.2y ago

   works perfect thanks!

   Read on wp.org ↗
7. ★★★★★ Mostafa Shemeas

   5.3y ago

   Excellent it blocks direct access to URL and that’s my goal

   Read on wp.org ↗

Automated install-time checks, tested on PHP 7.4.8 · WP 5.6

Growth timeline

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

1. 2026-06-16 700+ → 600+ down after 1 days in tier
2. 2026-06-15 600+ → 700+ up after 3 days in tier
3. 2026-06-12 700+ → 600+ down after 2 days in tier
4. 2026-06-10 600+ → 700+ up after 2 days in tier
5. 2026-06-08 700+ → 600+ down after 427 days in tier
6. 2025-04-07 800+ → 700+ down after 2 days in tier
7. 2025-04-05 700+ → 800+ up after 34 days in tier
8. 2025-03-02 800+ → 700+ down after 2 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).

• Media Cleaner: Clean your WordPress! 90K+ installs · 4.6★ · 2 shared tags A
• File Upload Types by WPForms 40K+ installs · 3.9★ · 2 shared tags B
• Clean Image Filenames 30K+ installs · 4.3★ · 2 shared tags B
• Lightbox with PhotoSwipe 20K+ installs · 4.8★ · 2 shared tags A
• SEO Friendly Images 20K+ installs · 3.2★ · 2 shared tags F
• Media Deduper 9K+ installs · 3.9★ · 2 shared tags B

Embed this report card

Drop a live Pulse card for Hotlink File Prevention into a readme, a review or a deck. It updates itself.

Hotlink File Prevention: 600+ active installs, 4.9★ (7 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-08-29. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/hotlink-file-prevention