Popular Widget
by Hax · Admin & Utilities
Also makes 1 other plugin · 900+ installs across the portfolio →
Display the most commented or most viewed posts in a tabbed widget, filter the post by date range or by category. It also includes a tags tab.
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.
Health
D 47/100
Stale · Likely abandoned
Active installs
600+
≈700 estimated
Momentum
—
no download trend yet
Biggest opportunity: “box”, “most commented” and “most viewed” 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.
47 health vs 56 average across 5,896 Admin & Utilities plugins
Install conversion
How it's measured →0.5%
of downloads still active
At least 600 of 129.3K lifetime downloads are still running, in line with its category: the median Admin & Utilities plugin keeps 0.6%, across 4,187 plugins.
Downloads count every update, not just first installs, so older and more frequently released plugins read lower. Compare against other Admin & Utilities plugins, not across the directory. wp.org reports active installs as the bottom of a band, so the real rate is this or higher.
High removal-risk signals
63/100Maintenance 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 8+ years — the top precursor to removal once a vulnerability is found.
- Compatibility drift. Tested only up to WordPress 4.6.0, well behind 6.8.
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.
Under-optimized
Most to gain: Update recency
Updated 3259 days ago, past the ~180 days where wp.org starts discounting
Tested up to WordPress 4.6.0; the current branch is 6.8
4.5★ over 14 reviews, smoothed to 4.19★ and held back under 25 reviews
5 of 5 tags set · short description in place
To rank higher: Last updated 3259 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.
Not enough tracked days yet to call a direction. Momentum needs at least three keywords measured a week or more apart.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| box your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| most commented your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| most viewed your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| popular your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| widget your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
0 searches this plugin appeared in over the last 90 days. 5 of its tags aren't in the top 24 for their own search.
What to do about it
- “box”, “most commented” and “most viewed” 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.
Daily downloads
Since 5 Oct 2022 · 1,488 days · wp.org + Plugin Pulse archive
30-day downloads
Rolling 30-day volume · peak 250 · 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
11.1y ago
latest release · v1.7.0 · 2 Oct 2015
29
tagged releases on record
Recent releases
What its installed base runs
via wordpress.orgShare of active installs on each version of this plugin · 96% 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 11 days ago and a band this size takes about a year or more to cross, so the real count is still just under 700.
Install history since 24 Mar 2015
Behavioral tests
via WP HiveAutomated install-time checks, tested on PHP 7.2.16 · WP 5.3
Languages
via translate.wordpress.orgTranslated into 67 languages, 2 at 90% or more · development strings
Plus 43 more locales with partial translations.
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 28 Oct 2026Can an assistant quote this readme? Eight deterministic checks over the wp.org listing, no model involved.
- ✓ Says what it does "Display the most commented or most viewed posts in a tabbed widget, filter the post by date range or by cat..."
- ! Has a FAQ Only 2 questions in the FAQ; 3 or more gives an assistant something to match.
- ! FAQ asks real questions 2 of 2 FAQ entries are headings, not questions ("Installation Instructions").
- ! 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 2 lists; assistants quote headed sections and bullet lists, not paragraphs.
- ! Enough to quote 602 characters of description; under 1,000 there is little to quote.
- ✓ Tags match the text 4 of 5 tags appear in the text; "Box" does not.
Growth timeline
Install-tier crossings we have observed, and how long each tier took to outgrow
- 2026-10-20 700+ → 600+ down after 145 days in tier
- 2026-05-28 800+ → 700+ down after 2 days in tier
- 2026-05-26 700+ → 800+ up after 2 days in tier
- 2026-05-24 800+ → 700+ down after 2 days in tier
- 2026-05-22 700+ → 800+ up after 3 days in tier
- 2026-05-19 800+ → 700+ down after 115 days in tier
- 2026-01-24 900+ → 800+ down after 87 days in tier
- 2025-10-29 1K+ → 900+ down after 894 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-Stats 2K+ installs · 3.4★ · 2 shared tags B -
WP Most Popular 1K+ installs · 4.4★ · 2 shared tags D - P Popular Posts 800+ installs · 4.0★ · 2 shared tags D
-
Blocksy Companion 300K+ installs · 4.6★ · 1 shared tag A -
Black Studio TinyMCE Widget 200K+ installs · 4.7★ · 1 shared tag A -
Table of Contents Plus – Automatic Table of Contents for Posts & Pages 200K+ installs · 4.4★ · 1 shared tag A
Embed this report card
Drop a live Pulse card for Popular Widget into a readme, a review or a deck. It updates itself.
<iframe src="https://plugins.wpmayor.com/embed/popular-widget" width="480" height="300" style="border:0" loading="lazy" title="Popular Widget — Plugin Pulse"></iframe> Popular Widget: 600+ active installs, 4.5★ (14 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-10-31. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/popular-widget
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