WebFinger
by Matthias Pfefferle · Uncategorized
Also makes 8 other plugins · 3.2K+ installs across the portfolio →
WebFinger for WordPress
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
B 82/100
Few reviews
Active installs
1K+
≈1.9K estimated
Momentum
-19%
downloads vs prior 30d
Biggest opportunity: Swap “discovery” for “mastodon”. “discovery” isn't earning its slot: it only gets you to #14. “mastodon” sits at #14 untagged, close enough for a declared tag to move it up. All five slots are taken, so one has to go.
82 health vs 58 average across 25,736 Uncategorized plugins
Install conversion
How it's measured →3.9%
of downloads still active
At least 1K of 25.6K lifetime downloads are still running, above its category: the median Uncategorized plugin keeps 0.6%, across 17,764 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.
This plugin shipped 4 releases in the last 12 months, and every existing install that updated counted as another download. wp.org publishes no split between first installs and updates, so we show the raw rate rather than guess at one.
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.
Excellent listing optimization
Most to gain: Rating quality
Updated 66 days ago
Tested up to WordPress 7.1.4, the current branch or newer
3.7★ over 3 reviews, smoothed to 4.08★ and held back under 25 reviews
5 of 5 tags set · short description under 30 characters
1 of 1 support threads resolved in the last 2 months
To rank higher: Too few reviews to rank on quality — nudge happy users to leave one.
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.
30
Momentum
Losing ground
-0.8
Velocity
places per keyword, 28d
0%
Breadth
of keywords climbing, 28d
-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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| webfinger your tag | #1 | #2 | 0 |
| ostatus your tag | #1 | #1 | 0 |
| jrd your tag | #1 | #1 | 0 |
| activitypub your tag | #3 | #6 | 0 |
| federation | #2 | #3 | 0 |
| fediverse | #5 | #7 | up 1 |
| discovery your tag | #14 | #23 | 0 |
| mastodon | #14 | #23 | up 1 |
| well known | #18 | #22 | down 2 |
| identity | #23 | #24 | down 1 |
| simple web discovery | #14 | #22 | 0 |
18 searches this plugin appeared in over the last 90 days, 11 listed. 7 left out as unrelated or noise (years, numbers, stray words).
What to do about it
- Swap “discovery” for “mastodon”. “discovery” isn't earning its slot: it only gets you to #14. “mastodon” sits at #14 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 “discovery”. #14 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 · 1,488 days · wp.org + Plugin Pulse archive
30-day downloads
Rolling 30-day volume · peak 2.8K · 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
Actively maintainedHow often this plugin actually ships. A steady rhythm is the maintenance signal a single "last updated" date can't show.
4
releases in the last 12 months
2mo ago
latest release · v4.1.0 · 26 Aug 2026
35
tagged releases on record
Recent releases
What its installed base runs
via wordpress.orgShare 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.
Estimated active installs
The public count shows “1K+”. Our estimate pins where the real number sits.
Crossed into this band 3.3 years ago; a band this size takes about a year or more to cross, which places it about 90% of the way through.
Install history since 5 Apr 2016
Recent reviews
All reviews on wp.org ↗- ★★★★★ Khürt Williams3.0y ago
I installed Webfinger and typed in the domain for my website into Mastodon instance photog.social. Mastodon immediately found ky ActivityPub endpoints.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ ffpf3.8y ago
Adding this plugin adds handling for the WebFinger protocol for your existing users. For example, when someone searches for you on Mastodon, your server will be queried for accounts using an endpoint that looks like this: GET ${MASTODON_DOMAIN}/.well-known/webfinger?resource=acct:${MASTODON_USER}@${MASTODON_DOMAIN} So, if you have a WordPress blog with the URL blog.domain and that blog has a user (you can see users in the Users admin panel) named user1, then the webfinger URL for that user would be: blog.domain/.well-known/webfinger?resource=acct:[email protected] This plugin implements handling for such requests for any user on the WordPress site without any additional configuration.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ sunriselane3.8y ago
There’s no admin panel and the documentation isn’t clear about how to configure the plugin.
Read on wp.org ↗
Behavioral tests
via WP HiveAutomated install-time checks, tested on PHP 8.1.12 · WP 7.0.1
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
4 of 8 pass · checked 30 Oct 2026Can an assistant quote this readme? Eight deterministic checks over the wp.org listing, no model involved.
- ! Says what it does Short description is 23 characters, too short to say what the plugin does.
- ✓ Has a FAQ 7 questions in the FAQ.
- ✓ FAQ asks real questions 7 of 7 read like questions a user would type.
- ! Names who it is for One audience phrase ("essential for"); say who the plugin is for and what they use it for.
- ! Names what it works with Names no plugin, service or platform it works with.
- ! Headings and lists 0 headings and 1 list; assistants quote headed sections and bullet lists, not paragraphs.
- ✓ Enough to quote 1,086 characters of description.
- ✓ Tags match the text 3 of 5 tags appear in the text; "jrd", "ostatus" do not.
Growth timeline
Install-tier crossings we have observed, and how long each tier took to outgrow
- 2023-07-12 900+ → 1K+ up after 62 days in tier
- 2023-05-11 800+ → 900+ up after 1 days in tier
- 2023-05-10 900+ → 800+ down after 1 days in tier
- 2023-05-09 800+ → 900+ up after 52 days in tier
- 2023-03-18 700+ → 800+ up after 32 days in tier
- 2023-02-14 600+ → 700+ up after 33 days in tier
- 2023-01-12 500+ → 600+ up after 14 days in tier
- 2022-12-29 400+ → 500+ up after 12 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).
-
NodeInfo(2) 900+ installs · 3.9★ · 2 shared tags B -
host-meta 60+ installs · 3.6★ · 2 shared tags -
Nostr Verify 60+ installs · 4.0★ · 2 shared tags B - W WebFinger Profile — installs · 3.6★ · 2 shared tags
-
ActivityPub 6K+ installs · 4.7★ · 1 shared tag A -
Taboola 1K+ installs · 3.6★ · 1 shared tag
Embed this report card
Drop a live Pulse card for WebFinger into a readme, a review or a deck. It updates itself.
<iframe src="https://plugins.wpmayor.com/embed/webfinger" width="480" height="300" style="border:0" loading="lazy" title="WebFinger — Plugin Pulse"></iframe> WebFinger: 1K+ active installs, 3.7★ (3 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-10-31. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/webfinger
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