Grade B

Preloader

Name: Preloader
Rating: 4.0 (41 reviews)
Author: Alobaidi

⤓ Download v2.0.2 on WordPress.org ↗

by Alobaidiupdated 2026-05-21🌿The Dependable Sort

Simple loading screens with a side of dashboard spam.

HealthyGrowingPoor rating

66/100

The plugin is simple to use but suffers from dashboard clutter and bugs.

Loved18/40

Trustworthy11/15

Fair & Honest10/15

Maintained18/18

Momentum9/12

✂️

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

Show the snippet

// Enqueue inline preloader styles and script
add_action( 'wp_head', function () {
    echo '<style>
#preloader-overlay {
    position: fixed; inset: 0; z-index: 99999;
    background: #fff;
    display: flex; align-items: center; justify-content: center;
    transition: opacity 0.4s ease;
}
</style>';
} );

add_action( 'wp_body_open', function () {
    echo '<div id="preloader-overlay">
        <img src="' . esc_url( get_template_directory_uri() . '/images/preloader.gif' ) . '" alt="Loading" width="64" height="64">
    </div>';
} );

add_action( 'wp_footer', function () {
    echo '<script>
window.addEventListener("load", function () {
    var el = document.getElementById("preloader-overlay");
    if (el) { el.style.opacity = "0"; setTimeout(function(){ el.remove(); }, 400); }
});
</script>';
} );

Keep in mind:The snippet uses a hardcoded GIF path and shows the preloader to all visitors on all pages; the plugin adds a UI to pick templates, target specific pages, and restrict by user role.

More plugins you can skip →

Active installs

~15,000

our estimate · wp.org shows 10k+

→ on track for 20k+in ~3.7 years

Rating

4.1★

41 ratings

Trend · vs a year ago

+8%

Growing

45 → 49 installs/day

What to watch out for

MINORverified rating is 3.97★

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 · +8% in the last year

45/day a year ago→49/day today

Reviews

what people actually say

Preloader is regarded as a simple, free solution that works for many users, but it is criticized for broken functionality, required theme edits, unresponsive support, and intrusive affiliate links.

What people like

+Easy to set up and use×4
+Works as described and functional×5
+Free of charge
+Perceived improvement in site loading speed

Common complaints

−Adds affiliate links that clutter the dashboard×2
−Preloader can get stuck and not disappear after page load×3
−Requires manual editing of theme files, which can break the site×2
−Developer does not respond to support requests×2
−Some settings are disabled and only available in the paid version
−Limited to 128x128px preloader size
−Perceived low quality and ad-revenue focus
−Fails to work on basic WordPress installations

Review trustMostly organic

3.97★Verified rating — drops from 4.10★ once one-shot reviewers are removed
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

2024-10-122025-08-082026-06-04

5★ reviews1–4★ reviews

All-time ratings · 41 total

5★

4★

3★

2★

1★

Latest reviews · 41 analyzed

2025-05-26★★★★★So many affiliate spam Mohaymenul Islam
2024-09-18★★★★★Got stuck on preloading screen RED_Android
2021-06-04★★★★★Terrible, Don't Waste Your Time.brian7997
2020-08-05★★★★★Spams Dashboard with Affiliate Links Steve Pringle
2020-06-17★★★★★Preloader stuck, only background color remaining whatanoisybird
2020-06-02★★★★★Code killed website when added to header.php troyw2015
2020-04-13★★★★★Terrific Support marketmodelers1-shot
2020-01-27★★★★★Great job. mate!vladraychev1-shot
2020-01-16★★★★★Doesn't work!Mark Goodridge
2019-12-03★★★★★Nice & easy tastymouse

Releases

recent versions from WordPress.org SVN

2026-05-21v2.0.2
2025-07-30v2.0.0
2025-07-30v2.0.1

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.

Baseline · median of last 7 organic days

Prior 7-day baseline

Floor · 25th percentile over 14 days

Mean release-day peak (30d)

Latest day · 2026-06-03(organic)

+6.5%

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

3.08

Distribution CV · <0.6 even, >1.5 bursty

73%

5★ share in analyzed sample

10%

Solo reviewers · only this one wp.org activity

—

Volume velocity · last 6mo vs prior 6mo

4.07 → 3.97★

Sample avg · raw → solo-filtered