WP Popular Posts

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.

458 searches this plugin appeared in over the last 90 days, 20 listed. 358 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 · 35% run the current release. Green is the current release; a big slice on older versions is a user base that has stopped updating.

Crossed into this band 22 months ago; the previous band took 3.5 years to cross, which places it about 50% of the way through.

1. ★★★★★ WebHostPro

   5mo ago

   Once installed, the stats just need a little time to warm up. After that, it will display the top posts automatically. It looks great and stays clean and lightweight, just how I like it.

   Read on wp.org ↗
2. ★★★★★ xtrabytes

   10mo ago

   WordPress Popular Posts is fundamentally broken for cached sites. It defeats the entire purpose of Nginx/WP Rocket caching. There you spend all your energy optimizing to reduce every imaginable PHP FPM invocation, let alone the absurd DB query cascade of WP, and then this plugin comes and fires a XHR to the backend to load content that could have and should have come prerendered through the main page request.

   Read on wp.org ↗
3. ★★★★★ seegeist

   1.4y ago

   I’ve only been using the plugin for a few days. At first I had a problem, thanks to the good and fast support I was able to solve the problem quickly, it was not due to the plugin, but to my theme. Since then everything has been working as it should. They also respond to change requests. Just great.

   Read on wp.org ↗
4. ★★★★★ abre01

   1.4y ago

   Out of sheer frustration I would like to give only one star because the css style cannot be changed in the normal way. I have tried for hours. It is only possible with great effort, e.g. via changes in funcions.php. Since the plugin works otherwise, I still give it 3 stars. It’s a pity, but because of the missing css customization option I threw it down!

   Read on wp.org ↗
5. ★★★★★ Anonymous User

   1.9y ago

   A melhor e mais elegante maneira de exibir postagens populares em seu site. Simples e prático. Altamente recomendável.

   Read on wp.org ↗
6. ★★★★★ kspr

   2.0y ago

   Used it through the REST API to set it up with Elementor Pro, worked like a charm, good job.

   Read on wp.org ↗
7. ★★★★★ smkstoll

   2.0y ago

   Thanks for your support.

   Read on wp.org ↗
8. ★★★★★ Andrew P. Popov

   2.2y ago

   That’s it! It stopped working. They themselves decided to abandon it for some reason. Now it doesn’t work on regular sites. Don’t even waste your time. 2025: Removed from last news site. NOT suitable. ===Всё! Перестал работать. Они сами зачем-то решили от него отказаться. Теперь на обычных сайтах не работает. Даже время не теряйте.2025: Удалил с последнего новостного сайта. НЕ годится. This topic was modified 9 months ago by Andrew P. Popov.

   Read on wp.org ↗

Recent releases and news for this plugin

1. — Version 7.4.0 The Log Limit functionality is now enabled by default for new installs (see Log Limit for more details) New “Views” column in posts lists (see Views column for more) Fixed a bug affecting the Custom time range functional 7.4.0
2. — Version 7.3.8 Fixes a character encoding issue that can happen under some circumstances (props to qwe987299 for the report!) Release notes 7.3.8
3. — Version 7.3.7 Fixes shortcode rendering empty tags (props to NetzzJD for the report!) Renames filter hook pretiffy_numbers to prettify_numbers. Adds toggle to display the Y-axis in the Stats chart. Minor code improvements. Release not 7.3.7
4. — Version 7.3.6 If you’re updating from a previous version please clear your popular posts thumbnails cache via WP Dashboard > Settings > WP Popular Posts > Tools > Thumbnails > Empty image cache button. Improves security around thumbna 7.3.6
5. — Version 7.3.5 Fixes Elementor widget stuck in infinite loading animation. Fixes broken database query in get_views() (props to raphaelw!) Fixes an issue where config.json files from theme overrides would be ignored (thanks alexg904!) 7.3.5
6. — Version 7.3.4 New name! See the Rename announcement for more details. Minimum required WordPress version is now 6.2. Minor code improvements. Release notes 7.3.4

All 8 disclosed vulnerabilities are patched in the current version (7.4.3). Sites still on an older version should update.

1. Patched Medium · 5.3 WP Popular Posts <= 7.4.2 - Unauthenticated Information Disclosure in 'post_type' and 'context' Parameters ↗
   2026-09-30 CVE-2026-92548 Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor Affects <= 7.4.2 Patched in 7.4.3
2. Patched High · 7.3 WordPress Popular Posts <= 7.1.0 - Unauthenticated Arbitrary Shortcode Execution ↗
   2025-01-03 CVE-2024-11733 Improper Control of Generation of Code Affects <= 7.1.0 Patched in 7.2.0
3. Patched Medium · 6.4 WordPress Popular Posts <= 6.3.2 - Authenticated (Contributor+) Stored Cross-Site Scripting via Shortcode ↗
   2023-10-06 CVE-2023-45607 Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation Affects < 6.3.3 Patched in 6.3.3
4. Patched Medium · 5.3 WordPress Popular Posts <= 6.0.5 - Unauthenticated Views Changes ↗
   2022-11-18 CVE-2022-43468 Improper Access Control Affects <= 6.0.5 Patched in 6.1.0
5. Patched Medium · 6.1 WordPress Popular Posts <= 5.5.1 - Reflected Cross-Site Scripting ↗
   2022-06-29 Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation Affects <= 5.5.1 Patched in 6.0.0
6. Patched High · 8.8 WordPress Popular Posts <= 5.3.2 - Authenticated Arbitrary File Upload ↗
   2021-11-12 CVE-2021-42362 Unrestricted Upload of File with Dangerous Type Affects <= 5.3.2 Patched in 5.3.3
7. Patched Medium · 5.5 WordPress Popular Posts <= 5.3.3 - Authenticated (Admin+) Stored Cross-Site Scripting ↗
   2021-07-04 CVE-2021-36872 Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation Affects <= 5.3.3 Patched in 5.3.4
8. Patched Medium · 6.4 WordPress Popular Posts <= 5.3.2 - Authenticated Cross-Site Scripting ↗
   2021-06-23 CVE-2021-20746 Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation Affects < 5.3.3 Patched in 5.3.3

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

Translated into 77 languages, 10 at 90% or more

Plus 53 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.

Not measured yet for this plugin’s topics. Its tracked searches are not among the measured topics. See the topics measured so far.

Growth timeline

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

1. 2024-12-27 200K+ → 100K+ down after 1271 days in tier
2. 2021-07-05 300K+ → 200K+ down after 1370 days in tier
3. 2017-10-04 200K+ → 300K+ up

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 WP Popular Posts into a readme, a review or a deck. It updates itself.

WP Popular Posts: 100K+ active installs, 4.5★ (249 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-10-31. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/wordpress-popular-posts