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How and Why You Should Leave Reviews on WordPress

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Are you wondering how to leave plugin and theme reviews on WordPress.org?

WordPress is an open-source community. Developers, designers, and marketers contribute by lending their skills and sharing their plugins or themes. As a user, one of the ways you can contribute is by leaving reviews of products you use.

In this article, we will talk about how and why you should leave reviews on WordPress.

Why you should leave reviews on WordPress

Note: There are two different WordPress platforms: WordPress.com, a hosting solution, and WordPress.org, also known as self-hosted WordPress. See our comparison of WordPress.com vs. WordPress.org for more details.

In this article, we will talk about WordPress.org, the home to the open-source WordPress CMS platform.

How Do Reviews Work on WordPress?

As an open-source platform, WordPress relies on the many contributions that its community makes to function fully. In other words, anyone can create free WordPress themes and free WordPress plugins to help their fellow users build their websites using the CMS.

These developers don’t get paid by WordPress.org for sharing their products. If you want to learn more about this topic, read our article on who owns WordPress and how it makes money.

That said, plugin and theme developers still need to know if their products are working well, even if they’re not making money out of them. This way, they can keep improving their products to make them more functional inside the WordPress core.

That’s where the reviews come in, which you can see when exploring the theme or plugin directory.

Review stars displayed in WordPress plugin search

WordPress plugin and theme reviews have a 5-star rating. There’s no exact explanation of what each star rating means, but generally, the closer the scoring is to a 5, the more satisfied the user is when using the product.

Users can also comment on why they’ve given the product the star rating they’ve chosen. As a result, other users can understand the reasoning behind it.

Reviews tab on plugin page in WordPress.org directory

At times, other users or the plugin developers themselves can reply to a review to get more context and start a discussion.

Here’s an example:

An example of a plugin review reply

Why Should You Add Reviews on WordPress.org?

If you use a plugin or theme and find it useful, then your review can help other users make the right decision.

Users are usually less likely to install and try plugins or themes with fewer installs and no star ratings. This means newer plugins and themes may go unnoticed even if they are good and really useful.

New plugins with no reviews and fewer installs

With your review, you can change that, and more users will start using that plugin on their WordPress websites.

It is also in your interest to do so. Good reviews help WordPress developers find motivation to continue a project and give it their time and skills. Without proper feedback, they may feel demotivated and abandon the plugin/theme.

What if I Have a Negative Review?

Negative reviews are not bad. However, before adding your negative review, you should try to reach out to the plugin author through the ‘Support’ tab.

Support forum for free version of SeedProd

Sometimes plugin authors make mistakes, and your support request can prompt them to help you or quickly release a fix. Learn more about how to ask for free WordPress support and get it.

If you can’t get help with your issues, then you are free to share your negative review. However, please be respectful in sharing your negative feedback about a free product.

How to Leave Reviews For Plugins and Themes on WordPress.org

First, you’ll need a free WordPress.org account. Go to WordPress.org’s plugin or theme directory page and click on the ‘Register’ link in the top right corner of the screen.

Register for a WordPress.org account

Once you are logged in, you can go to the plugin’s page and click on the ‘Reviews’ tab. You will see other reviews for the plugin.

Simply scroll down to the bottom of the page, and you will see the ‘Create a new review’ section.

Leaving a review

You need to provide a title for your review and then select the star rating that you’d like to give this plugin. Next, you can write your detailed review.

For WordPress themes, you can go to the theme’s page and then click on the ‘Add your review’ button.

Theme review

Best Practices for Writing Helpful WordPress Reviews

If you find a plugin or theme useful, then feel free to describe how it worked. You can describe that it is easy to use and how it helped you improve your WordPress blog or website.

Feel free to add any suggestions you have for improvement. This helps developers figure out the most wanted features their users need, and they can prioritize those improvements.

On the other hand, if you find a bad plugin or theme, you will first want to ensure that it is an issue with the plugin or theme and not just a common WordPress error. That’s why you should first try the support forum to see if there is a solution.

If you cannot get help, you can go ahead and add your review. Make sure that you are polite and respectful in your review. Describe the problem and the issue with the plugin or theme.

Most of the time, the plugin or theme author will respond to your negative review and will try to solve the issue you are facing. Once the issue is resolved, you can change your rating and review for the plugin.

Edit your review to change your rating

You want to make sure that your review is polite. Make it helpful by describing what you found missing from the plugin. Provide more details about the issues, and don’t forget to add your suggestions for possible solutions.

Many plugin and theme developers are often very grateful for a polite and well-written negative review. In fact, we have seen some developers go to great lengths to convert a negative review into a 5-star review.

We hope this article helped you learn how and why you should leave reviews on WordPress. You may also want to learn how to translate a WordPress plugin in your language or see our expert picks of the best WordPress review plugins.

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Editorial Staff

Editorial Staff at WPBeginner is a team of WordPress experts led by Syed Balkhi with over 16 years of experience in WordPress, Web Hosting, eCommerce, SEO, and Marketing. Started in 2009, WPBeginner is now the largest free WordPress resource site in the industry and is often referred to as the Wikipedia for WordPress.

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Reader Interactions

5 CommentsLeave a Reply

  1. Syed Balkhi says

    Hey WPBeginner readers,
    Did you know you can win exciting prizes by commenting on WPBeginner?
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  2. Prabhu says

    hi
    i have gone through your article. its really helpful..
    For organizations which is more more beneficial is that wordpress.com or wordpress.org

  3. Michael Manago says

    One of the reasons why I am very poor at reading instructions is that, by experience, they are most often written by people who assume that readers know everything.

    For example, in this tutorial, it says, “First you’ll need a free WordPress.org account. Go to the WordPress.org’s plugin or theme directory page and click on the ‘Register’ link at the top right corner of the screen.”

    Fine. As straightforward it may look, but I looked and looked and I cannot find that “Register” work anywhere on my blog.

    Can somebody help me please?

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