Plugin profile · observed daily since 02 Aug 2026
Easy External Links
Active installs300+ rounded
Current authorJorge A. Gonzalez
Owner changesNone while we have been watching
Last release10 years ago 25 Feb 2016
Support— no recent threads
Releases on record13
Rating5.0 /5 · 16
Added to directory04 Aug 2012
Requires WP3.0
Requires PHPfalse
Version lag2.7 behind
Tested up toWP 4.4.34 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 Jorge A. Gonzalez 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| nasium | 12 | 23 Nov 2012 | 27 Feb 2015 |
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.
Small but established: 300+ active installs. Enough sites to show it works in the wild, too few for adoption to say much on its own.
6 downloads a day over the last 7 days, rising 96% 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 12/day29 Aug 2026
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 | 16 Aug | 17 Aug | 18 Aug | 19 Aug | 20 Aug | 21 Aug | 22 Aug | 23 Aug | 24 Aug | 25 Aug | 26 Aug | 27 Aug | 28 Aug | 29 Aug |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Downloads that day | — | 0 | 11 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 11 | 12 |
Unchanged throughout: ratings total (16) · active installs (300+) · version (2.2.3) · support threads (0) · threads resolved (0)
28 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 04 Aug 2012
Requires WP3.0
Requires PHPfalse
Version lag2.7 behind
Is anyone still maintaining this?
- No release in 3,838 days (10.5 years). The last was 25 Feb 2016.
- Declares compatibility only up to WordPress 4.4.34, while 7.1 is current. The author has not confirmed it runs on the last 27 releases.
- Jorge A. Gonzalez publishes no other plugin in the directory, so there is no wider activity to compare against.
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 202627 days 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.
- 18 Aug 20179 years agoDormancy threshold crossed540 days since the last release (2016-02-25). Dormancy is a maintenance observation, not a judgement about the owner.
- 25 Feb 201610 years agoVersion 2.2.3 released
- 27 Feb 201511 years agoVersion 1.9.5 releasedfrom the release logCommitted by nasium.
- 03 Feb 201511 years agoVersion 1.9.2 releasedfrom the release logCommitted by nasium.
- 03 Feb 201511 years agoVersion 1.9.3 releasedfrom the release logCommitted by nasium.
- 30 Jan 201511 years agoVersion 1.9.1 releasedfrom the release logCommitted by nasium.
- 25 Jan 201511 years agoVersion 1.8 releasedfrom the release logCommitted by nasium.
- 25 Jan 201511 years agoVersion 1.9 releasedfrom the release logCommitted by nasium.
- 20 Jan 201511 years agoVersion 1.7 releasedfrom the release logCommitted by nasium.
- 16 Jan 201511 years agoVersion 1.6 releasedfrom the release logCommitted by nasium.
- 14 Jan 201511 years agoVersion 1.5 releasedfrom the release logCommitted by nasium.
- 09 Jan 201511 years agoVersion 1.4 releasedfrom the release logCommitted by nasium.
- 31 Jan 201313 years agoVersion 1.3 releasedfrom the release logCommitted by nasium.
- 23 Nov 201213 years agoVersion 1.1 releasedfrom the release logCommitted by nasium.
- 04 Aug 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 Jorge A. Gonzalez for all 28 days we have observed it.
- It was last released 10 years ago (25 Feb 2016).
- Its author declares it tested up to WordPress 4.4.34; WordPress is now on 7.1.
- WordPress.org reports 300+ active installs.
- It carries 16 ratings, averaging 5.0 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.
What can’t be known
- Whether the quiet is neglect or a finished plugin. That is the author’s intent, which no dataset records, and a stable plugin can need no changes for years.
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
This plugin has not been updated in a long time. These carry the same tags and describe themselves in the same terms, so they are a starting point for a replacement, not a recommendation. Check them yourself.
External Links in New Window / New Tab
Open external links in a new window or new tab. SEO optimized and XHTML Strict compliant.
30,000+ installs4.5★ (77)updated 16 Aug 2026
100× the installs
Compare side by side External Links – nofollow, noopener & new window
Internal links & external links manager: open in new window or tab, control nofollow, ugc, sponsored & noopener. SEO friendly.
90,000+ installs4.3★ (247)updated 16 Aug 2026
300× the installs
Compare side by side WP Open Comment Links in New Window
Opens all the links (URLs) added in the comments and author URL, in a new tab or window.
200+ installs4.3★ (4)updated 21 Aug 2026
Compare side by side External Links Manager – Open new window in a new tab + nofollow, noreferrer
Manage external links: new tabs, add rel attribute nofollow, noopener, noreferrer, sponsored, show icon on/off. SEO, secure, XHTML Strict compliant.
50+ installs5.0★ (1)updated 25 May 2026
Compare side by side Open Links In New Tab
Opens external links and internal links in a new window depending on user settings. Manage all external & internal links on your site.
900+ installs4.3★ (6)updated 07 Apr 2024
no release in over 18 months
Compare side by side Link Whisper Free
The AI-powered internal linking plugin for WordPress. Build internal links faster, find linking opportunities, and improve SEO automatically.
30,000+ installs4.1★ (145)updated 18 Aug 2026
100× the installs
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 Easy External Links: a person reads every submission, and corrections get a reply within 5 business days.