The Rivale Diff
The monthly diff of the WordPress plugin market
WordPress plugin market data, September 2026
This issue records what Rivale observed across the WordPress plugin market in August 2026, from downloads and ratings to arrivals, departures and WordPress 7.1 support. Every figure says what it was measured on.
Cite: The Rivale Diff, Issue 1 (September 2026), Rivale.io Copy · Press and data use
In this issue
Editor’s note · Rivale
This Rivale Diff issue has two spotlight stories.
The first is the busiest download week of the trailing year, the week of 17 August. Part one names the twenty plugins that moved the most: Akismet’s August was nine times its July, and MonsterInsights’ was half.
The second is WordPress 7.1, released on 19 August. By month end, one in five of the top 12,500 plugins had declared support for it. 33 of the top 100 had not, WooCommerce and Jetpack among them, and some plugins had declared it in June, before it shipped. Part two names them all.
The rest of the issue is the diff: who released an update, who gained ratings, who climbed, who arrived and who left, and where the whole directory stands on maintenance.
Note: From Issue 2, every one of those figures carries its change against this one, and the stories change with the month.
Enjoy!
Matteo
How busy August was
Weekly downloads across the top 12,500 plugins over the trailing year, and the plugins that gained and lost the most in August against July.
Downloads
Downloads across the top 12,500 plugins reached a one-year high in August
Rivale recorded 65.9M downloads across the top 12,500 plugins on WordPress.org in the week of 17 August 2026. That was the highest week of the trailing year. The previous high was the week of 1 December, at 65.0M.
Across four weeks August totalled 218.5M downloads against 184.3M in July. Three plugins in four had higher downloads in August than in July, and every tag grew.
Show the numbers
Gained the most downloads, August against July
Lost the most downloads, August against July
52 weeks from 1 September 2025 to 30 August 2026, across the top 12,500 plugins, each week labelled by its first day. A plugin counts as higher when its August downloads exceed its July downloads. August means the four weeks from 3 August, and July the four weeks from 6 July. Method
Cite this DefinitionDownload volumeAlso in August
WordPress 7.1, twelve days in
WordPress 7.1 support twelve days after its release.
WordPress 7.1
A fifth of the top 12,500 plugins declared WordPress 7.1 support within twelve days
Rivale recorded 2,560 of the top 12,500 plugins on WordPress.org naming WordPress 7.1 in their tested-up-to field by 31 August 2026. That is one in five, twelve days after the 19 August release. Across the whole directory the share was 9.4%.
33 of the top 100 plugins had not declared 7.1 by 31 August, and 548 of the top 1,000. WooCommerce, Jetpack and WPForms were among them, each still naming 7.0.4.
Eleven plugins in the top 12,500 named 7.1 in the first half of June, more than two months before the release. Password Protected, ranked 193, was the highest placed.
24.4% still names WordPress 7.0
19.6% still names WordPress 7.0
and 23 more, 33 of the top 100 in all.
Show all 33
Top-100 plugins that had not declared WordPress 7.1 by 31 August
As of 2026-08-31, twelve days after the 2026-08-19 release, across the top 12,500 plugins and every plugin in the directory. The tested-up-to field is declared by the plugin author, not verified by Rivale. "Last new version" is the date of the plugin's latest version, not its readme. Method
Cite this DefinitionPlugin support for WordPress versionsThe top 1,000 and everyone else
Updates, ratings and rank movement in August, compared across the popularity rank each plugin held when the month began, with the plugins behind the numbers.
Updates and ratings
Half of the top 1,000 plugins released an update, and one in three gained a rating
Rivale recorded an update released by 50% of the top 1,000 plugins on WordPress.org in August 2026. That was up from 43% in July. Among plugins ranked 5,001 to 12,500, 15% did.
One in three of the top 1,000 plugins gained a rating. Among plugins ranked 5,001 to 12,500, one in 45 did.
Across all top 12,500 plugins, 22.6% released an update and 6.5% gained a rating. The 1,851 ratings gained were 88% five-star.
Show the numbers
Gained the most ratings in August
August 2026, plugins in the top 12,500, grouped by the popularity rank each plugin held when August began. Updates are new versions listed between 1 and 31 August. Ratings are counted per star, so a rating removed in one star does not cancel one gained in another. Method
Cite this DefinitionUpdate rateAlso in August
Which plugins came and left
Which plugins arrived in the directory, which left the top 12,500 plugins, and which lost reviews in August.
Arrivals
Four of 2,444 new plugins listed in August reached the top 12,500 plugins
Rivale recorded 2,444 new plugins listed on WordPress.org for the first time in August 2026. That is 79 a day on average. By 31 August, 74 had reached 10 or more installs. None had reached 1,000, and four had entered the top 12,500 plugins.
The newcomers lean towards commerce and AI. 24.3% carry the woocommerce tag, against 12.1% of the directory. Plugins tagged ai are 3.2 times as common among the arrivals as across the directory.
Listing dates 1 to 31 August 2026. Tags are declared by the plugin author, and a plugin carrying several tags is counted in each. Install counts are bucketed by WordPress.org. The funnel and the slope use square-root scales so small values stay visible. Method
Cite this DefinitionNew plugin outcomesDepartures
Wordfence Login Security led 52 departures from the top 12,500 plugins
52 plugins dropped out of the top 12,500 plugins in August, and most of the 52 had 1,000 or more installs. The largest was Wordfence Login Security, with 60,000 installs, last listed on 17 August. Content Control, with 40,000, followed on 12 August.
Fifteen plugins entered the top 12,500 in the same month, led by FrontEdit Live Block Editor at rank 4,271.
Departures with the most installs
Plugins that entered the top 12,500 in August
Departures recorded 1 to 31 August 2026, each dated by the last day the plugin was listed in the top 12,500. A plugin counts as a departure only once it has been absent long enough to rule out a temporary gap. Entries are limited to plugins first listed at least a week before entering. Install counts are bucketed by WordPress.org. Method
Cite this DefinitionDepartures from the top 12,500Removed reviews
Melhor Envio lost 24 reviews, the most among the top 12,500 plugins
140 reviews were removed across 104 plugins in the top 12,500 during August. Melhor Envio lost 24, more than any other plugin.
49 of the removed reviews were one-star and 91 were rated higher.
Plugins with the most reviews removed in August
Review removals recorded across August 2026, plugins in the top 12,500. Install counts are bucketed by WordPress.org. Method
Cite this DefinitionRemoved reviewsAlso in August
Where the whole WordPress plugin directory stands
Maintenance, plugin dependencies and support across all 67,106 plugins listed on 31 August.
Where the directory stands
Notes on the numbers
- The top 12,500 plugins are the 12,500 plugins that WordPress.org’s popularity ordering lists first.
- The whole directory means all 67,106 plugins listed on WordPress.org on 31 August.
- Inside the top 12,500 plugins, figures split by the popularity rank each plugin held when August began. Download figures compare four full weeks, 3 to 30 August, with the four weeks from 6 July to 2 August. Every other figure covers 1 to 31 August, or stands at 31 August. Method
End of Issue 1 · September 2026