73
Default Featured Image
The tiny hero for posts that forgot their thumbnails.
Declining
73/100
This tiny tool solves a specific problem without any bloat or annoying notices.
Active installs
~65,000
our estimate · wp.org shows 60k+
Rating
4.9★
67 ratings
Trend · vs a year ago
-44%
Declining fast
181 → 101 installs/day
What to watch out for
- MINORreviews unevenly distributed over time
- MINORdownloads down 44% vs a year ago
- MINORnot updated in 6 months
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
Declining fast · -44% in the last year
181/day a year ago→101/day today
Reviews
what people actually sayDefault Featured Image is a well-regarded, lightweight plugin that reliably fills a gap in WordPress's native feature set, with no meaningful complaints beyond a minor wish for broader image-fallback handling.
What people like
- +Does exactly what it advertises — sets a default featured image for posts that lack one — with no unexpected behavior×8
- +Lightweight and unobtrusive: no extra admin menu pages, no dashboard notices, no donation nags or watermarks×3
- +Easy and straightforward setup×4
- +Responsive and helpful author/support×3
- +Works correctly in full site editing (FSE) query blocks with thumbnail blocks
- +Includes an option to automatically assign the first image from a post as the featured image when none is set
Common complaints
- −Does not fall back to the default image when a post's featured image exists but fails to load/render (broken image URL)
- −Plugin relies on jQuery internally, which at least one developer considers a heavier-than-necessary dependency
- −One user was unclear whether the bulk-assignment feature (modifying existing posts) could be disabled to use only the display-fallback behavior
Review trustMostly organic
- 4.88★Verified rating — holds steady vs the raw 4.90★
- 3%One-shot reviewers — most reviewers are active community members
- past spikeReview timing — up to 30% of all reviews landed in a single month
Reviews per month · 5★ vs lower
2023-08-192025-01-102026-06-04
5★ reviews1–4★ reviews
All-time ratings · 67 total
Latest reviews · 67 analyzed
- 2025-04-04★★★★★Awesome plugin, great support.Matt Rock
- 2025-04-01★★★★★Does what is says on the tin – thanks!pst247
- 2025-03-12★★★★★Exactly what I needphakkers1-shot
- 2024-10-16★★★★★This is how a WordPress plugin should be!thaikolja
- 2024-04-02★★★★★Ottimo! Aggiornamento!baritono
- 2024-03-14★★★★★Wonderful Plugin that Just WorksDave Loebig
- 2024-02-27★★★★★It does exactly what it saysdanielepais
- 2024-02-16★★★★★The setup is easy and straightforward, and the code is simple and nice.megane9988
- 2024-01-12★★★★★muy contentacrelma
- 2023-07-31★★★★★Does exactly what it saysAnthony Hortin
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.
60
Baseline · median of last 7 organic days
134
Prior 7-day baseline
66
Floor · 25th percentile over 14 days
164
Mean release-day peak (30d)
156
Latest day · 2026-06-03(spike)
-55.2%
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.
30%
Max month share · biggest single 30-day window
2.59
Distribution CV · <0.6 even, >1.5 bursty
94%
5★ share in analyzed sample
3%
Solo reviewers · only this one wp.org activity
—
Volume velocity · last 6mo vs prior 6mo
4.88 → 4.88★
Sample avg · raw → solo-filtered