Random Posts from Category
by Stephanie Leary · Admin & Utilities
A widget that lists random posts from a chosen category.
44 health vs 55 average across 1,942 Admin & Utilities plugins
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 10+ years — the top precursor to removal once a vulnerability is found.
- Compatibility drift. Tested only up to WordPress 4.5.33, well behind 6.8.
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
Biggest win: Update recency
To rank higher: Last updated 3738 days ago — ship an update; wp.org decays a listing's search weight after ~180 days.
Get the full rank-higher report →Daily downloads
Since 2022-10-05 · 1,381 days · wp.org + Plugin Pulse archive
30-day downloads
Rolling 30-day volume · peaks are release surges
40
now · peak 89
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
Downloads per 1k installs · 30d
Engagement proxy · release spikes are signal, a long slide is an aging base
Estimated active installs
wp.org reports only “200+”. The real number sits in this band.
Refined from the date this plugin crossed into its current band.
Install history · since 2022-10-04 · 1,371 observations
Details
Growth timeline
Install-band crossings we have observed, and how long each band took to outgrow
- 2024-12-19 300+ → 200+ down after 5 days in band
- 2024-12-14 200+ → 300+ up after 7 days in band
- 2024-12-07 300+ → 200+ down after 429 days in band
- 2023-10-05 400+ → 300+ down after 300 days in band
- 2022-12-09 500+ → 400+ down
Competes with
The plugins that solve the same job, ranked by shared tags then reach — closest match first
-
WP Popular Posts 100K+ installs · 4.5★ · 2 shared tags A - N Newpost Catch 10K+ installs · 4.1★ · 2 shared tags B
-
Flexible Posts Widget 7K+ installs · 4.5★ · 2 shared tags D -
Add Widget After Content 7K+ installs · 4.5★ · 2 shared tags A - E Expanding Archives 3K+ installs · 4.2★ · 2 shared tags D
- R Random Post for Widget 2K+ installs · 4.1★ · 2 shared tags D
Embed this report card
Drop a live Pulse card for Random Posts from Category into a readme, a review or a deck. It updates itself.
<iframe src="https://plugins.wpmayor.com/embed/random-posts-from-category" width="480" height="300" style="border:0" loading="lazy" title="Random Posts from Category — Plugin Pulse"></iframe> Random Posts from Category: 200+ active installs, 4.0★ (2 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-07-17. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/random-posts-from-category