Smash Balloon Social Photo Feed – Easy Social Feeds Plugin

Reviewers still praise how easy the free feed is to set up and how responsive support can be, but a persistent 60% off upsell banner in wp-admin and recurring Instagram reconnect and Elementor compatibility complaints keep surfacing alongside the praise.

How well this listing is tuned to rank in WordPress.org search, on the factors an owner controls. Not popularity, optimization.

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.

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.

1106 searches this plugin appeared in over the last 90 days, 20 listed. 983 left out as unrelated or noise (years, numbers, stray words).

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. Green is the current release; a big slice on older versions is a user base that has stopped updating.

Crossed into this band 6.5 years ago; a band this size takes about a year or more to cross, which places it about 90% of the way through.

1. ★★★★★ razasid

   4mo ago

   The free version offers lots of great features. Cool add-on to any website.

   Read on wp.org ↗
2. ★★★★★ jgayone

   4mo ago

   Es muy facil de usar y funciona muy bien. Lo recomiendo.

   Read on wp.org ↗
3. ★★★★★ miyorch

   4mo ago

   Really easy to use.

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

   5mo ago

   The constant “Exclusive offer – 60% off!” spam in the whole WP admin area is extremely annoying. Impossible to get rid of it.

   Read on wp.org ↗
5. ★★★★★ lyra44

   5mo ago

   Je suis sur la version gratuite, elle est déjà vraiment top

   Read on wp.org ↗
6. ★★★★★ April

   6mo ago

   Well, I went to my admin to set this up, and both the setup and settings tab are just blank. Does not work for me.

   Read on wp.org ↗
7. ★★★★★ rypar

   6mo ago

   Annoying “60% discount” banner which does not disappear. Author literally lies in other topics that already fixed this issue, but after years of forced using of this plugin, I AM sure it is not fixed at all after all these years. Poor compatibility with Elementor “reduce DOM” function (it breaks web layout), and annoying need to renew connection quite often. Realy bad lighthouse metrics related to this plugin. I cant understand why this plugin is so popular. Avoid this bloadware. This topic was modified 2 months, 1 week ago by rypar.

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

   6mo ago

   Unfortunately every other week its telling me I have to reconnect it to my instagram just to be met with more issues like “account’s future activity history off Meta technologies is currently turned off. Please visit account center to change it.” There’s just too much of a headache to get this thing to work at this point. it used to be very simple to use.

   Read on wp.org ↗

Recent releases and news for this plugin

1. — Version 6.11.4 New – Photos, Videos, and Reels filter toggles are now available in Instagram Feed Free. Fix – Instagram images now honor the intended image quality, and the Thumbnail feed size now uses the cached thumbnail file. Fix – 6.11.4
2. — Version 6.11.3 Fix – Notices now stay dismissed once closed, including on sites with multiple administrators. 6.11.3
3. — Version 6.11.2 Fix – Additional plugin hardening. 6.11.2
4. — Version 6.11.1 New – Added a Help widget to the feed builder for in-app access to documentation and support. Fix – The legacy Instagram Feed block now renders a live preview correctly inside the WP 7.0+ iframed block editor, and the le 6.11.1
5. — Version 6.11.0 New – Added a modern Gutenberg block and Elementor widget for the Instagram feed. Existing feeds using the legacy block continue to render without reconfiguration. Tweak – Compatibility with WP 7. Fix – Plugin no longer 6.11.0
6. — Version 6.10.1 Tweak – Added optional deactivation feedback survey to help us improve the plugin. Tweak – Various PHP 8.4 compatibility enhancements. 6.10.1

All 7 disclosed vulnerabilities are patched in the current version (6.15.0). Sites still on an older version should update.

1. Patched Medium · 4.7 Smash Balloon Social Photo Feed <= 6.11.3 - Reflected Cross-Site Scripting via REQUEST_URI Query String ↗
   2026-08-04 CVE-2026-15452 Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation Affects <= 6.11.3 Patched in 6.11.4
2. Patched Medium · 4.7 Smash Balloon Social Photo Feed – Easy Social Feeds Plugin <= 6.11.1 - Cross-Site Request Forgery to oEmbed Access Token Overwrite via 'sbi_access_token' Parameter ↗
   2026-07-08 CVE-2026-12002 Cross-Site Request Forgery Affects <= 6.11.1 Patched in 6.11.2
3. Patched Medium · 5.4 Smash Balloon Instagram Feed <= 6.9.0 (Free) & <= 6.8.0 (Pro) - Authenticated (Contributor+) Stored Cross-Site Scripting via `data-plugin` Attribute ↗
   2025-05-28 CVE-2025-4583 Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation Affects <= 6.9.0 Patched in 6.9.1
4. Patched Medium · 6.1 Smash Balloon Plugins (Various Versions) - Reflected Cross-Site Scripting ↗
   2021-07-20 Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation Affects <= 2.9.1 Patched in 2.9.2
5. Patched High · 8.8 Smash Balloon Social Photo Feed <= 1.11.3 - Cross-Site Request Forgery to Back-Up Deletion ↗
   2019-03-05 Cross-Site Request Forgery Affects < 1.12 Patched in 1.12
6. Patched Medium · 6.1 Smash Balloon Social Photo Feed <= 1.5.1 - Reflected Cross-Site Scripting ↗
   2018-01-18 Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation Affects <= 1.5.1 Patched in 1.6
7. Patched Medium · 6.4 Smash Balloon Social Photo Feed <= 1.4.6.2 - Cross-Site Request Forgery to Stored Cross-Site Scripting ↗
   2016-11-19 Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation Affects <= 1.4.6.2 Patched in 1.4.7

Automated install-time checks, tested on PHP 8.1.12 · WP 7.0

Translated into 38 languages, 11 at 90% or more

Plus 14 more locales with partial translations.

Whether ChatGPT and Claude name this plugin when asked the category question, and whether the readme gives them something to quote.

Growth timeline

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

1. 2020-04-16 900K+ → 1M+ up after 257 days in tier
2. 2019-08-03 800K+ → 900K+ up after 93 days in tier
3. 2019-05-02 700K+ → 800K+ up after 243 days in tier
4. 2018-09-01 600K+ → 700K+ up after 149 days in tier
5. 2018-04-05 500K+ → 600K+ up after 150 days in tier
6. 2017-11-06 400K+ → 500K+ up after 128 days in tier
7. 2017-07-01 300K+ → 400K+ up after 247 days in tier
8. 2016-10-27 200K+ → 300K+ up after 237 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).

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Drop a live Pulse card for Smash Balloon Social Photo Feed – Easy Social Feeds Plugin into a readme, a review or a deck. It updates itself.

Smash Balloon Social Photo Feed – Easy Social Feeds Plugin: 1M+ active installs, 4.9★ (4,358 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-11-01. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/instagram-feed