WP-Markdown
by Stephen Harris · Uncategorized
Also makes 1 other plugin · 400+ installs across the portfolio →
Allows Markdown to be enabled in posts, comments and bbPress forums.
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
D 48/100
Stale · Likely abandoned
Active installs
300+
≈390 estimated
Momentum
-5%
downloads vs prior 30d
Biggest opportunity: One page off on “prettify”. #12 puts you just past the first ten results, where almost all the clicks stop. The gap to close is small.
48 health vs 58 average across 25,737 Uncategorized plugins
Install conversion
How it's measured →0.3%
of downloads still active
At least 300 of 87.3K lifetime downloads are still running, below its category: the median Uncategorized plugin keeps 0.6%, across 17,770 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.
Removal-risk signals
51/100Maintenance 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 8+ years — the top precursor to removal once a vulnerability is found.
- No tested-up-to version. The listing declares no "Tested up to" version.
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.
Room to improve
Most to gain: Update recency
Updated 3230 days ago, past the ~180 days where wp.org starts discounting
No "Tested up to" declared, treated as a major version behind
4.5★ over 28 reviews, smoothed to 4.24★
5 of 5 tags set · short description in place
To rank higher: Last updated 3230 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.
32
Momentum
Losing ground
-0.3
Velocity
places per keyword, 10d
0%
Breadth
of keywords climbing, 10d
0.0
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| prettify your tag | #12 | #5 | 0 |
| code prettify | #14 | #5 | 0 |
| markdown highlighter | #15 | #5 | down 1 |
| code your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| formatting your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| markdown your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| syntax highlighter your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
3 searches this plugin appeared in over the last 90 days. 4 of its tags aren't in the top 24 for their own search.
What to do about it
- One page off on “prettify”. #12 puts you just past the first ten results, where almost all the clicks stop. The gap to close is small.
- “code”, “formatting” and “markdown” aren't earning a slot. You list them, but you're not in the first 24 results for those searches. WordPress.org counts only your first five tags, so free the slot for a search you can win.
Daily downloads
Since 5 Oct 2022 · 1,488 days · wp.org + Plugin Pulse archive
30-day downloads
Rolling 30-day volume · peak 841 · peaks are release surges
Directory rank
Ranked about #10,100 to #11,100, alongside the other plugins at 300+ 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 21 Oct 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
8.8y ago
latest release · v1.6.1 · 27 Dec 2017
14
tagged releases on record
Recent releases
What its installed base runs
via wordpress.orgShare of active installs on each version of this plugin · 77% 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 “300+”. Our estimate pins where the real number sits.
Crossed into this band 47 days ago and a band this size takes about a year or more to cross, so the real count is still just under 400.
Install history since 14 Mar 2015
Recent reviews
All reviews on wp.org ↗- ★★★★★ tir383.9y ago
Updating site to PHP 8.1 and WordPress to 6.1.1 and this plugin is causing errors: htdocs/wp-content/plugins/wp-markdown/markdown-extra.php. Error message: Array and string offset access syntax with curly braces is no longer supported Luckily all of the posts that were using this plugin are still fine (since they’ve are migrated to use WP syntax at the time of writing). But I won’t be able to edit them as markdown or post new posts as markdown. Time to look for a new markdown support plugin
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ 5284916.4y ago
Was amazed it even features a wysiwyg comparison preview in real time. Beautiful just beautiful piece of plugin. Too bad it seems abandoned, it will be a scary ride to update my WordPress version in the long run.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ jamesrandom7.4y ago
With WP 5.2 it generates errors of the form: Warning: “continue” targeting switch is equivalent to “break”. Did you mean to use “continue 2”? in /public_html/wp-content/plugins/wp-markdown/markdownify/markdownify.php on line 299 Warning: Cannot modify header information – headers already sent by (output started at /public_html/wp-content/plugins/wp-markdown/markdownify/markdownify.php:299) in /public_html/wp-admin/includes/misc.php on line 1196
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ janwilmans8.7y ago
Works great, however I would like anchors for headings like github does and tripple quotes do not survive the round-trip. This topic was modified 8 years, 5 months ago by janwilmans.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ angeljs9.2y ago
Just what I need for my not-so-technical members! Thank you!
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ Georgi Popov10.6y ago
Version 1.5.1 of the plugin works almost perfectly. I’m just waiting for the upcoming 1.6 update (which is in alpha on GitHub) to be pushed, so I can use GitHub Flavor-style codeblocks specifying the exact language.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ richardwo10.8y ago
I like the simplified editor controls so you don’t need to know Markdown to use it – the basics are in there Ideal for less technical people that can get into a muddle with HTML. Entering table markup works OK in the article but doesn’t render as a table in the preview window.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ OllieJones12.0y ago
Thanks for this. If you wanted to make an improvement, you might consider integrating this with https://wordpress.org/plugins/syntaxhighlighter/
Read on wp.org ↗
Behavioral tests
via WP HiveAutomated install-time checks, tested on PHP 7.2.16 · WP 5.3
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
5 of 8 pass · checked 26 Oct 2026Can an assistant quote this readme? Eight deterministic checks over the wp.org listing, no model involved.
- ✓ Says what it does "Allows Markdown to be enabled in posts, comments and bbPress forums."
- ✓ Has a FAQ 6 questions in the FAQ.
- ✓ FAQ asks real questions 5 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 Mentions bbPress.
- ! Headings and lists 0 headings and 0 lists; assistants quote headed sections and bullet lists, not paragraphs.
- ! Enough to quote 639 characters of description; under 1,000 there is little to quote.
- ✓ Tags match the text 3 of 5 tags appear in the text; "code", "formatting" do not.
Growth timeline
Install-tier crossings we have observed, and how long each tier took to outgrow
- 2026-09-14 400+ → 300+ down after 237 days in tier
- 2026-01-20 500+ → 400+ down after 97 days in tier
- 2025-10-15 600+ → 500+ down after 73 days in tier
- 2025-08-03 700+ → 600+ down after 17 days in tier
- 2025-07-17 800+ → 700+ down after 17 days in tier
- 2025-06-30 900+ → 800+ down after 24 days in tier
- 2025-06-06 1K+ → 900+ down after 727 days in tier
- 2023-06-10 2K+ → 1K+ down after 982 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).
- U Urvanov Syntax Highlighter 3K+ installs · 4.3★ · 2 shared tags A
-
Preserve Code Formatting 400+ installs · 4.1★ · 2 shared tags B - G Gist GitHub Shortcode 200+ installs · 4.3★ · 2 shared tags D
- W WP-SynHighlight 100+ installs · 4.1★ · 2 shared tags D
- P Prettify Code Syntax 70+ installs · 4.0★ · 2 shared tags D
- P Parsedown for WordPress 60+ installs · 4.1★ · 2 shared tags D
Embed this report card
Drop a live Pulse card for WP-Markdown into a readme, a review or a deck. It updates itself.
<iframe src="https://plugins.wpmayor.com/embed/wp-markdown" width="480" height="300" style="border:0" loading="lazy" title="WP-Markdown — Plugin Pulse"></iframe> WP-Markdown: 300+ active installs, 4.5★ (28 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-10-31. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/wp-markdown
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