74
Shortcodes Ultimate – Content Elements
A versatile UI toolkit that occasionally breaks and rarely answers the phone.
HealthyDeclining
74/100
Many users enjoy the diverse elements despite recent bugs and disappointing paid support.
Active installs
~450,000
our estimate · wp.org shows 400k+
Rating
4.9★
5,923 ratings
Trend · vs a year ago
-27%
Declining fast
2,139 → 1,558 installs/day
What to watch out for
- MINORdownloads down 27% vs a year ago
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 · -27% in the last year
2,139/day a year ago→1,558/day today
Reviews
what people actually sayShortcodes Ultimate is a long-standing, generally easy-to-use content elements plugin that many users find reliable, but it carries a meaningful caveat around a site-breaking update, an unresolved YouTube embedding bug, and poor or absent paid support.
What people like
- +Easy to install and use, with a straightforward click-and-select interface×5
- +Adds a wide range of functionality to WordPress sites×3
- +Good documentation and explanations of the many shortcode variations available
- +Reliable for long-term use across multiple sites×2
Common complaints
- −Version 7.5.1 introduced a fatal error that broke multiple websites (since 7.5.1)×2
- −YouTube shortcode embedding is broken and has not been fixed×2
- −Support is unresponsive — paid support tickets go unanswered×2
- −Issues with billing/licensing partner (Freemius) reported as unprofessional
Review trustReviews look organic
- 4.67★Verified rating — holds steady vs the raw 4.90★
- 10%One-shot reviewers — most reviewers are active community members
Reviews per month · 5★ vs lower
2023-11-172025-03-112026-06-04
5★ reviews1–4★ reviews
All-time ratings · 5,923 total
Latest reviews · 90 analyzed
- 2026-06-02★★★★★A working pluginwinsynergy
- 2026-05-23★★★★★LD
- 2026-05-19★★★★★Big bug with 7.5.1agenceneoh
- 2026-05-19★★★★★Great pluginiDesi Media
- 2026-04-22★★★★★Finding this plug in so helpful!tloving
- 2026-03-24★★★★★Great Pluginrhettfinck
- 2026-03-21★★★★★No Supportukozok
- 2026-03-11★★★★★Easy and very helpfulkimvl
- 2026-03-08★★★★★Рекомендую этот плагин!mak57_78
- 2026-02-16★★★★★Fantastic pluginTony Fitzpatrick80
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.
1,599
Baseline · median of last 7 organic days
1,549
Prior 7-day baseline
3,204
Floor · 25th percentile over 14 days
51,123
Mean release-day peak (30d)
37,510
Latest day · 2026-06-03(spike)
+3.2%
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.
8%
Max month share · biggest single 30-day window
0.56
Distribution CV · <0.6 even, >1.5 bursty
91%
5★ share in analyzed sample
10%
Solo reviewers · only this one wp.org activity
+21%
Volume velocity · last 6mo vs prior 6mo
4.70 → 4.67★
Sample avg · raw → solo-filtered