Some useless facts that might help create an unbelievable “Did you know?” fact about WordPress such as
One percent of WordPress plugins deliver blocks.
Herb Miller, based on some (not so flaky) evidence below.
Figures from Oct 2019
Plugins and Gutenberg blocks
- There are 54,896 plugins. https://wordpress.org/plugins/
- Over 400 plugins provide Gutenberg blocks or extend blocks. https://wordpress.org/plugins/browse/blocks/
- These are the curated plugins.
- From a list of 53,258 blocks, I identified 551 plugins as potentially delivering blocks or somehow enhancing WordPress blocks.
- That’s 150 more than the curated list.
- Assuming each plugin provides 8 blocks per plugin that’s 4,500 blocks.
For more information see bobbingwide/oik-loader#1.
Some other miscellany
WordPress has been around for 16 years.
In October 2019, the new block editor was less than one year old.
- WordPress 5.2 has been downloaded over 76 million times. https://wordpress.org/download/counter
- The Classic editor plugins is installed on 5 million sites. https://wordpress.org/plugins/classic-editor/
Nearly 90K sites are using Gutenberg v6.4 or higher. https://wordpress.org/plugins/gutenberg/advanced/ - In My Honest Opinion: Themes should not deliver blocks.
Top 17 or so WordPress plugins
All these plugins have been downloaded over 25 million times.
| Plugin name and description | Plugin links | Version, total downloads, last update, tested |
|---|---|---|
| =’wordpress-seo | No info available | |
| Jetpack – WP Security, Backup, Speed, & Growth Improve your WP security with powerful one-click tools like backup, WAF, and malware scan. Includes free tools like stats, CDN and social sharing. |
jetpack home |
16.3.1 514,278,011 October 12, 2026 7.1.3 |
| Akismet Anti-spam: Spam Protection The best anti-spam protection to block spam comments and spam in a contact form. The most trusted antispam solution for WordPress and WooCommerce. |
akismet home |
5.7.2 407,607,784 August 18, 2026 7.1.3 |
| Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security Firewall, Malware Scanner, Two Factor Auth, and Comprehensive Security Features, powered by our 24-hour team. Make security a priority with Wordfence. |
wordfence home |
9.0.2 431,376,021 September 30, 2026 7.1.3 |
| Contact Form 7 Just another contact form plugin. Simple but flexible. |
contact-form-7 home |
6.2.2 428,271,514 October 11, 2026 7.1.3 |
| WooCommerce Everything you need to launch an online store in days and keep it growing for years. From your first sale to millions in revenue, Woo is with you. |
woocommerce home |
11.2.1 469,769,818 October 9, 2026 7.1.3 |
| All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) AIOSEO is the WordPress SEO plugin. Boost SEO rankings with AI SEO tools, schema, meta descriptions, XML sitemaps & rank tracking. |
all-in-one-seo-pack home |
5.0.3 213,093,169 October 7, 2026 7.1.3 |
| MonsterInsights – Google Analytics Dashboard for WordPress (Website Stats Made Easy) The best free Google Analytics plugin for WordPress. See how visitors find and use your website so you can grow your business with powerful analytics. |
google-analytics-for-wordpress home |
11.3.0 281,710,563 September 16, 2026 7.1.3 |
| Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder The Elementor Website Builder has it all: drag and drop page builder, Atomic Editor, pixel perfect design, global and reusable style systems, mobile r … |
elementor home |
4.3.5 909,347,800 October 13, 2026 7.1.3 |
| WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More The best WordPress contact form plugin. Drag & Drop form builder to create beautiful contact forms, payment forms, & other custom forms. |
wpforms-lite home |
2.0.2.2 361,893,712 October 6, 2026 7.1.3 |
| WP Super Cache A very fast caching engine for WordPress that produces static html files. |
wp-super-cache home |
3.1.4 66,473,038 September 30, 2026 7.1.3 |
| UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin Backup, restore or migrate your WordPress website to another host or domain. Schedule backups or run manually. Migrate in minutes. |
updraftplus home |
1.26.10 167,936,561 October 15, 2026 7.1.3 |
| WordPress Importer Import posts, pages, comments, custom fields, categories, tags and more from a WordPress export file. |
wordpress-importer home |
0.9.6 72,111,294 August 27, 2026 6.8.11 |
| Photo Gallery, Sliders, Proofing and Themes – NextGEN Gallery The most popular gallery plugin that lets you create galleries and albums in seconds. |
nextgen-gallery home |
4.5.3 46,661,395 October 15, 2026 7.1.3 |
| Page Builder by SiteOrigin Build responsive page layouts using the widgets you know and love using this simple drag and drop page builder. |
siteorigin-panels home |
2.37.0 59,255,320 October 4, 2026 7.1.3 |
| XML Sitemap Generator for Google Generate multiple types of sitemaps to improve SEO and get your website indexed quickly. |
google-sitemap-generator home |
4.1.25 44,323,142 September 18, 2026 7.1.3 |
| Popup Builder & Popup Maker for WordPress – OptinMonster Email Marketing and Lead Generation 🤩 Make popups & optin forms to get more email newsletter subscribers, leads, and sales – #1 most popular popup builder plugin! 🚀 |
optinmonster home |
2.17.1 134,728,570 August 14, 2026 7.0.7 |
WordPress SEO is the first plugin to reach over 200 million downloads.
Herb Miller, 17th October 2019
For more information see Top 12 WordPress plugins – October 2019.