Plugin profile · observed daily since 02 Aug 2026
Spam Destroyer
Active installs5,000+ rounded
Current authorRyan Hellyer
Owner changesNone while we have been watching
Last release4 months ago 29 Apr 2026
Support— no recent threads
Releases on record29
Rating4.6 /5 · 54
Added to directory29 Jul 2012
Requires WP5.0
Requires PHPfalse
Version lag0.1 behind
Tested up toWP 7.0.4 WordPress is now on 7.1
PluginPedia reports published data and observable changes. It does not rate plugin quality or safety, infer intent, or make recommendations. These are observations rather than a verdict. How this works
Ownership
Held by Ryan Hellyer throughout, with no change of ownership observed since daily tracking began on 02 Aug 2026.
Full observed history, including every field transition
Committing accounts
Read from the plugin’s public release log, so these predate this registry. A committing account is not an owner. Thirty accounts commit to WooCommerce and it has never changed hands.
| Account | Releases | First | Last |
|---|---|---|---|
| ryanhellyer | 28 | 29 Jul 2012 | 29 Apr 2026 |
| BrianLayman | 1 | 31 Mar 2014 | 31 Mar 2014 |
This registry did not observe a transfer; it read these names off a public log. Whether that reflects a change of ownership is not something the directory publishes.
Adoption
How widely the plugin is installed, and what the people running it think of it. WordPress.org rounds install figures to one significant digit, so they describe an order of magnitude rather than a headcount.
Moderately adopted: 5,000+ active installs. A real user base, well short of the ecosystem’s larger plugins.
28 downloads a day over the last 7 days, rising 41% against the 7 days before. Downloads are counted exactly and without a ceiling, so they show movement the rounded install figure cannot.
08 Aug 2026peak 44/day05 Sep 2026
Install band fell to 5,000+ on 08 Aug 2026, from 6,000+. Both figures are rounded to one significant digit, so the size of the change is not knowable from them.
Daily record
Every field we record, one column per observation. Fields that never moved are named once rather than repeated across every column. A row of identical numbers would be padding.
| Field | 23 Aug | 24 Aug | 25 Aug | 26 Aug | 27 Aug | 28 Aug | 29 Aug | 30 Aug | 31 Aug | 01 Sep | 02 Sep | 03 Sep | 04 Sep | 05 Sep |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Downloads that day | — | 22 | 23 | 22 | 33 | 0 | 14 | 23 | 22 | 23 | 35 | 35 | 22 | 33 |
Unchanged throughout: ratings total (54) · active installs (5,000+) · version (2.1.7) · support threads (0) · threads resolved (0)
35 days of observation, most recent 14 shown.
Maintenance
When it was last released, and how far its declared compatibility has drifted from current WordPress.
Added to directory14 years ago 29 Jul 2012
Requires WP5.0
Requires PHPfalse
Version lag0.1 behind
Is anyone still maintaining this?
- Last released 29 Apr 2026, 130 days ago.
- Declares compatibility only up to WordPress 7.0.4, while 7.1 is current. The author has not confirmed it runs on the last 1 release.
- The same account maintains 13 other plugins; the most recent update to any of them was 05 Jun 2026.
A plugin that does one thing correctly may need no changes for years; a long gap is not, by itself, evidence of neglect.
History
Everything dated that this registry holds about the plugin, most recent first. Releases carry the author’s own release date; everything else is dated to when it was observed.
Entries marked from the release log predate this registry, and daily observation began 02 Aug 2026. They were read from the plugin’s public SVN history after the fact, not watched as they happened. Everything else was observed directly.
- 02 Aug 20261 month agoInstall band moved to 6,000+Bands are rounded to one significant digit, so the size of the change is not knowable.
- 02 Aug 20261 month agoFirst observed by PluginPediaDaily snapshots of this plugin’s directory record begin here. Everything above this line is observed; anything before it comes from fields the API itself reports.
- 29 Apr 20264 months agoVersion 2.1.7 released
- 01 May 202516 months agoVersion 2.1.5 releasedfrom the release logCommitted by ryanhellyer.
- 01 May 202516 months agoVersion 2.1.6 releasedfrom the release logCommitted by ryanhellyer.
- 18 Apr 20242 years agoVersion 2.1.4 releasedfrom the release logCommitted by ryanhellyer.
- 16 Jan 20224.5 years agoVersion 2.1.3 releasedfrom the release logCommitted by ryanhellyer.
- 07 Mar 20197.5 years agoVersion 2.1.2 releasedfrom the release logCommitted by ryanhellyer.
- 12 Aug 20188 years agoVersion 2.1.1 releasedfrom the release logCommitted by ryanhellyer.
- 18 Mar 20188.5 years agoVersion 2.0.7 releasedfrom the release logCommitted by ryanhellyer.
- 18 Mar 20188.5 years agoVersion 2.1 releasedfrom the release logCommitted by ryanhellyer.
- 20 Feb 201610 years agoVersion 2.0.6 releasedfrom the release logCommitted by ryanhellyer.
- 29 Oct 201510 years agoVersion 2.0.5 releasedfrom the release logCommitted by ryanhellyer.
- 28 Oct 201510 years agoVersion 2.0.4 releasedfrom the release logCommitted by ryanhellyer.
- 27 Oct 201510 years agoVersion 2.0.2 releasedfrom the release logCommitted by ryanhellyer.
- 29 Jul 201214 years ago16 earlier releasesfrom the release logBetween 29 Jul 2012 and 27 Oct 2015. Listed individually in the public release log rather than here.
- 29 Jul 201214 years agoAdded to the WordPress.org directoryReported by the plugin API as the date this plugin was added.
What we know, and what we don’t
Everything on this page in one place, including the gaps, so that nothing here is mistaken for a clean bill of health.
What we know
- It has been held by Ryan Hellyer for all 35 days we have observed it.
- It was last released 4 months ago (29 Apr 2026).
- Its author declares it tested up to WordPress 7.0.4; WordPress is now on 7.1.
- WordPress.org reports 5,000+ active installs.
- It carries 54 ratings, averaging 4.6 out of 5.
What we don’t know yet
- No forum threads were open in the two months we measure, so how responsive its support is cannot be said. One new thread starts answering that.
Every record on this site, this one included, works under the same limits. We read what WordPress.org publishes about a plugin, never the plugin’s own code, so nothing here says whether a plugin is well built or safe. Install counts reach us already rounded; a change smaller than a band step doesn’t show. We don’t track security advisories yet. For anything older than our first observation we rely on the plugin’s public release log, where one exists. What this registry can and cannot see
Similar plugins
Plugins that share this one’s tags and talk about the same things in their own descriptions. Distinctive tags count for far more than broad ones. Sharing hover means something, sharing woocommerce does not, and a plugin that never mentions the subject matter is left out however its author tagged it. Among close matches, more widely installed plugins are listed first. This is a grouping rather than a ranking of quality.
Akismet Anti-spam: Spam Protection
The best anti-spam protection to block spam comments and spam in a contact form. The most trusted antispam solution for WordPress and WooCommerce.
5,000,000+ installs4.7★ (1,186)updated 18 Aug 2026
1,000× the installs
Compare side by side Antispam Bee
Sophisticated antispam plugin for effective daily comment and trackback spam-fighting. Built with data protection and privacy in mind.
700,000+ installs4.8★ (226)updated 23 Aug 2026
140× the installs
Compare side by side Maspik – Multi-Layer Spam Protection
Multi-layer spam protection for forms, comments and WooCommerce. No CAPTCHA, no puzzles — accurate blocking that works out of the box.
30,000+ installs4.7★ (87)updated 26 Aug 2026
Compare side by side Spam protection, Honeypot, Anti-Spam by CleanTalk
Top-rated antispam for contact forms, comments, WooCommerce, eCommerce, and login. No CAPTCHAs, no friction, just background anti spam protection.
200,000+ installs4.8★ (3,211)updated 02 Sep 2026
40× the installs
Compare side by side La Sentinelle antispam
Feel safe knowing that your website is safe from spam. La Sentinelle will guard your WordPress website against spam in a simple and effective way.
3,000+ installs5.0★ (21)updated 24 Aug 2026
Compare side by side Block List Updater
Automatic updating of the comment block list in WordPress with antispam keys from GitHub.
4,000+ installs4.3★ (4)updated 24 Jun 2026
Compare side by side Grouped from the tags each author chose for their own plugin, so the grouping is only as good as those tags.
Reach out about this record
Corrections, missing context, or anything else about Spam Destroyer: a person reads every submission, and corrections get a reply within 5 business days.