What WordPress users complain about in 1- and 2-star plugin reviews
578 low-star reviews (506 one-star, 72 two-star) of the 138 most-installed plugins in 12 WordPress.org categories, posted 26 Oct 2025 – 25 Oct 2026. A smaller sample than our app studies: popular plugins get few bad reviews. Classified by published keyword patterns into 15 themes. No AI.
Key findings
- Bugs & errors is the most common complaint: 32.5% of low-star reviews, ahead of slow or no support (18.0%) and upsell, paywall & pushy Pro version (14.9%).
- Updates and breakage: 8.5% blame an update, 5.4% say the plugin crashed or took down the site, 1.9% report conflicts with other plugins or themes.
- Money: 14.9% complain about upsells, paywalls or the Pro version, 11.1% about charges, renewals or refunds, 4.5% about ads and admin nags.
- 70.2% of low-star reviews got a reply from the plugin’s author or support team (median 1 day after the review). SEO reply most (98.2%), Translation least (21.4%).
- Bad reviews are rare relative to installs: 3.5 low-star reviews per million active installs overall; Cookies & privacy plugins draw the most (10.2), Security & anti-spam the fewest (1.5).
- By category (30+ low-star reviews): WooCommerce & payments leads on support complaints (23.6% of 72), Images, galleries & sliders leads on bugs (43.2% of 44), Backup & migration leads on upsells (23.6% of 89).
- Across these plugins, 6.4% of 254,569 all-time ratings are one or two stars.
- 31.0% of low-star reviews match none of the 15 themes: short verdicts, other languages, or plugin-specific problems.
For journalists and researchers
| Sample | 578 one- and two-star reviews of the 138 most-installed plugins in 12 WordPress.org categories |
|---|---|
| Period | 26 Oct 2025 – 25 Oct 2026; fetched 25 Oct 2026 from wordpress.org |
| Method | 15 complaint themes matched by published keyword patterns (no AI); hand check 60 of 70 matches on topic. Details |
| Credit line | Source: Revunda (revunda.xyz), analysis of 578 low-star WordPress.org plugin reviews, 2026 |
| Licence | CC BY 4.0: reuse, chart and republish with credit and a link to this page |
| Data | CSV · Themes chart (SVG) · Reply chart (SVG) · Rate chart (SVG) |
| Questions | hello@revunda.xyz |
Summary to quote
Complaint themes across all plugins
Share of 578 one- and two-star reviews mentioning each theme (title and text). A review can match several themes.
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By category
Share of each category’s low-star reviews mentioning each theme, %. Categories with at least 20 low-star reviews.
| Category | Plugins | 1–2★ | Bugs | Support | Upsell | Charges | Hard to use | Slow | Update | Scam | AI | Missing | Site down | Nags | Conflict | Data loss | Locked out |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Page builders & blocks | 12 | 97 | 30.9 | 21.6 | 12.4 | 16.5 | 18.6 | 21.6 | 16.5 | 4.1 | 8.2 | 4.1 | 6.2 | 4.1 | 2.1 | 0 | 0 |
| Backup & migration | 12 | 89 | 31.5 | 13.5 | 23.6 | 10.1 | 3.4 | 5.6 | 3.4 | 21.3 | 2.2 | 3.4 | 4.5 | 2.2 | 1.1 | 1.1 | 0 |
| WooCommerce & payments | 12 | 72 | 36.1 | 23.6 | 5.6 | 9.7 | 9.7 | 8.3 | 11.1 | 5.6 | 4.2 | 6.9 | 8.3 | 5.6 | 2.8 | 0 | 0 |
| SEO | 12 | 56 | 28.6 | 23.2 | 12.5 | 16.1 | 8.9 | 1.8 | 7.1 | 5.4 | 21.4 | 3.6 | 1.8 | 0 | 1.8 | 0 | 0 |
| Cookies & privacy | 12 | 46 | 34.8 | 13.0 | 21.7 | 2.2 | 10.9 | 0 | 4.3 | 6.5 | 4.3 | 10.9 | 2.2 | 8.7 | 2.2 | 0 | 0 |
| Images, galleries & sliders | 12 | 44 | 43.2 | 9.1 | 15.9 | 6.8 | 11.4 | 11.4 | 11.4 | 6.8 | 0 | 4.5 | 6.8 | 2.3 | 0 | 2.3 | 0 |
| Security & anti-spam | 12 | 37 | 24.3 | 21.6 | 16.2 | 8.1 | 8.1 | 2.7 | 10.8 | 2.7 | 0 | 2.7 | 8.1 | 5.4 | 2.7 | 2.7 | 0 |
| Caching & speed | 12 | 35 | 34.3 | 2.9 | 2.9 | 0 | 5.7 | 17.1 | 2.9 | 0 | 11.4 | 11.4 | 11.4 | 0 | 2.9 | 2.9 | 0 |
| Forms | 12 | 30 | 33.3 | 23.3 | 10.0 | 10.0 | 6.7 | 3.3 | 13.3 | 0 | 3.3 | 6.7 | 10.0 | 3.3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Translation | 6 | 28 | 39.3 | 28.6 | 25.0 | 32.1 | 7.1 | 7.1 | 0 | 14.3 | 3.6 | 7.1 | 0 | 10.7 | 3.6 | 0 | 0 |
| Email & SMTP | 12 | 22 | 22.7 | 18.2 | 22.7 | 4.5 | 9.1 | 9.1 | 4.5 | 22.7 | 9.1 | 4.5 | 0 | 4.5 | 0 | 0 | 4.5 |
| Analytics | 12 | 22 | 27.3 | 13.6 | 13.6 | 13.6 | 0 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 0 | 0 | 13.6 | 0 | 18.2 | 4.5 | 0 | 0 |
Bad reviews per million installs
Low-star reviews in the period divided by the plugins’ combined active installs (as reported by WordPress.org, rounded down by the directory). Overall 3.5 per million installs across 166.6M+ installs.
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Do developers reply to bad reviews?
Share of low-star reviews with a reply from someone WordPress.org marks as the plugin’s author or support representative. Overall 70.2% of 578 reviews; median reply 1 day after the review, 67.5% of replies within 2 days.
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Lowest reply rates (plugins with ≥10 low-star reviews): Translate WordPress with GTranslate 8.3% of 12; Polylang 15.4% of 13; All-in-One WP Migration and Backup 27.7% of 47.
Plugins with the most low-star reviews
| Plugin | Category | Installs | 1–2★ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elementor Website Builder | Page builders & blocks | 10M+ | 77 |
| All-in-One WP Migration and Backup | Backup & migration | 5M+ | 47 |
| Rank Math SEO | SEO | 4M+ | 24 |
| Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner | Cookies & privacy | 1M+ | 22 |
| Google for WooCommerce | WooCommerce & payments | 800,000+ | 18 |
| Jetpack | Backup & migration | 3M+ | 15 |
| CookieYes | Cookies & privacy | 1M+ | 15 |
| WooCommerce PayPal Payments | WooCommerce & payments | 800,000+ | 14 |
| Polylang | Translation | 900,000+ | 13 |
| All in One SEO | SEO | 2M+ | 12 |
Plugins with the highest share of each complaint
Among 17 plugins with at least 10 low-star reviews in the period; 3+ matching reviews required.
Bugs & errors
| Plugin | Category | 1–2★ | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner | Cookies & privacy | 22 | 54.5% |
| Image Optimizer | Images, galleries & sliders | 11 | 54.5% |
| Polylang | Translation | 13 | 53.8% |
Slow or no support
| Plugin | Category | 1–2★ | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| WooCommerce | WooCommerce & payments | 10 | 50.0% |
| Translate WordPress with GTranslate | Translation | 12 | 33.3% |
| Polylang | Translation | 13 | 30.8% |
Upsell, paywall & pushy Pro version
| Plugin | Category | 1–2★ | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| All-in-One WP Migration and Backup | Backup & migration | 47 | 42.6% |
| Polylang | Translation | 13 | 30.8% |
| CookieYes | Cookies & privacy | 15 | 26.7% |
Charges, renewals & refunds
| Plugin | Category | 1–2★ | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Translate WordPress with GTranslate | Translation | 12 | 33.3% |
| Polylang | Translation | 13 | 23.1% |
| Elementor Website Builder | Page builders & blocks | 77 | 18.2% |
Hard to use or set up
| Plugin | Category | 1–2★ | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| WooCommerce | WooCommerce & payments | 10 | 30.0% |
| Elementor Website Builder | Page builders & blocks | 77 | 20.8% |
| Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner | Cookies & privacy | 22 | 13.6% |
Slows the site or heavy
| Plugin | Category | 1–2★ | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elementor Website Builder | Page builders & blocks | 77 | 24.7% |
| Jetpack | Backup & migration | 15 | 20.0% |
Broke after an update
| Plugin | Category | 1–2★ | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| WooCommerce PayPal Payments | WooCommerce & payments | 14 | 21.4% |
| Elementor Website Builder | Page builders & blocks | 77 | 19.5% |
Called it a scam or misleading
| Plugin | Category | 1–2★ | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| All-in-One WP Migration and Backup | Backup & migration | 47 | 38.3% |
AI features or AI support
| Plugin | Category | 1–2★ | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank Math SEO | SEO | 24 | 33.3% |
| Elementor Website Builder | Page builders & blocks | 77 | 7.8% |
Missing features & limits
| Plugin | Category | 1–2★ | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elementor Website Builder | Page builders & blocks | 77 | 3.9% |
Crashed or took down the site
| Plugin | Category | 1–2★ | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jetpack | Backup & migration | 15 | 20.0% |
| Google for WooCommerce | WooCommerce & payments | 18 | 16.7% |
| Elementor Website Builder | Page builders & blocks | 77 | 6.5% |
Ads, nags & admin clutter
| Plugin | Category | 1–2★ | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google for WooCommerce | WooCommerce & payments | 18 | 16.7% |
| Elementor Website Builder | Page builders & blocks | 77 | 3.9% |
Method
- Plugins: the 600 most-installed plugins in the WordPress.org plugin directory (API, 25 Oct 2026; all have 70,000+ active installs). Each plugin is put in the category of its first directory tag that maps to one of 12 categories; per category, the top 12 plugins by active installs, or fewer where the category has fewer (SEO 12; Page builders & blocks 12; Forms 12; WooCommerce & payments 12; Security & anti-spam 12; Caching & speed 12; Images, galleries & sliders 12; Backup & migration 12; Email & SMTP 12; Analytics 12; Cookies & privacy 12; Translation 6). 255 of the 600 did not map to any category and are left out.
- Reviews: each plugin’s public review feed on wordpress.org, filtered to 1★ and to 2★ (newest 30 of each, with full text and creation date). Where all 30 fell inside the period, the public review list was paged back and the extra reviews read from their topic pages (49 reviews this way). One request about every 1.1 seconds. 506 one-star and 72 two-star reviews were created 26 Oct 2025 – 25 Oct 2026. 47 of the 138 plugins had no low-star review in the period.
- Replies: every low-star review with at least one reply was opened; a developer reply is a reply WordPress.org badges as “Plugin Author” or “Plugin Support”, with its date.
- All-time stars and installs come from the plugin directory API on the fetch date.
- Classification: each review’s title and text are matched against one case-insensitive regular expression per theme, written for this study (English). A review can match several themes or none. No AI is involved.
- Thresholds: a category is shown with ≥20 low-star reviews; a plugin is ranked with ≥10.
Theme patterns
Slow or no support\bsupport\b|customer service|help ?desk|no (?:response|reply|answer|help)|never (?:got|received|heard)|(?:didn['’]?t|did not|never|no one|nobody|won['’]?t|refused to) (?:respond|reply|answer|get back|help)|ignor(?:ed|ing) (?:my|our|me|us|the)|\bticket\b|\bforum\b
Bugs & errors\bbugs?\b|\bbuggy\b|glitch|\bbroke\b|\bbroken\b|not working|doesn['’]?t work|does not work|didn['’]?t work|did not work|stopped working|won['’]?t work|\berrors?\b|\bwarnings?\b|deprecated|\bissues? with\b|messed up|disappeared
Crashed or took down the sitecritical error|fatal error|white screen|\bwsod\b|500 error|error 500|internal server error|(?:site|website|page|admin|dashboard|backend) (?:went |is |was )?(?:down|crash\w*|broke|broken|inaccessible|unusable)|(?:crash\w*|broke|break\w*|killed|took down|brought down) (?:my |our |the |a |entire |whole )*(?:site|website|store|shop|server|wordpress|admin|dashboard)|site crash
Broke after an update(?:after|since|with|in) (?:the |this |a |an |their |its |last |latest |recent |new |newest |most recent |\d[\d.]* )*(?:update|upgrade|version|release)|(?:update|upgrade)[ds]? (?:broke|broken|killed|ruined|messed|crashed|removed|changed)|new version|(?:last|latest|recent) (?:update|version)
Conflicts with other plugins or themes\bconflict(?:s|ing)?\b|(?:incompatib\w*|not compatible|compatibility (?:issues?|problems?)|clash(?:es|ed)?)[^.!?\n]{0,40}(?:plugins?|themes?|builder|elementor|woocommerce|divi|astra|yoast|gutenberg|block editor)|(?:breaks?|broke) (?:other|another|my other) (?:plugins?|themes?)
Upsell, paywall & pushy Pro version\bupsell|up-sell|pay ?wall|freemium|\b(?:premium|pro) (?:version|plan|licen[cs]e|features?|add-?ons?|extensions?|only|upgrade|tier)|\bgo pro\b|buy (?:the )?(?:pro|premium|paid|full)\b|(?:free|lite) version (?:is|was) (?:useless|limited|crippled|a demo|just|basically)|only (?:in|with|available in|for) (?:the )?(?:pro|premium|paid)\b|(?:forced|have|has|had|need|needs|must|required) to (?:buy|pay|upgrade|purchase)\b|behind (?:a|the) (?:pay|paid)|paid (?:extensions?|add-?ons?|version)|(?:sales|marketing) (?:pitch|tool)|\btrial\b
Ads, nags & admin clutter\bnag(?:s|ging|ware)?\b|\bads\b|advertis|(?:upgrade|upsell|promo\w*|marketing|sales|admin|dashboard|annoying|constant|endless|intrusive|pro) (?:notices?|banners?|notifications?|pop-?ups?|messages?)|notices? (?:everywhere|all over|in (?:the |my )?(?:admin|dashboard))|pop-?ups? (?:in|on|all over) (?:the |my )?(?:admin|dashboard|wp-admin)|spam(?:s|my|ming)? (?:my|the|your) (?:admin|dashboard|wp-admin)|clutter|dashboard widget
Charges, renewals & refunds\bcharg(?:e|ed|es|ing)\b|\bbill(?:ed|ing)\b|\brefund|money back|\binvoice|auto-?renew|\brenew(?:al|ed)?\b|\bcredit card\b|subscription|\blicen[cs]e (?:key|fee|cost|renewal|expired)|paid for|i paid|we paid
Slows the site or heavy\bslow(?:s|ed|ing|er)?\b|page ?speed|load(?:ing)? (?:time|speed)|performance|takes forever|\bheavy\b|resource[- ]hog|cpu|\bbloat(?:ed|ware)?\b|memory (?:usage|limit|exhaust)|database (?:size|bloat|full)|too many (?:queries|requests|files)
Hard to use or set up\bhard to\b|difficult|complicated|confusing|not (?:easy|intuitive|user[- ]friendly)|tedious|steep learning|clunky|\bunusable\b|can['’]?t figure|couldn['’]?t figure|no (?:documentation|instructions)|poor documentation
Missing features & limitsmissing (?:feature|basic|option|functionality)|lack(?:s|ing)?(?: of)? (?:basic |many |key |essential |some )?(?:features?|options?|functionality|customi[sz]ation)|no option (?:to|for)|(?:doesn['’]?t|does not|didn['’]?t|did not) (?:have|support|allow|offer|let)|(?:can['’]?t|cannot|unable to) (?:customi[sz]e|change|edit|adjust|select|choose|disable|turn off)|limited (?:features?|options?|functionality)|very basic|too basic|removed (?:the |a )?(?:feature|option)
Lost data, content or settings\blost (?:all |my |our |the |every )*(?:data|content|posts?|pages?|settings|orders?|emails?|entries|submissions|images?|files|work|customi[sz]ations?|translations?)|data loss|(?:deleted|wiped|erased|removed) (?:all |my |our |the |every )*(?:data|content|posts?|pages?|settings|orders?|emails?|entries|submissions|images?|media|database|tables)|\bwiped\b|corrupt(?:ed|s)? (?:my |our |the |all )*(?:database|data|site|website|content|posts?|pages?|media)
Locked out or blockedlock(?:ed|s)? (?:me|us|myself|users|customers|people|admins?|everyone) out|locked out|(?:can['’]?t|cannot|couldn['’]?t|unable to) (?:log ?in|login|sign in|access) (?:to |into )?(?:my |our |the )?(?:own )?(?:site|website|admin|dashboard|wp-admin|backend|wordpress)|(?:blocked|banned) (?:me|us|myself|legitimate|real|customers|users|admins?)\b|blocked (?:my|our) (?:own )?(?:ip|access|login)
AI features or AI support\bai\b|a\.i\.|artificial intelligence|chat ?gpt|openai|\bllms?\b|machine learning
Called it a scam or misleading\bscam|\bfraud|\bsteal|\bstole\b|rip ?off|ripoff|misleading|false advertis|deceptiv|\bbait\b|dishonest|shady|predatory|\blies\b|\blied\b
Spot check
We read 70 randomly drawn matches by hand (up to 5 per theme, fixed seed): 60 of 70 (86%) were on topic. Misses by theme: support 2/5, upsell 2/5, nags 2/5, charges 1/5, missing 1/5, data loss 1/4, locked out 1/1. Most misses are generic words used in another sense (support for a feature, advertising meaning misleading claims, locked out of sending email). The one locked-out match was off topic, so that theme is effectively zero.
Limitations
- 578 low-star reviews is a small sample: category shares rest on 22–97 reviews each, so treat differences of a few points as noise.
- Keyword patterns miss paraphrases, sarcasm, misspellings and non-English reviews, and catch some off-topic uses; shares are approximate.
- Plugins were picked by active installs, so this describes the most popular plugins, not the long tail.
- Multi-feature suites count in one category only: Jetpack (backup, security, speed) is in Backup & migration because its first directory tag is “backup”; it has 15 of the 89 low-star reviews there.
- WordPress.org moderators remove reviews that break the forum rules; we only see what is public on the fetch date.
- Low-star reviews over-represent unhappy users and say nothing about how many users are happy.
Download the data
wordpress-plugin-review-complaints-2026.csv (CSV): every number on this page by overall, category, star rating and plugin, with counts and shares per theme, reply rate, installs and all-time star share. Licence: CC BY 4.0. Please credit Revunda with a link to this page.
Revunda (2026). What WordPress users complain about in 1- and 2-star plugin reviews. https://revunda.xyz/apps/research/wordpress-plugin-review-complaints-2026/
Link:
<a href="https://revunda.xyz/apps/research/wordpress-plugin-review-complaints-2026/">Revunda study of 578 low-star WordPress plugin reviews</a>WordPress plugin 1-star reviews: what to fix first
1-star reviews by plugin: Elementor · All-in-One WP Migration · Rank Math SEO · Complianz
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