41
Many widgets come with a side of dashboard hijacking.
Poor rating
41/100
Users report updates that break sites and an onboarding process that hijacks the dashboard.
Active installs
~55,000
our estimate · wp.org shows 50k+
Rating
3.1★
15 ratings
Trend · vs a year ago
-2%
Holding steady
279 → 275 installs/day
What to watch out for
- MAJORverified rating is 3.11★
- MINORreviews unevenly distributed over time
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 · -2% in the last year
279/day a year ago→275/day today
Reviews
what people actually sayRTMKit has a severely damaged reputation driven by repeated reports of a forced onboarding flow that blocks wp-admin access, site-breaking updates, and aggressive in-dashboard spam, with no credible positive feedback to offset these concerns.
What people like
- +Offers a variety of icons appreciated by at least one user
Common complaints
- −Plugin blocks access to /wp-admin until a forced onboarding flow is completed, including a mandatory newsletter subscription step (since 2.03)×4
- −Updates broke sites entirely, destroying themes and making sites inaccessible (since 2.0)×3
- −Plugin overrides CSS in ways that break existing site elements (e.g., hides bullet points in Elementor text widgets)
- −Persistent, unwanted promotional banners displayed in the dashboard that cannot be dismissed even after repeated requests×2
- −Plugin repeatedly nags users for reviews inside the dashboard
Review trustMostly organic
- 3.11★Verified rating — holds steady vs the raw 3.10★
- 40%One-shot reviewers — single-review accounts (common for popular plugins, but worth noting)
- past spikeReview timing — up to 43% 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 · 15 total
Latest reviews · 15 analyzed
- 2026-05-13★★★★★Breaks WordPress Admin Dashboardoakcreekdev1-shot
- 2026-04-15★★★★★Incredible all-in-one toolkit for Elementor!raple1-shot
- 2026-04-02★★★★★The Great Elementor Plugin AddOnyowella201-shot
- 2026-03-12★★★★★Plugin Prevents Backend Accessjesiouqwroij1-shot
- 2026-03-12★★★★★hijacking dashboard accesskrissydb
- 2026-03-12★★★★★Kidnapping dashboard accessjakoblieser
- 2026-03-12★★★★★Do not installsumiglez
- 2026-03-12★★★★★INVASIVEholygraphix1-shot
- 2026-03-06★★★★★Version 2.0 ruined the theme.maxwell911
- 2026-03-03★★★★★Site breaking updateVForce
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.
230
Baseline · median of last 7 organic days
248
Prior 7-day baseline
226
Floor · 25th percentile over 14 days
1,102
Mean release-day peak (30d)
257
Latest day · 2026-06-03(organic)
-7.3%
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.
43%
Max month share · biggest single 30-day window
2.82
Distribution CV · <0.6 even, >1.5 bursty
47%
5★ share in analyzed sample
40%
Solo reviewers · only this one wp.org activity
—
Volume velocity · last 6mo vs prior 6mo
3.07 → 3.11★
Sample avg · raw → solo-filtered