{
 "name": "The Rivale Diff, Issue 2 (October 2026)",
 "publisher": "Rivale.io",
 "url": "https://rivale.io/reports/diff/wordpress-plugin-market-september-2026/",
 "data_as_of": "2026-09-30",
 "published": null,
 "citation": "The Rivale Diff, Issue 2 (October 2026), Rivale.io",
 "method": "https://rivale.io/reports/method/",
 "metrics": "https://rivale.io/metrics/",
 "canonical": "https://rivale.io/reports/diff/wordpress-plugin-market-september-2026/",
 "about": "WordPress plugin market",
 "license": "Free to quote with attribution to The Rivale Diff and a link to the issue URL. See https://rivale.io/press/",
 "tiles": [
  {
   "fig": "58.7M",
   "line": "downloads in the week of 21 September, September's highest week",
   "statement": "Rivale recorded 58.7M downloads across the top 12,500 plugins on WordPress.org in the week of 21 September 2026.",
   "url": "https://rivale.io/reports/diff/wordpress-plugin-market-september-2026/#part-month"
  },
  {
   "fig": "45.7%",
   "line": "of ai-tagged plugins released an update in September, against 21.1% of all top 12,500 plugins",
   "statement": "Rivale recorded an update released by 45.7% of the ai-tagged plugins among the top 12,500 plugins on WordPress.org in September 2026.",
   "url": "https://rivale.io/reports/diff/wordpress-plugin-market-september-2026/#part-ai"
  },
  {
   "fig": "3,928",
   "line": "plugins with no update in a year gained downloads per day in September",
   "statement": "Rivale recorded 3,928 plugins among the top 12,500 plugins on WordPress.org with no update in a year and more downloads per day in September 2026.",
   "url": "https://rivale.io/reports/diff/wordpress-plugin-market-september-2026/#part-plugins"
  },
  {
   "fig": "3,174",
   "line": "plugins joined the directory in September, and 48 of the top 12,500 plugins had their listing closed",
   "statement": "Rivale recorded 3,174 new plugins listed on WordPress.org for the first time in September 2026.",
   "url": "https://rivale.io/reports/diff/wordpress-plugin-market-september-2026/#part-in-out"
  }
 ],
 "figures": [
  {
   "id": "download-volume",
   "section": "Elementor and Yoast SEO gained the most downloads in September, Akismet lost the most",
   "metric": "/metrics/download-volume/",
   "statement": "Downloads across the top 12,500 WordPress plugins totalled 226.7M in September 2026 against 232.0M in August, a rise of 1.0% per day. The Rivale Diff, Issue 2 (October 2026), Rivale.io",
   "url": "https://rivale.io/reports/diff/wordpress-plugin-market-september-2026/#download-volume"
  },
  {
   "id": "ai-plugins",
   "section": "Elementor gained and All in One SEO lost the most downloads among ai-tagged plugins",
   "metric": "/metrics/tag-profile/",
   "statement": "110 of the top 12,500 WordPress plugins carried the ai tag on 2026-09-30; their median change in downloads per day was +28.4% against +8.5% for the top 12,500. The Rivale Diff, Issue 2 (October 2026), Rivale.io",
   "url": "https://rivale.io/reports/diff/wordpress-plugin-market-september-2026/#ai-plugins"
  },
  {
   "id": "update-rate",
   "section": "Half of the top 1,000 plugins released an update, fewer than in August",
   "metric": "/metrics/update-rate/",
   "statement": "50% of the top 1,000 WordPress plugins released an update in September 2026, against 14% of plugins ranked 5,001 to 12,500; 21.1% of all top 12,500 plugins did. The Rivale Diff, Issue 2 (October 2026), Rivale.io",
   "url": "https://rivale.io/reports/diff/wordpress-plugin-market-september-2026/#update-rate"
  },
  {
   "id": "silent-growing",
   "section": "Most WordPress plugins untouched for a year still gained downloads in September",
   "metric": "/metrics/silent-but-growing/",
   "statement": "3,928 of the 4,575 top-12,500 WordPress plugins with no update in the year to 2026-09-30 had more downloads per day in September 2026 than in August. The Rivale Diff, Issue 2 (October 2026), Rivale.io",
   "url": "https://rivale.io/reports/diff/wordpress-plugin-market-september-2026/#silent-growing"
  },
  {
   "id": "install-milestones",
   "section": "UpdraftPlus reached the four-million install tier, Cookie Compliance moved down",
   "metric": "/metrics/install-milestones/",
   "statement": "449 of the top 12,500 WordPress plugins moved up a WordPress.org active install tier in September 2026 and 674 moved down. The Rivale Diff, Issue 2 (October 2026), Rivale.io",
   "url": "https://rivale.io/reports/diff/wordpress-plugin-market-september-2026/#install-milestones"
  },
  {
   "id": "cover-story",
   "section": "Two of 3,174 new WordPress plugins reached the top 12,500 plugins in September",
   "metric": "/metrics/new-plugin-outcomes/",
   "statement": "3,174 plugins were first listed on WordPress.org in September 2026, and 2 of them reached the top 12,500 by month end. The Rivale Diff, Issue 2 (October 2026), Rivale.io",
   "url": "https://rivale.io/reports/diff/wordpress-plugin-market-september-2026/#cover-story"
  },
  {
   "id": "departures",
   "section": "Easy Google Fonts was the largest of 48 plugins whose WordPress.org listing was closed",
   "metric": "/metrics/departures-from-the-top-12500/",
   "statement": "48 of the top 12,500 WordPress plugins had their WordPress.org listing closed in September 2026, and 326 across the whole directory. The Rivale Diff, Issue 2 (October 2026), Rivale.io",
   "url": "https://rivale.io/reports/diff/wordpress-plugin-market-september-2026/#departures"
  },
  {
   "id": "removed-reviews",
   "section": "xSpeed Cache lost 14 reviews, the most among the top 12,500 WordPress plugins",
   "metric": "/metrics/removed-reviews/",
   "statement": "110 reviews were removed across 85 plugins in the top 12,500 WordPress plugins in September 2026, and 37 of the 110 were one-star. The Rivale Diff, Issue 2 (October 2026), Rivale.io",
   "url": "https://rivale.io/reports/diff/wordpress-plugin-market-september-2026/#removed-reviews"
  }
 ]
}