67
User Role Editor
Handle your permissions carefully to avoid a multisite meltdown.
Declining
67/100
The plugin handles basic roles well but risks breaking multisite networks and failing to save permissions.
Active installs
~750,000
our estimate · wp.org shows 700k+
Rating
4.5★
287 ratings
Trend · vs a year ago
-33%
Declining fast
3,229 → 2,148 installs/day
What to watch out for
- MINORreviews unevenly distributed over time
- MINORdownloads down 33% 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 · -33% in the last year
3,229/day a year ago→2,148/day today
Reviews
what people actually sayUser Role Editor is a capable and cleanly integrated WordPress roles plugin that works well for straightforward use cases, but carries a serious reputation for breaking multisite installations and failing to reliably save or revert capability changes, with unresponsive support compounding the risk.
What people like
- +Clean, unobtrusive admin integration — adds controls exactly where expected in the Users table without polluting the menu or adding unnecessary branding×2
- +Works reliably for basic role and capability editing on standard (non-multisite) installs×3
- +Described as a powerful, logical approach to capabilities and roles without requiring custom code×2
Common complaints
- −Breaks WordPress Multisite installations — reported cases of destroyed registration flows and inability to assign sites to users×3
- −Custom role capability changes fail to save or stop working after initial setup×2
- −Reverting or uninstalling the plugin does not reliably restore original permissions, leaving sites in a broken state×2
- −Support forum goes unanswered for weeks, and closed topics prevent follow-up on known bugs×2
- −Plugin randomly altered user roles on at least one site and uninstalling did not fix the problem
Review trustReviews look organic
- 4.45★Verified rating — holds steady vs the raw 4.50★
- 9%One-shot reviewers — most reviewers are active community members
Reviews per month · 5★ vs lower
2023-07-202025-01-102026-06-04
5★ reviews1–4★ reviews
All-time ratings · 287 total
Latest reviews · 90 analyzed
- 2025-06-25★★★★★Simple and works nicelyPk Gibson
- 2025-04-22★★★★★Worked great for my siteindivisible
- 2025-04-16★★★★★Wont save capabilities for custom rolejen000
- 2025-03-27★★★★★Didn't work on multisiteshirax
- 2024-11-06★★★★★Plugin works great!LambrosHatzini
- 2024-09-29★★★★★sadly givecicavizio
- 2024-09-25★★★★★Broke my entire multisiteR2Dee
- 2024-09-18★★★★★Best user role editing pluginskylabb
- 2024-09-18★★★★★Works for meaaronlkh
- 2024-06-08★★★★★THIS PLUGIN WILL BREAK YOUR SITE.mikenco
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.
963
Baseline · median of last 7 organic days
2,085
Prior 7-day baseline
6,947
Floor · 25th percentile over 14 days
44,051
Mean release-day peak (30d)
7,065
Latest day · 2026-06-03(spike)
-53.8%
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.
22%
Max month share · biggest single 30-day window
1.80
Distribution CV · <0.6 even, >1.5 bursty
83%
5★ share in analyzed sample
9%
Solo reviewers · only this one wp.org activity
—
Volume velocity · last 6mo vs prior 6mo
4.43 → 4.45★
Sample avg · raw → solo-filtered