69
Custom Twitter Feeds – A Tweets Widget or X Feed Widget
Helpful support meets the unpredictable chaos of the X API.
Healthy
69/100
The support team is helpful but the plugin struggles with X API changes.
Active installs
~174,000
our estimate · wp.org shows 100k+
Rating
4.8★
400 ratings
Trend · vs a year ago
-4%
Holding steady
1,092 → 1,047 installs/day
Downloads over time
real new installs per day · release spikes shown separately from the trend2025-04-302025-08-082025-11-162026-02-232026-06-03
organicrelease spikerelease tailorganic trend · 14d rolling median
Holding steady · -4% in the last year
1,092/day a year ago→1,047/day today
Reviews
what people actually sayCustom Twitter Feeds by Smash Balloon has a split reputation — praised for easy setup and responsive support when it works, but undermined by persistent feed failures, setup blockers, and concerns about reliability in the post-Musk X/Twitter API era.
What people like
- +Quick and easy initial setup when it works×3
- +Support team is responsive and resolves issues effectively×5
- +Feed runs reliably once configured, for some users×2
Common complaints
- −Feed stops updating and cache refresh fails in a loop, with 'daily limit reached' errors that never reset×2
- −Setup is broken for some users — entering a Twitter handle does nothing and the 'Next' button never activates×2
- −Feed content is incomplete or incorrect — shows only retweets from followed accounts, not the account's own tweets, and updates are severely delayed
- −Plugin continued to be sold and advertised while known to be broken for months, with no fix scheduled
- −Images not displayed and feed not auto-updating, with support unresponsive for weeks
- −One reviewer reported a serious security incident — unexpected admin accounts being created — that stopped only after removing this plugin, raising abandonment or compromise concerns
- −X/Twitter API changes under new ownership have made the plugin difficult or impossible to use reliably×2
Review trustReviews look organic
- 4.35★Verified rating — holds steady vs the raw 4.80★
- 14%One-shot reviewers — most reviewers are active community members
Reviews per month · 5★ vs lower
2023-07-202025-01-102026-06-04
5★ reviews1–4★ reviews
All-time ratings · 400 total
Latest reviews · 90 analyzed
- 2026-04-08★★★★★Really great support!updatediva
- 2026-02-06★★★★★Amazing support team and a good productdjvivek27
- 2025-09-09★★★★★good pluginKay69
- 2025-08-19★★★★★Decent Workjmason84
- 2025-04-30★★★★★I dont want this pluginJosh S
- 2025-03-27★★★★★Used to work brilliantlyMike250
- 2025-02-25★★★★★Won't even allow me to input handledemonboy
- 2025-01-30★★★★★Monte's analysisjmontev21
- 2024-12-17★★★★★Pro Extension doesn't work at alllaurentfr
- 2024-12-17★★★★★Doesn't workjacobspaulsen
Releases
recent versions from WordPress.org SVNFor developers & the curious
the raw signals behind the grade — none of this is on the friendly summary aboveDownload signals
Baselines are computed on organic days only — release spikes and their tails are excluded, so they're not inflated by the auto-update wave.
1,491
Baseline · median of last 7 organic days
1,699
Prior 7-day baseline
1,412
Floor · 25th percentile over 14 days
18,741
Mean release-day peak (30d)
1,479
Latest day · 2026-06-03(organic)
-12.2%
Week-over-week organic trend
Review signals
Concentration and drive-by metrics drive the review-burst and fake-review flags. 30–40% solo reviewers is normal; we only flag the extremes.
12%
Max month share · biggest single 30-day window
1.06
Distribution CV · <0.6 even, >1.5 bursty
81%
5★ share in analyzed sample
14%
Solo reviewers · only this one wp.org activity
—
Volume velocity · last 6mo vs prior 6mo
4.43 → 4.35★
Sample avg · raw → solo-filtered