70
Virtual Robots.txt
Simple automation that sometimes keeps its blocking intentions a secret.
HealthyDeclining
70/100
The plugin offers easy automation but lacks transparency regarding file conflicts and silent blocking.
Active installs
~45,000
our estimate · wp.org shows 40k+
Rating
4.3★
10 ratings
Trend · vs a year ago
-10%
Declining
73 → 66 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
Declining · -10% in the last year
73/day a year ago→66/day today
Reviews
what people actually sayVirtual Robots.txt is a simple, well-regarded plugin for managing a site's robots.txt without a physical file, but it has notable usability gaps around conflict detection with existing physical files and some out-of-the-box behavior that surprises users.
What people like
- +Easy to set up and use with sensible defaults already configured×2
- +Responsive and helpful plugin author support
Common complaints
- −Does not handle or clearly explain conflicts with an existing physical robots.txt file, leaving users unsure which file is actually being served
- −Silently blocks certain directories upon installation without user confirmation
- −Inserts a promotional plugin credit line at the top of the file with no option to disable it
- −XML sitemap auto-inclusion advertised as a default feature did not work as expected
Review trustMostly organic
- 4.22★Verified rating — holds steady vs the raw 4.30★
- 10%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
2023-10-182025-02-092026-06-04
5★ reviews1–4★ reviews
All-time ratings · 10 total
Latest reviews · 10 analyzed
- 2026-01-17★★★★★This plugin is working great for mecommexjimmy
- 2023-09-19★★★★★Doesn't seem to work as describedtreysuttle
- 2021-09-30★★★★★Very usefulDenis Creative
- 2018-11-23★★★★★Great plugin!yorgosx
- 2018-03-18★★★★★It wasn't what I expected.Josh Gellock
- 2017-03-23★★★★★A good pluginmm13791-shot
- 2016-12-29★★★★★Doesn't seem to workCassman
- 2016-10-19★★★★★Does the JobSEO Plugin Expert Florin
- 2016-10-03★★★★★Efficient and unobstrusiveManuel Schmalstieg
- 2013-06-03★★★★★Works great!funny st
Releases
recent versions from WordPress.org SVNNo release history available.
For 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.
64
Baseline · median of last 7 organic days
64
Prior 7-day baseline
39
Floor · 25th percentile over 14 days
245
Mean release-day peak (30d)
70
Latest day · 2026-06-03(organic)
0.0%
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
3.94
Distribution CV · <0.6 even, >1.5 bursty
80%
5★ share in analyzed sample
10%
Solo reviewers · only this one wp.org activity
—
Volume velocity · last 6mo vs prior 6mo
4.30 → 4.22★
Sample avg · raw → solo-filtered