WP-DraftsForFriends
by Lester Chan · Social
Also makes 20 other plugins · 753K+ installs across the portfolio →
Now you don't need to add friends as users to the blog in order to let them preview your drafts
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
A 86/100
Few reviews
Active installs
1K+
≈1.9K estimated
Momentum
-3%
downloads vs prior 30d
Biggest opportunity: Swap “preview” for “draft preview”. “preview” isn't earning its slot: you're not in the first 24 results for its own search. “draft preview” sits at #18 untagged, close enough for a declared tag to move it up. All five slots are taken, so one has to go.
86 health vs 58 average across 1,835 Social plugins
Install conversion
How it's measured →4.4%
of downloads still active
At least 1K of 22.7K lifetime downloads are still running, above its category: the median Social plugin keeps 0.5%, across 1,277 plugins.
Downloads count every update, not just first installs, so older and more frequently released plugins read lower. Compare against other Social 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.
Excellent listing optimization
Most to gain: Rating quality
Updated 61 days ago
Tested up to WordPress 7.1.4, the current branch or newer
5.0★ over 6 reviews, smoothed to 4.20★ and held back under 25 reviews
5 of 5 tags set · short description in place
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.
38
Momentum
Losing ground
-0.4
Velocity
places per keyword, 28d
19%
Breadth
of keywords climbing, 28d
-0.4
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| share draft your tag | #6 | #13 | down 1 |
| drafts your tag | #9 | #18 | 0 |
| friends your tag | #15 | #22 | 0 |
| draft | #11 | #18 | up 1 |
| send your tag | #23 | #17 | — |
| draft preview | #18 | #18 | 0 |
| preview draft | #16 | #18 | 0 |
| my friends | #17 | #21 | — |
| preview your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
39 searches this plugin appeared in over the last 90 days, 8 listed. 31 left out as unrelated or noise (years, numbers, stray words). 1 of its tags isn't in the top 24 for their own search.
What to do about it
- Swap “preview” for “draft preview”. “preview” isn't earning its slot: you're not in the first 24 results for its own search. “draft preview” sits at #18 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 “friends”. #15 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 · 1,489 days · wp.org + Plugin Pulse archive
30-day downloads
Rolling 30-day volume · peak 2.4K · 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
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.
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 6 months ago and the previous band took 6.9 years to cross, so the real count is still just under 2K.
Install history since 1 Apr 2015
Recent reviews
All reviews on wp.org ↗- ★★★★★ Lu Is7.5y ago
Very easy to use, and gives you the peace of mind of keeping users out of the dashboard
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ deargeek9.5y ago
If you offer a publishing service for your clients who don’t want to / need to know how to write their own posts, this is perfect. Well done!
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ Anita C10.5y ago
Great plugin! Love all of Lester’s plugins actually.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ davblayn11.1y ago
The plugin is well made and works as designed. It’s easy to install too.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ Jesús Cortés11.7y ago
Esta funcionalidad se encuentra en WordPress.com y me parece muy util. Este plugin lo resuelve bastante bien.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ ytbryan12.8y ago
🙂 good job
Read on wp.org ↗
Languages
via translate.wordpress.orgTranslated into 5 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
7 of 8 pass · checked 29 Oct 2026Can an assistant quote this readme? Eight deterministic checks over the wp.org listing, no model involved.
- ✓ Says what it does "Now you don't need to add friends as users to the blog in order to let them preview your drafts"
- ✓ Has a FAQ 7 questions in the FAQ.
- ✓ FAQ asks real questions 6 of 7 read like questions a user would type.
- ! Names who it is for One audience phrase ("use it"); say who the plugin is for and what they use it for.
- ✓ Names what it works with Mentions WP-CLI, Multisite.
- ✓ Headings and lists 6 headings and 2 lists.
- ✓ Enough to quote 7,094 characters of description.
- ✓ Tags match the text All 5 tags appear in the text.
Growth timeline
Install-tier crossings we have observed, and how long each tier took to outgrow
- 2026-04-27 2K+ → 1K+ down after 2503 days in tier
- 2019-06-20 3K+ → 2K+ down after 758 days in tier
- 2017-05-23 2K+ → 3K+ up after 227 days in tier
- 2016-10-08 1K+ → 2K+ up after 421 days in tier
- 2015-08-14 800+ → 1K+ 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).
-
Public Post Preview 100K+ installs · 4.5★ · 2 shared tags A -
PreviewShare 80+ installs · 3.6★ · 2 shared tags -
Secure Role-Restricted Draft Previews — installs · 3.6★ · 2 shared tags - M MW WP Form 200K+ installs · 4.1★ · 1 shared tag B
-
underConstruction 40K+ installs · 4.4★ · 1 shared tag C -
Preview E-mails for WooCommerce 20K+ installs · 4.8★ · 1 shared tag A
Embed this report card
Drop a live Pulse card for WP-DraftsForFriends into a readme, a review or a deck. It updates itself.
<iframe src="https://plugins.wpmayor.com/embed/wp-draftsforfriends" width="480" height="300" style="border:0" loading="lazy" title="WP-DraftsForFriends — Plugin Pulse"></iframe> WP-DraftsForFriends: 1K+ active installs, 5.0★ (6 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-11-01. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/wp-draftsforfriends
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