The week's largest handover: Login as User: See the Site as Any User, at 30,000+ installs, moved from Yiannis Christodoulou to Web357 on 03 Sep 2026, together with Count Characters, Words and Paragraphs while typing (300+) and 3 more. All 5 records carry the full transfer evidence.
Other hands changed too: Easy MCP AI – Connect Claude to WordPress: MCP Server for ChatGPT & AI Agents (20,000+) moved from Easy MCP AI to Themeisle on 01 Sep 2026; Eway Payments for Woo (3,000+) moved from WooCommerce to ewaypayments on 29 Aug 2026; a 3-plugin portfolio led by Display HTML Sitemap (1,000+) moved from Dipak Kumar Pusti to Dipak Kumar Pusti on 31 Aug 2026. In all, 20 plugins changed hands across 11 handovers this week.
29 plugins left the directory this week. The largest by last recorded installs: Export & Import WPBakery Page Builder (9,000+), Custom Menu Wizard Widget (2,000+). wordpress.org removes a closed plugin's page the same day it closes; each last good record is preserved in the registry.
13 plugins returned to the directory, led by Element Pack Addons for Elementor – MCP & AI-Ready Elementor Widgets, Elementor Templates, Elementor Addons (100,000+) and Prime Slider – Hero Slider, Carousel, WooCommerce & Post Slider Elementor Addons (100,000+).
After long silence: Better Font Awesome, at 60,000+ installs shipped a release on 01 Sep 2026, at least 540 days after its previous one. 64 more did the same; the dormancy record has each.
The week in numbers
| Ownership transfers | 20 |
|---|---|
| Closures | 29 |
| Returns | 13 |
| Dormancy breaks | 65 |
The record, in full
- The rolling transfer record: every handover of the trailing 90 days, with evidence.
- The dormancy record: plugins past 540 days without a release, most widely installed first.
- Closed in 2026: every plugin removed this year, last good record preserved.
This brief is assembled from the registry’s event records for the seven days shown. Every claim links to the record that carries its evidence.