Web Stories

63 Quality Score

Active Installs

21/30

With 60,000 active installs and a popularity score of 71, the plugin has a meaningful user base, but it sits well below mainstream plugins like Site Kit, which has millions of installs.

Update Freshness

11/25

A maintenance score of 55 is the weak point here; while the plugin was updated in May 2025, the relatively low score suggests concerns around long-term commit activity, contributor diversity, or release cadence for a Google project of this size.

User Rating

13/15

The 84 out of 100 user rating from 85 reviews is genuinely good and indicates that users who install it tend to be satisfied with the result.

Support Health

8/15

Support health is the biggest red flag, with zero support threads and a 50 score, meaning there is no meaningful community support channel to fall back on if you run into trouble.

WP Compatibility

11/15

Compatibility scores 75, with confirmed testing against WordPress 6.8.5 and a minimum requirement of WordPress 6.6 and PHP 7.4, which is reasonable but not bleeding edge.

Scores higher than 12% of indexed plugins

About

Web Stories are a visual storytelling format for the open web which immerses your readers in fast-loading, full-screen, and visually rich experiences.

Active Installs 60k+

Rating ★★★★ 4.2/5

Last Updated 2025-05-15 1:13pm GMT

Requires WordPress 6.6+

Tested Up To 6.8.8

Requires PHP 7.4+

Security History

3 known vulnerabilities, all patched

1 Critical 2 Medium

Most recent: December 11, 2024

View details ▸

What It Does

Web Stories lets WordPress publishers create tappable, full-screen, mobile-first visual stories similar to Instagram or Snapchat, and publish them as embeddable content on their site. The plugin includes a dedicated block editor, custom story templates, and outputs AMP-compliant markup so stories load quickly on mobile devices. It is developed and maintained by Google, which means stories can also be indexed in Google Search and Google Discover.

Who It's For

This plugin is a strong fit for content-heavy publishers, news outlets, and lifestyle blogs that want a fast, mobile-first storytelling format to complement their regular articles. It is also useful for photographers, food bloggers, travel writers, and real estate agents who have a lot of visual content and want to repurpose it in a swipeable format. Brands running social-style campaigns will benefit most, as plain text-and-image blogs will get little value out of it.

Who Should Skip It

If your site is text-first, a small business brochure, or an e-commerce store that depends on traditional product pages and structured data, Web Stories will not move the needle and will add editor clutter. Sites that do not prioritize mobile traffic or that lack the design resources to produce polished, vertical visuals should also skip it.

The Bottom Line

Web Stories is a solid, Google-backed plugin with a healthy 84/100 user rating and a 66.59/100 overall quality score, but the total absence of public support threads is a real concern for troubleshooting. It is worth installing if you are a visual publisher targeting mobile audiences and Google Discover. Everyone else is better served by lighter alternatives or by waiting for more active community support signals.

Related Plugins

Site Kit by Google 94/100

Pick Site Kit if your main goal is wiring up Google Analytics, Search Console, and AdSense rather than creating visual story content.

Widgets for Google Reviews 94/100

Choose this when social proof and Google review stars on your pages matter more than a full story-creation workflow.

GA Google Analytics 87/100

Use this lightweight option if you only need Google Analytics tracking without the broader Google service stack.

Head, Footer and Post Injections 87/100

Pick this when you need to inject scripts, HTML, or custom code into headers, footers, or posts without building story layouts.

Ad Inserter 87/100

Choose Ad Inserter if ad management and monetization is the priority, since Web Stories is about content creation rather than ad placement.