Grade A

Missed Scheduled Posts Publisher by WPBeginner

Name: Missed Scheduled Posts Publisher by WPBeginner
Rating: 4.9 (59 reviews)
Author: WPBeginner

⤓ Download v2.1.1 on WordPress.org ↗

by WPBeginnerupdated 2026-03-16👑The Bundled One

The tiny hero for your broken WordPress schedule.

HealthyGrowingAwesome Motive

90/100

This simple utility reliably fixes scheduling errors for most users without any hidden costs.

Loved34/40

Trustworthy14/15

Fair & Honest15/15

Maintained15/18

Momentum12/12

✂️

You might not need this plugin. Its core job is small enough to live in your theme's functions.php.

Show the snippet

// Schedule the event on activation.
register_activation_hook( __FILE__, function () {
    if ( ! wp_next_scheduled( 'publish_missed_scheduled_posts' ) ) {
        wp_schedule_event( time(), 'every_15_minutes', 'publish_missed_scheduled_posts' );
    }
} );

// Add a 15-minute interval.
add_filter( 'cron_schedules', function ( $schedules ) {
    $schedules['every_15_minutes'] = [
        'interval' => 900,
        'display'  => __( 'Every 15 Minutes' ),
    ];
    return $schedules;
} );

// Publish any missed scheduled posts.
add_action( 'publish_missed_scheduled_posts', function () {
    $missed = get_posts( [
        'post_status'    => 'future',
        'date_query'     => [ [ 'column' => 'post_date', 'before' => 'now' ] ],
        'posts_per_page' => -1,
        'post_type'      => 'any',
    ] );
    foreach ( $missed as $post ) {
        wp_publish_post( $post->ID );
    }
} );

// Clean up on deactivation.
register_deactivation_hook( __FILE__, function () {
    wp_clear_scheduled_hook( 'publish_missed_scheduled_posts' );
} );

Keep in mind:Paste this into a must-use plugin file rather than functions.php so the activation and deactivation hooks fire correctly.

More plugins you can skip →

Active installs

~35,000

our estimate · wp.org shows 30k+

→ on track for 40k+in ~3 months

Rating

4.9★

59 ratings

Trend · vs a year ago

+90%

Growing fast

76 → 144 installs/day

Warnings

◆Distributed from inside Awesome Motive's main product (OptinMonster / WPForms / AIOSEO / MonsterInsights upsell) — growth is partly captive.

Downloads over time

real new installs per day · release spikes shown separately from the trend

2025-04-302025-08-082025-11-162026-02-232026-06-03

organicrelease spikerelease tailorganic trend · 14d rolling median

Growing fast · +90% in the last year

76/day a year ago→144/day today

Reviews

what people actually say

Missed Scheduled Posts Publisher is a well-regarded, free utility plugin that reliably fixes WordPress's missed scheduled posts problem for most users, though at least one user reports it failing entirely on a modern WordPress setup.

What people like

+Reliably fixes missed or stuck scheduled posts for most users×10
+Works on low-traffic sites where wp-cron doesn't fire reliably×2
+Can bulk-recover large numbers of missed-schedule items, including WooCommerce products
+Free with no apparent upsells mentioned

Common complaints

−Reported to not work at all on at least one modern WordPress installation (since 2.1.0)
−Not claimed compatible with older WordPress versions (e.g. 4.9.x)

Review trustReviews look organic

4.93★Verified rating — holds steady vs the raw 4.90★
9%One-shot reviewers — most reviewers are active community members

Reviews per month · 5★ vs lower

2023-08-192025-01-102026-06-04

5★ reviews1–4★ reviews

All-time ratings · 59 total

5★

4★

3★

2★

1★

Latest reviews · 59 analyzed

2026-05-28★★★★★Great plugin, works every time alexvinasdev1-shot
2026-01-05★★★★★Finally my posts are making their scheduled windows!countzeroor
2025-07-19★★★★★It just works1 richardgb
2025-07-09★★★★★It does not work Trinary Star
2025-06-24★★★★★Helped with missed scheduled posts shelleymagnezi
2025-05-01★★★★★Exactly as Advertised marktfm
2025-04-16★★★★★Great plugin orlandorobin
2025-02-07★★★★★It just works!frodo65
2025-01-27★★★★★Plugin Helped Solve a Mess centuryperf
2025-01-23★★★★★Very good theendfear

Releases

recent versions from WordPress.org SVN

2026-03-16v2.1.1
2024-10-11v2.1.0
2023-09-19v2.0.0
2022-08-02v1.0.1
2021-07-29v1.0.0

For developers & the curious

the raw signals behind the grade — none of this is on the friendly summary above

Download 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.

144

Baseline · median of last 7 organic days

143

Prior 7-day baseline

Floor · 25th percentile over 14 days

177

Latest day · 2026-06-03(organic)

+0.7%

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.

11%

Max month share · biggest single 30-day window

1.20

Distribution CV · <0.6 even, >1.5 bursty

97%

5★ share in analyzed sample

Solo reviewers · only this one wp.org activity

-33%

Volume velocity · last 6mo vs prior 6mo

4.86 → 4.93★

Sample avg · raw → solo-filtered