Mailing Group Listserv
by Yamna Khawaja · Email & Marketing
Creates a Mailing Group on your site to which users can subscribe, messages sent to the group's email address will be forwarded to all members.
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
C 59/100
Stale · Open vulnerability
Active installs
100+
≈150 estimated
Momentum
+15%
low volume, under 1,000 downloads a month
Biggest opportunity: Swap “email discussion” for “imap”. “email discussion” isn't earning its slot: you're not in the first 24 results for its own search. “imap” sits at #21 untagged, close enough for a declared tag to move it up. All five slots are taken, so one has to go.
59 health vs 66 average across 2,127 Email & Marketing plugins
Install conversion
How it's measured →0.4%
of downloads still active
At least 100 of 22.8K lifetime downloads are still running, below its category: the median Email & Marketing plugin keeps 0.9%, across 1,295 plugins.
Downloads count every update, not just first installs, so older and more frequently released plugins read lower. Compare against other Email & Marketing 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.
Well optimized
Most to gain: Update recency
Updated 556 days ago, past the ~180 days where wp.org starts discounting
Tested up to WordPress 6.8.12; the current branch is 7.1
4.0★ over 25 reviews, weighted for review count to 4.1★
5 of 5 tags set · short description in place
To rank higher: Last updated 556 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.
29
Momentum
Losing ground
-0.8
Velocity
places per keyword, 28d
0%
Breadth
of keywords climbing, 28d
-0.6
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| mailing group your tag | #1 | #2 | 0 |
| listserve your tag | #1 | #1 | 0 |
| listserv your tag | #2 | #2 | 0 |
| mailman | #2 | #2 | 0 |
| mailing | #19 | #19 | down 2 |
| imap | #21 | #11 | down 3 |
| email discussion your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| mailing list your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
9 searches this plugin appeared in over the last 90 days, 6 listed. 3 left out as unrelated or noise (years, numbers, stray words). 2 of its tags aren't in the top 24 for their own search.
What to do about it
- Swap “email discussion” for “imap”. “email discussion” isn't earning its slot: you're not in the first 24 results for its own search. “imap” sits at #21 untagged, close enough for a declared tag to move it up. All five slots are taken, so one has to go.
Daily downloads
Since 5 Oct 2022 · 1,490 days · wp.org + Plugin Pulse archive
30-day downloads
Rolling 30-day volume · peak 1.2K · peaks are release surges
Directory rank
Ranked about #13,300 to #16,400, alongside the other plugins at 100+ installs. Plugins with the same install count swap places between wp.org requests, so this is where most of them sit. Checked monthly, last on 1 Nov 2026.
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
1.5y ago
latest release · v3.0.5 · 25 Apr 2025
16
tagged releases on record
Recent releases
What its installed base runs
via wordpress.orgShare of active installs on each version of this plugin · 84% 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 “100+”. Our estimate pins where the real number sits.
Crossed into this band 14 months ago; the previous band took 14 months to cross, which places it about 50% of the way through.
Install history since 14 Apr 2015
Security history
via Wordfence Intelligence1 open vulnerability affects the current version (3.0.5). 3 of 4 disclosed are patched.
- 2025-04-25 CVE-2025-46463 Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an SQL Command Affects <= 3.0.4 Patched in 3.0.5
- Patched Medium · 4.9 Mailing Group Listserv <= 2.0.9 - Authenticated (Administrator+) SQL Injection ↗2025-01-07 CVE-2025-22527 Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an SQL Command Affects <= 2.0.9 Patched in 3.0.0
- 2025-01-07 CVE-2025-22595 Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation Affects <= 2.0.9 Patched in 3.0.0
Vulnerability records provided by Wordfence Intelligence. Copyright 2012-2026 Defiant Inc. License and terms.
CVE records: Copyright 1999-2026 The MITRE Corporation. CVE terms of use.
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.
This plugin’s searches fall outside the topics measured so far. 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 "Creates a Mailing Group on your site to which users can subscribe, messages sent to the group's email addre..."
- ✓ Has a FAQ 6 questions in the FAQ.
- ✓ FAQ asks real questions 6 of 6 read like questions a user would type.
- ! 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 0 headings and 1 list; assistants quote headed sections and bullet lists, not paragraphs.
- ✓ Enough to quote 3,092 characters of description.
- ! Tags match the text Only 2 of 5 tags appear in the text ("email discussion", "listserve", "mailing list" missing).
Growth timeline
Install-tier crossings we have observed, and how long each tier took to outgrow
- 2025-09-06 200+ → 100+ down after 414 days in tier
- 2024-07-19 300+ → 200+ down after 33 days in tier
- 2024-06-16 200+ → 300+ up after 375 days in tier
- 2023-06-07 300+ → 200+ down after 90 days in tier
- 2023-03-09 200+ → 300+ up after 60 days in tier
- 2023-01-08 300+ → 200+ down after 711 days in tier
- 2021-01-27 100+ → 300+ up after 1834 days in tier
- 2016-01-20 20+ → 100+ 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).
-
WP Mailster 300+ installs · 4.6★ · 2 shared tags A -
Mailster Gravity Forms 800+ installs · 4.0★ · 1 shared tag B -
Arigato Autoresponder and Newsletter 500+ installs · 4.5★ · 1 shared tag B -
My Newsletter 10+ installs · 4.1★ · 1 shared tag A - C Campaign Monitor Synchronization 10+ installs · 4.1★ · 1 shared tag D
- C Campaign Monitor Dual Registration 10+ installs · 4.1★ · 1 shared tag D
Embed this report card
Drop a live Pulse card for Mailing Group Listserv into a readme, a review or a deck. It updates itself.
<iframe src="https://plugins.wpmayor.com/embed/wp-mailing-group" width="480" height="300" style="border:0" loading="lazy" title="Mailing Group Listserv — Plugin Pulse"></iframe> Mailing Group Listserv: 100+ active installs, 4.0★ (25 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-11-02. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/wp-mailing-group
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