Create, Organize, and Publish Issues with WordPress
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Health
B 70/100
Stale
Active installs
600+
≈650 estimated
Momentum
+86%
downloads vs prior 30d
Biggest opportunity: Swap “issue management” and “issue manager” for “steam” and “science”. “issue management” isn't earning its slot: you're not in the first 24 results for its own search. “steam” sits at #15 untagged, close enough for a declared tag to move it up. “issue manager” isn't earning its slot: you're not in the first 24 results for its own search. “science” sits at #23 untagged, close enough for a declared tag to move it up. All five slots are taken, so one has to go.
70 health vs 58 average across 25,763 Uncategorized plugins
Install conversion
How it's measured →1.1%
of downloads still active
At least 600 of 53.8K lifetime downloads are still running, above its category: the median Uncategorized plugin keeps 0.6%, across 17,773 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.
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.
Well optimized
Most to gain: Update recency
Updated 431 days ago, past the ~180 days where wp.org starts discounting
Tested up to WordPress 6.8.12, the current branch or newer
4.1★ over 13 reviews, smoothed to 4.10★ and held back under 25 reviews
5 of 5 tags set · short description in place
To rank higher: Last updated 431 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.
37
Momentum
Losing ground
-0.1
Velocity
places per keyword, 25d
14%
Breadth
of keywords climbing, 25d
+0.1
Acceleration
recent half vs earlier
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| magazine management your tag | #15 | #21 | down 1 |
| magazine manager your tag | #16 | #19 | 0 |
| steam | #15 | #18 | up 1 |
| science | #23 | #14 | 0 |
| issue management your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| issue manager your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| news management your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
26 searches this plugin appeared in over the last 90 days, 4 listed. 22 left out as unrelated or noise (years, numbers, stray words). 3 of its tags aren't in the top 24 for their own search.
What to do about it
- Swap “issue management” and “issue manager” for “steam” and “science”. “issue management” isn't earning its slot: you're not in the first 24 results for its own search. “steam” sits at #15 untagged, close enough for a declared tag to move it up. “issue manager” isn't earning its slot: you're not in the first 24 results for its own search. “science” sits at #23 untagged, close enough for a declared tag to move it up. All five slots are taken, so one has to go.
- One page off on “magazine management”. #15 puts you just past the first ten results, where almost all the clicks stop. The gap to close is small.
- One page off on “magazine manager”. #16 puts you just past the first ten results, where almost all the clicks stop. The gap to close is small.
Daily downloads
Since 5 Oct 2022 · 1,490 days · wp.org + Plugin Pulse archive
30-day downloads
Rolling 30-day volume · peak 672 · peaks are release surges
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
Rating trend
Star average over time · dips mark rough releases
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
1.2y ago
latest release · v2.9.1 · 28 Aug 2025
43
tagged releases on record
Recent releases
What its installed base runs
via wordpress.orgShare of active installs on each version of this plugin · 86% 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 “600+”. Our estimate pins where the real number sits.
Crossed into this band 9 months 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 22 Sep 2015
Recent reviews
All reviews on wp.org ↗- ★★★★★ KNBDunlop6.0y ago
Our site has now used IssueM for 3 years. Readers can see and click to read all articles in an issue, scroll through them in order, browse them by categories of interest, and find back issues. IssueM has structured our magazine effectively and allowed the editors (who are non-technical) to keep our file structure tidy. With 500 Articles or so a year to manage, IssueM’s structure has encouraged and embedded a tidy procedure. It is great to be able to prepare a new edition in the background and then publish it when it is ready by simply changing the draft status of the Issue to Live. We would like more, of course! The documentation is weak so setting up took some time and a lot of trial and error but the results, after writing some CSS to get a reasonable look and feel, was worth the effort. It is reliable. Many thanks to Zeen for your product. This topic was modified 5 years, 8 months ago by KNBDunlop.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ evanholt6.5y ago
It’s a great concept, but my god is the documentation miserably bad! There is literally no source to how you can actually arrange the content in a proper way anywhere! They just show you sites that have in some way made the layout properly. Very poor documentation gives this good useful idea a 1 star. It’s just so hard to know anything about how to use this effectively.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ linuxscout9.0y ago
Thanks a lot
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ jtranter9.6y ago
A great magazine plugin.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ beth_a_a11.2y ago
Easy to install and use to create issue based publications. What impressed me the most was the extent that IssueM developers went to help me out to customize my theme code to work with their plugin code (especially since I am a beginner and needed plenty handholding), to specify the pagination for only articles within each issue. Very professional, quick, helpful, and generous! They offered quick and detailed responses, as well as patience, to all of my questions! Thank you for a great plugin and awesome service, would definitely recommend for all
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ Canadagirl11.2y ago
Thanks for such a quick response (less than 10 mins on a Friday night) to my inquiry. After I built my issue with two articles as a test, I couldn’t get it to show up in the sidebar. I sent off a quick email, but found the answer in the forum. I needed to go over to the dashboard, settings, permalinks and then it cleared the permalinks and the magazine issue showed in the sidebar as advertised. I’m just a little disappointed that the issue looks much like a series of normal blog posts rather than a magazine (with columns etc, and options for typography) if you use it as is. Maybe in the future?! Keep up the good work. We really need a good magazine option plugin for WordPress sites.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ fbherr11.2y ago
I recently designed a website for a client who has published a monthly magazine for years, was looking for a way to deliver it online going forward (with an option for people to download past issues in PDF format). They were very happy to discover IssueM and are now using it on their live WordPress site. It basically creates a custom post type called Article and lets you organize them into Issues, and assign Categories and Tags to each article. It has some good widgets and shortcodes to display things like the current issue’s contents, a page listing all past issues, a page of all articles by a specific author, a basic slider that displays featured images and links to any articles you designate as “featured”, etc. I had to contact the plugin’s support staff several times to ask how to do some things (or to help me troubleshoot some plugin conflicts), and they always responded quite quickly, with helpful suggestions. Many thanks to the developers for this very useful – and free – magazine publishing plugin!
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ webdesignerwp11.2y ago
I installed this plugin because of the extension that converts the magazine articles to PDF. I’ve been very disappointed. First, the default layout of the posts does not include a post thumbnail. I search high and low to figure out how to add that in. But, every time the plugin is updated it has to be re-added. I purchased the Issue to PDF plugin and found that there are no options in the plugin for customizing, and it didn’t come with any instruction. I was finally given a link to mPDF documentation. But, no instruction on how to apply my PDF template to the plugin. I am not programmer, and this is a bit too advanced for me.
Read on wp.org ↗
Security history
via Wordfence IntelligenceThe 1 disclosed vulnerability is patched in the current version (2.9.1). Sites still on an older version should update.
- 2025-09-03 CVE-2025-58631 Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation Affects <= 2.9.0 Patched in 2.9.1
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.
Languages
via translate.wordpress.orgTranslated into 6 languages, 3 at 90% or more
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
3 of 8 pass · checked 2 Nov 2026Can an assistant quote this readme? Eight deterministic checks over the wp.org listing, no model involved.
- ✓ Says what it does "Create, Organize, and Publish Issues with WordPress"
- ! Has a FAQ Only 2 questions in the FAQ; 3 or more gives an assistant something to match.
- ! FAQ asks real questions 0 of 2 FAQ entries are headings, not questions ("undefined").
- ✓ Names who it is for Names its audience or use cases ("for publishers", "if you need").
- ! Names what it works with Names no plugin, service or platform it works with.
- ! Headings and lists 0 headings and 3 lists; assistants quote headed sections and bullet lists, not paragraphs.
- ✓ Enough to quote 3,955 characters of description.
- ! Tags match the text Only 0 of 5 tags appear in the text ("issue management", "issue manager", "magazine management", "magazine manager", "news management" missing).
Growth timeline
Install-tier crossings we have observed, and how long each tier took to outgrow
- 2026-02-04 700+ → 600+ down after 270 days in tier
- 2025-05-10 800+ → 700+ down after 2 days in tier
- 2025-05-08 700+ → 800+ up after 46 days in tier
- 2025-03-23 800+ → 700+ down after 4 days in tier
- 2025-03-19 700+ → 800+ up after 1 days in tier
- 2025-03-18 800+ → 700+ down after 3 days in tier
- 2025-03-15 700+ → 800+ up after 1 days in tier
- 2025-03-14 800+ → 700+ 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 IssueM into a readme, a review or a deck. It updates itself.
<iframe src="https://plugins.wpmayor.com/embed/issuem" width="480" height="300" style="border:0" loading="lazy" title="IssueM — Plugin Pulse"></iframe> IssueM: 600+ active installs, 4.1★ (13 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-11-02. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/issuem
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