Footnotes Made Easy

76 Quality Score

Active Installs

15/30

With only 2,000 active installs, it has a small user base, but the score is lifted by a high rating-to-install ratio rather than mass adoption.

Update Freshness

25/25

It was updated on June 23, 2026, and is tested against WordPress 7.0 with a PHP 7.4 floor, showing active and current maintenance.

User Rating

14/15

39 ratings averaging 92 out of 100 indicate strong satisfaction from the small group who has tried it.

Support Health

8/15

There are 0 support threads with 0 resolved, which is neutral rather than negative: nobody has needed help, but there is no public track record of responsive assistance either.

WP Compatibility

15/15

It requires WordPress 6.0 or higher and is tested with WordPress 7.0, giving it full marks on modern environment compatibility.

Scores higher than 50% of indexed plugins

About

Allows post authors to easily add and manage footnotes in posts and pages.

Active Installs 2k+

Rating ★★★★½ 4.6/5

Last Updated 2026-08-15 7:51am GMT

Requires WordPress 6.0+

Tested Up To 7.1

Requires PHP 7.4+

Security History

1 known vulnerability, all patched

1 High

Most recent: November 3, 2025

View details ▸

What It Does

Footnotes Made Easy lets WordPress post and page authors insert, edit, and manage footnote markers directly within the editor without writing custom shortcodes or HTML. Footnotes are rendered automatically with reference numbers and a notes list at the bottom of the content. The plugin also supports tags like bibliography, citations, and references, making it suited to structured, source-heavy writing.

Who It's For

This plugin is best for individual authors and small editorial teams who write research-driven content such as academic blogs, legal explainers, journalism pieces, book previews, and historical or medical articles where sourcing matters. It fits sites that need reliable footnote display but do not require full Zotero integration or collaborative citation libraries.

Who Should Skip It

You should skip this plugin if you run a casual blog, marketing site, or any content that rarely cites external sources, since the feature adds no value there. Anyone who needs live Zotero synchronization or a full bibliographic database should look at Zotpress instead.

The Bottom Line

Footnotes Made Easy scores 76.08 out of 100, with standout maintenance and compatibility, and it earns excellent ratings from its 2,000 users. The main weaknesses are its tiny install base and the absence of any public support history, so you are betting on a single author rather than a community. If you write footnote-heavy content and want something lean and well-kept, this is a solid pick, but power users should weigh Zotpress first.

Related Plugins

Advanced Editor Tools 86/100

Choose this if you mainly need a more powerful visual editor and only occasionally require footnotes as a side feature.

Zotpress 77/100

Pick this if your footnotes must sync with a real Zotero library and you need dynamic, managed references.

teachPress 77/100

Go with this for academic publications that also need publication lists, course management, or reviewer workflows.

Easy Footnotes 67/100

Pick this if you want a simpler, lighter footnote tool with a larger user base and less specialized tagging.

Modern Footnotes 65/100

Choose this if a modern, styled footnote presentation matters more to you than the academic-oriented tag set here.