59
Hide/Remove Metadata
A metadata vanishing act that often leaves the calendar icons behind.
DecliningPoor rating
59/100
The plugin offers simple tools but often fails to remove all metadata or leaves residual icons behind.
Active installs
~22,000
our estimate · wp.org shows 20k+
Rating
3.6★
14 ratings
Trend · vs a year ago
-23%
Declining
115 → 88 installs/day
What to watch out for
- MAJORverified rating is 3.33★
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 · -23% in the last year
115/day a year ago→88/day today
Reviews
what people actually sayHide/Remove Metadata is a simple, narrowly focused plugin for removing post author and date information, but its reliability is inconsistent — it works well for some users while doing nothing at all for others, and even successful cases often leave behind residual elements like icons or separators.
What people like
- +PHP method works reliably for hiding date and author metadata on many sites×4
- +CSS method works as an alternative for some users when PHP does not×2
- +Offers a choice between CSS and PHP removal techniques, giving users flexibility×2
Common complaints
- −Plugin does not work at all for a significant number of users — neither CSS nor PHP method has any effect×4
- −PHP method leaves behind residual elements such as calendar icons and separator lines even when it partially works×2
- −Does not fully remove all author-related markup; the author name may still appear and require manual renaming
- −CSS method specifically fails or does nothing on many sites×3
Review trustMostly organic
- 3.33★Verified rating — drops from 3.60★ once one-shot reviewers are removed
- 14%One-shot reviewers — most reviewers are active community members
- past spikeReview timing — up to 50% of all reviews landed in a single month
Reviews per month · 5★ vs lower
2024-01-162025-04-102026-06-04
5★ reviews1–4★ reviews
All-time ratings · 14 total
Latest reviews · 14 analyzed
- 2026-01-25★★★★★Doesn't do anything at allanakinlaroche1977
- 2023-12-27★★★★★Did not work using the CSS options, but the PHP option worked welltbwriter
- 2023-01-03★★★★★Working fine on WordPress 6.1.1susodp1-shot
- 2022-11-06★★★★★Din't work for me.Izabela Wilson
- 2021-09-14★★★★★Doesn't WorkPatrick
- 2021-07-11★★★★★It worked…BUTbalirooms
- 2021-05-27★★★★★Works greatmaxidavis
- 2021-05-10★★★★★Does nothinghexagrammaton
- 2021-05-07★★★★★Was nervous, but works as expected!2Flow2
- 2021-02-28★★★★★Works!yoneo12
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.
81
Baseline · median of last 7 organic days
86
Prior 7-day baseline
83
Floor · 25th percentile over 14 days
3,225
Mean release-day peak (30d)
300
Latest day · 2026-06-03(spike)
-5.8%
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.
50%
Max month share · biggest single 30-day window
3.74
Distribution CV · <0.6 even, >1.5 bursty
57%
5★ share in analyzed sample
14%
Solo reviewers · only this one wp.org activity
—
Volume velocity · last 6mo vs prior 6mo
3.57 → 3.33★
Sample avg · raw → solo-filtered