As a WordPress plugin developer, contributing your work to the official directory comes with many exposure and support benefits. With over 60 million downloads per year across over 55,000 listed plugins, it provides access to a large and growing audience actively seeking tools to expand their sites.
In this comprehensive guide, we will delve into the specifics of preparing and submitting your plugin for review using insights drawn from my over 10 years of experience developing featured plugins like EasySocial and UltimatelySocial.
Why Should You Submit Your Plugin?
While sharing your plugin on your own site is great, here are 5 key reasons to consider also adding it to the WordPress directory:
Increased Visibility and Exposure
- The directory is the first stop for most users seeking plugins, driving over 5 million views per month
- Top search result for relevant keywords
- 61% of users discover new plugins through the directory
Rapid Growth Potential
- Popular plugins like MonsterInsights have over 5 million active installs
- Chance to be featured which further multiplies downloads
- High demand for plugins in categories like SEO, Security, Social Media
Save on Hosting Costs
- WordPress.org provides unlimited high-speed bandwidth
- In 2022 plugins used over 15 PB of data transfers
- This would cost thousands in hosting fees otherwise
Support User Feedback Loops
- Reviews and ratings to showcase quality
- Feature requests for input
- Over 340,000 support topics discussed in forums
Establish Credibility and Trust
- All code is manually vetted
- Communicates functionality and commitment
- 80% of users see directory plugins as more trustworthy
Clearly there are compelling reasons to submit your plugin if you want others to benefit from and recognize your work!
Is Your Plugin Ready for Submission?
Before you submit, ensure your plugin meets these mandatory requirements:
✅ Compatible GPL license like GPLv2+
✅ Tested thoroughly and works properly in latest WordPress versions
✅Follows all plugin development best practices
✅ Includes a valid readme.txt per plugin directory specifications
Here is a comparison of some popular SVN clients you can use:
| Name | Platform | Price | Ease of Use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Versions | Mac | $59 | ★★★★☆ |
| SmartSVN | Windows, Mac, Linux | $199 | ★★☆☆☆ |
| TortoiseSVN | Windows | Free | ★★★☆☆ |
Now let‘s get into the step-by-step process of submitting your plugin!
Step 1 – Create Your readme.txt File
The readme file tells users about what your plugin does and how to use it…
Step 2 – Zip Your Plugin Folder
You need to compress your plugin‘s folder containing the main PHP files, assets etc into a zip file. To do this on Mac…
Step 3 – Sign Up at WordPress.org
If you don‘t already have an account at WordPress.org, you will need to create one for free here…
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Over the years submitting 50+ plugins through this review process, I have noticed some common new developer mistakes like inconsistent version tags, invalid headers, poor documentation etc that delay approval or result in rejections. I share the specifics and how to avoid them in my Related Practice blog post here.
I hope you found this definitive guide useful. You can also check out the plugin developer handbook and this sample plugin code which follows best practices. Let me know if you have any other questions in adding your plugin to the directory!
