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WP Select Primary Category

by Mobeen Abdullah · Uncategorized

Also makes 2 other plugins · 60+ installs across the portfolio →

WP Select Primary Category plugin allows you to select a primary category for different posts and custom post types.

⚠ Stale⚠ Likely abandoned⚠ Few reviews
How scoring works →
44 Health · D
Maintenance 3/100
Rating quality 72/100
Support 70/100

44 health vs 56 average across 16,378 Uncategorized plugins

High removal-risk signals

63/100

Maintenance 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 6+ years — the top precursor to removal once a vulnerability is found.
  • Compatibility drift. Tested only up to WordPress 5.3.23, well behind 6.8.

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.

36 / 100

Under-optimized

Biggest win: Update recency

Update recency 1/100
WP compatibility 17/100
Rating quality 52/100
Listing tuning 84/100

To rank higher: Last updated 2440 days ago — ship an update; wp.org decays a listing's search weight after ~180 days.

Get the full rank-higher report →

Daily downloads

Since 2022-10-05 · 1,427 days · wp.org + Plugin Pulse archive

+13% vs prior 30d
7Downloads · Aug 26

30-day downloads

Rolling 30-day volume · peaks are release surges

157

now · peak 2.4K

15730d downloads · Sep 26

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

WP Select Primary Ca · #21250 you Simple Taxonomy Refr · #9405 Taxonomy Checklist T · #9850 Taxonomy Toolbox · #19012

Rating trend

Star average over time · dips mark rough releases

4Stars · Sep 26

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.

3.1Kper 1k installs · Sep 26

Release cadence

No release in a year
from wp.org release tags

How 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

6.7y ago

latest release · v1.0.8

1

tagged releases on record

Recent releases

1.0.8 · 6.7y ago

What its installed base runs

via wordpress.org

Share of active installs on each version of this plugin · 100% run the current release. Green is the current release; a big slice on older versions is a user base that has stopped updating.

v1.0 100%

Estimated active installs

The public count shows “50+”. Our estimate pins where the real number sits.

modeled estimate
50–60 ≈57

Modeled within the band wp.org reports; tightens as we track daily.

Install history · since 2022-10-04 · 1,383 observations

50Installs · Sep 26

Estimated value

What this plugin might earn a year, and what it might sell for. Modeled from public signals; we don't see anyone's books.

Est. annual revenue

N/A

Est. acquisition value

N/A

No paid tier is visible, so we don't put a figure on revenue or sale value: that would be guessing. The install base is a real asset to an acquirer, just not one public data lets us price. A small install base leaves thin data to model from.

Details

Version
1.0.8
Last updated
6.7y ago
Added
2019-12-23 · 6 yrs old
Requires WP
5.0
Tested up to
5.3.23
Requires PHP
5.6

Recent reviews

All reviews on wp.org ↗
  1. alekmitch
    3.6y ago

    The only reason I installed this was to have a specific breadcrumb show out of two or more categories. I use AIOSEO and it baffles me that they don’t have this option (perhaps I don’t know how to find it?) Similarly, I’m slightly disappointed this plugin doesn’t work in modern Gutenberg. This topic was modified 3 years, 5 months ago by alekmitch.

    Read on wp.org ↗
  2. kurtgschumacher
    4.7y ago

    I was looking for a way to set the primary category for posts without having to use Yoast, because I’m using a different SEO plugin. I found several, but none of them had been updated in 2 or 3 years. Although this plugin hasn’t been updated in two years (this review is being written in January 2022), it appears to be working well on WordPress 5.8.2.

    Read on wp.org ↗

Behavioral tests

via WP Hive

Automated install-time checks, tested on PHP 7.2.16 · WP 5.4.1

Low memory footprint
Low page-speed impact
Runs on latest PHP + WP
No PHP errors
No JS errors
Activates cleanly
No resource errors
No external HTTP errors
Optimized database use
Frequently updated

Growth timeline

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

  1. 2026-09-01 40+ → 50+ up after 123 days in tier
  2. 2026-05-01 50+ → 40+ down after 1 days in tier
  3. 2026-04-30 40+ → 50+ up after 1 days in tier
  4. 2026-04-29 50+ → 40+ down after 10 days in tier
  5. 2026-04-19 40+ → 50+ up after 1 days in tier
  6. 2026-04-18 50+ → 40+ down after 24 days in tier
  7. 2026-03-25 40+ → 50+ up after 1 days in tier
  8. 2026-03-24 50+ → 40+ down after 40 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).

Compare head to head →

Embed this report card

Drop a live Pulse card for WP Select Primary Category into a readme, a review or a deck. It updates itself.

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Preview card ↗

WP Select Primary Category: 50+ active installs, 4.0★ (2 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-09-01. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/wp-select-primary-category