Zero Budget Bot Shield
by Sam · Security
Also makes 2 other plugins · 100+ installs across the portfolio →
Free, lightweight WordPress plugin that blocks bots by country and prevents abuse via repeated 404 errors. Perfect for small organizations.
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
Not scored
no reviews to score from
Active installs
100+
≈110 estimated
Momentum
-19%
downloads vs prior 30d
Biggest opportunity: Swap “404 protection” for “budget”. “404 protection” isn't earning its slot: you're not in the first 24 results for its own search. “budget” sits at #8 untagged, close enough for a declared tag to move it up. All five slots are taken, so one has to go.
Not scored yet. Nobody has reviewed this plugin, so a grade would come from directory averages rather than from anything measured here.
Install conversion
How it's measured →14%
of downloads still active
At least 100 of 691 lifetime downloads are still running, above its category: the median Security plugin keeps 1.4%, across 1,059 plugins.
Downloads count every update, not just first installs, so older and more frequently released plugins read lower. Compare against other Security plugins, not across the directory. wp.org reports active installs as the bottom of a band, so the real rate is this or higher.
This plugin shipped 2 releases in the last 12 months, and every existing install that updated counted as another download. wp.org publishes no split between first installs and updates, so we show the raw rate rather than guess at one.
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: Rating quality
Updated 290 days ago, past the ~180 days where wp.org starts discounting
Tested up to WordPress 6.9.11, the current branch or newer
No reviews yet, so wp.org scores it as a middling unrated listing
5 of 5 tags set · short description in place
To rank higher: No reviews yet. wp.org scores an unrated plugin as middling on rating, so the first good reviews lift it.
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.
45
Momentum
Holding steady
+0.3
Velocity
places per keyword, 8d
33%
Breadth
of keywords climbing, 8d
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| budget | #8 | #17 | up 1 |
| 404 protection your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| bots your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| firewall your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| geo blocking your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| security your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
3 searches this plugin appeared in over the last 90 days, 1 listed. 2 left out as unrelated or noise (years, numbers, stray words). 5 of its tags aren't in the top 24 for their own search.
What to do about it
- Swap “404 protection” for “budget”. “404 protection” isn't earning its slot: you're not in the first 24 results for its own search. “budget” sits at #8 untagged, close enough for a declared tag to move it up. All five slots are taken, so one has to go.
Daily downloads
Since 14 Jan 2026 · 290 days · wp.org + Plugin Pulse archive
30-day downloads
Rolling 30-day volume · peak 117 · 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 21 Oct 2026.
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
Occasionally updatedHow often this plugin actually ships. A steady rhythm is the maintenance signal a single "last updated" date can't show.
2
releases in the last 12 months
10mo ago
latest release · v1.0.2 · 14 Jan 2026
2
tagged releases on record
Recent releases
What its installed base runs
via wordpress.orgShare 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.
Estimated active installs
The public count shows “100+”. Our estimate pins where the real number sits.
Crossed into this band 20 days ago and a band this size takes about a year or more to cross, so the real count is still just over 100.
At the current install trend, crossing 200+ in roughly 211 days.
Install history since 13 Jan 2026
Behavioral tests
via WP HiveAutomated install-time checks, tested on PHP 8.1.12 · WP 7.0
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
8 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 "Free, lightweight WordPress plugin that blocks bots by country and prevents abuse via repeated 404 errors...."
- ✓ Has a FAQ 17 questions in the FAQ.
- ✓ FAQ asks real questions 17 of 17 read like questions a user would type.
- ✓ Names who it is for Names its audience or use cases ("for small businesses", "who want").
- ✓ Names what it works with Mentions Cloudflare.
- ✓ Headings and lists 6 headings and 6 lists.
- ✓ Enough to quote 2,730 characters of description.
- ✓ Tags match the text 3 of 5 tags appear in the text; "firewall", "geo blocking" do not.
Growth timeline
Install-tier crossings we have observed, and how long each tier took to outgrow
- 2026-10-11 90+ → 100+ up after 42 days in tier
- 2026-08-30 80+ → 90+ up after 23 days in tier
- 2026-08-07 70+ → 80+ up after 25 days in tier
- 2026-07-13 60+ → 70+ up after 2 days in tier
- 2026-07-11 50+ → 60+ up after 23 days in tier
- 2026-06-18 40+ → 50+ up after 11 days in tier
- 2026-06-07 30+ → 40+ up after 31 days in tier
- 2026-05-07 20+ → 30+ up after 49 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).
-
BBQ Firewall – Fast & Powerful Firewall Security 100K+ installs · 4.9★ · 3 shared tags A -
Shield Security – Smart Bot Blocking, Brute-Force Login Protection & File Scanning 30K+ installs · 4.8★ · 3 shared tags A -
Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ installs · 4.7★ · 2 shared tags A -
Limit Login Attempts Security – Login Security, 2FA, Firewall, Brute Force Prevention 1M+ installs · 4.8★ · 2 shared tags A -
Security Optimizer – The All-In-One Protection Plugin 1M+ installs · 4.5★ · 2 shared tags A -
All-In-One Security (AIOS) – Security and Firewall 1M+ installs · 4.7★ · 2 shared tags A
Embed this report card
Drop a live Pulse card for Zero Budget Bot Shield into a readme, a review or a deck. It updates itself.
<iframe src="https://plugins.wpmayor.com/embed/zero-budget-bot-shield" width="480" height="300" style="border:0" loading="lazy" title="Zero Budget Bot Shield — Plugin Pulse"></iframe> Zero Budget Bot Shield: 100+ active installs, no reviews yet. Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-10-31. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/zero-budget-bot-shield
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