WordPress.org · Unique Plugin Author Emails | $2 / 1k

What does WordPress.org Plugin Author Contacts do?

This Actor builds an outreach file from the public WordPress.org plugin directory. One row per unique author — not one row per plugin.

You are not here to dump 60,000 plugin listings. You want the people who already ship plugins: who to email, which site they run, whether they scale (active installs / plugin count / years on the directory).

Each row is that file, when the author publishes it:

• Public inbox from the plugin description, WordPress.org profile, plugin homepage or a same-origin contact page
• Website and GitHub
• Active installs, plugin count, tags, years on the directory
• Sample plugin (highest-install listing in this run)

Empty fields mean the author did not publish that data — not a failed scrape. Two plugins under the same WordPress.org username stay one lead.

No login. No WordPress.org API key. No wp-admin access.

Who is this for?

You are…	Typical goal	Suggested setup
Hosting / performance SaaS	Plugin authors who already have traffic to pitch hosting, CDN or cache	Search smtp or tag Performance, Require public email = Yes
Security / malware vendor	Authors of security, backup and login plugins	Tag Security (or keyword security) then sort by totalActiveInstalls
WP agency / plugin marketplace	Independent vendors to partner or resell with	Tag WooCommerce / SEO, skip Automattic
Outbound / SDR	CRM-ready inbox + website	Authors — Outreach view, CSV
Market research	Who scales on WordPress.org	Paid Full catalog, raise Max authors

What you get by default: unique author, public email when published, website, GitHub when listed, install totals, plugin portfolio in this run — only fields already public. Automattic / WordPress.org-authored plugins are skipped unless you turn that filter off.

Typical fill (public SMTP slice, Aug 2026): about 4 in 10 popular SMTP plugins yielded a public inbox after the plugin site / contact page (e.g. support@gosmtp.net, hi@yaycommerce.com). Mega-plugins (Elementor, Yoast, Jetpack) often publish a company site and no mailbox — turn Require public email to No if you still want those rows.

How to scrape WordPress.org plugin authors

1. Open this Actor in Apify Console.
2. Step 1 — Mode: leave Search (a niche) or switch to Full catalog (unique authors from popular plugins, paid). Catalog ignores keyword and tag.
3. Step 2 — Search (Search mode only): keep smtp, or paste https://wordpress.org/plugins/contact-form-7/. Optionally pick a tag.
4. Leave Max authors at 20 for a first run, then raise it. Full catalog: raise toward 5,000.
5. Click Start. Download JSON / CSV / Excel. Use Authors — Outreach for the inbox; Overview for who scales.

In Search mode, query or tag is required. Full catalog is paid Apify plans only. Search uses WordPress.org’s public plugin index then merges authors — it is not a full census of a tag. For a wide unique-author file, use Full catalog.

See the Input tab for the visible options (proxy is optional and hidden).

Ready-made examples (published tasks)

Example	What you get
Find WordPress security plugin authors with emails	Unique security-plugin authors, public inbox, CRM-ready
Export WooCommerce plugin authors for CRM	WooCommerce tag, one author per row
Refresh WordPress author contacts from a plugin URL	Paste a plugin URL, get the author file
WordPress SMTP plugin authors for hosting outreach	SMTP niche, outreach view

What data can this WordPress plugin author scraper extract?

Field	Why it matters for ICP
authorEmail, emails, emailSource	Public inbox to email (domain-matching preferred over generic support@)
authorWebsite, authorDomain, githubUrl, authorProfileUrl	Company site + GitHub + WordPress.org profile
totalActiveInstalls, pluginCount, yearsOnDirectory	Who already scales
tags, pluginSlugs, samplePluginName, samplePluginIcon, listingUrl	Portfolio in this run + sample listing and logo
sourceQuery, scrapedAt	Run metadata

Not extracted (and not invented): private WordPress.org account emails, guessed inboxes that were never published, wp-admin users, theme authors (plugins directory only).

How much does it cost to scrape WordPress.org plugin authors?

This Actor uses pay-per-event pricing. Actor start is $0.00005 (Apify default — first 5 seconds of compute included). You only pay per unique author written to the dataset. You are not charged per plugin. Paid Apify plans get a lower price per author.

Free plan: a run stops at 20 authors — enough to test. Keyword / tag: paid plans can raise Max authors up to 2,000. Full catalog (paid only) goes up to 5,000 unique authors.

	Free	Bronze	Silver	Gold	Platinum	Diamond
Per unique author	$0.002	$0.0018	$0.0016	$0.0014	$0.0012	$0.001
20 authors (Try)	$0.04	$0.04	$0.03	$0.03	$0.02	$0.02
1,000 authors	$2.00	$1.80	$1.60	$1.40	$1.20	$1.00
5,000 authors	$10.00	$9.00	$8.00	$7.00	$6.00	$5.00

Totals include the $0.00005 start. WordPress plugin scrapers on Apify charge per plugin (~$3–$50 / 1k listings, duplicates included). Here two plugins from the same author are one charge, with a public inbox when they published one. $2 / 1k unique authors vs $3 / 1k plugin rows on the current directory leader — same budget, unique vendors, better inbox.

Set Max authors and, on Apify, a max total charge so a run cannot exceed your budget. A row with an empty email still counts if Require public email is No — the author did not publish that field; they were still scraped.

Default memory is 512 MB (HTTP only, no browser).

Is it legal to scrape WordPress.org?

This Actor only accesses data that WordPress.org makes publicly available on wordpress.org/plugins and public author sites (plugin homepage, contact page, profile). As with any data containing personal information, ensure your use complies with GDPR and relevant regulations. Do not scrape personal data unless you have a legitimate reason to do so.

Is scraping WordPress.org free?

The WordPress.org plugin API is public and needs no API key. You still pay Apify for the run (pay-per-event above). There is no WordPress.org fee.

Input

See the Input tab for full configuration options.

Visible Console fields:

Field	Default	Notes
coverage	Search	Search = keyword/URL and/or tag. Full catalog = paid, popular plugins. Catalog ignores query and tag.
query	smtp	Search mode. Keyword or https://wordpress.org/plugins/{slug}. Also accepts author, tag and browse URLs. Ignored in Full catalog.
tag	None	Search mode, optional. Ignored in Full catalog.
maxAuthors	20	Unique authors (1–2000 Search, 1–5000 catalog). Free plan: 20 / run
requireEmail	yes	Yes (default) skips authors with no public email. No keeps them
skipAutomattic	yes	Yes (default) drops Automattic / WordPress.org-authored plugins
minInstalls	0	Skip authors whose merged active-install sum is below this floor

Proxy, delay, and retries are hidden. Direct HTTP usually works. API-only keys: proxyConfiguration, minDelayMs (default 200), maxRequestRetries (default 5), browse (popular / new / updated / featured, catalog default popular), verboseLogs (default false — directory status codes and per-plugin skip reasons).

Example:

{
  "coverage": "search",
  "query": "smtp",
  "tag": "",
  "maxAuthors": 20,
  "requireEmail": "yes",
  "skipAutomattic": "yes",
  "minInstalls": 0
}

Output

You can download the dataset in various formats such as JSON, HTML, CSV, or Excel.

{
  "authorName": "Softaculous",
  "authorUsername": "softaculous",
  "authorProfileUrl": "https://profiles.wordpress.org/softaculous/",
  "authorWebsite": "https://gosmtp.net",
  "authorDomain": "gosmtp.net",
  "authorEmail": "support@gosmtp.net",
  "emails": ["support@gosmtp.net", "sales@gosmtp.net"],
  "emailSource": "contact-page",
  "githubUrl": null,
  "pluginCount": 1,
  "pluginSlugs": ["gosmtp"],
  "totalActiveInstalls": 500000,
  "tags": ["SMTP", "email"],
  "yearsOnDirectory": 6.6,
  "samplePluginName": "GoSMTP",
  "samplePluginIcon": "https://ps.w.org/gosmtp/assets/icon-256x256.png",
  "samplePluginUrl": "https://wordpress.org/plugins/gosmtp/",
  "listingUrl": "https://wordpress.org/plugins/gosmtp/",
  "sourceQuery": "smtp",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-08-17T08:00:00.000Z"
}

Console views: Authors — Overview (who scales), Authors — Outreach (inbox + site), Authors — Portfolio (tags + tenure).

Tips

• A WordPress.org tag is not the full catalog. Search pages the public plugin index then merges authors. For a wide unique-author file, set Mode to Full catalog.
• Rows are ranked by merged active installs in the run, so a 20-author SMTP run surfaces the vendors who already scale — not a random page-1 tourist list.
• Empty authorEmail means no public inbox on the directory, profile or plugin site.
• pluginCount is how many of that author’s plugins appeared in this run’s pool — not a guaranteed full WordPress.org portfolio.
• Placeholder addresses (example@mail.com) are dropped.

Local development

cd wordpress-plugin-author-contacts
npm install
apify run

Default Try input is Search smtp, 20 authors. That writes storage/datasets/default/ and ./output.csv (Excel-ready).

Full catalog (unique authors from popular plugins):

$npm run start:catalog

That uses root input.json (coverage: catalog, maxAuthors: 5000, email filter off). apify run otherwise validates storage/key_value_stores/default/INPUT.json — pass --input-file=./input.json so the catalog file wins. Do not use npm start for a simulated Actor run.

Engine tests (query detect + live directory):

$npm test

Related Actors

These Actors cover the same job or the next step in the workflow. Apify’s automatic recommendations stay inside one category — this list is the rest of the toolkit.

Actor	Use it when
HubSpot Marketplace App Partners	Same unique-publisher model on the HubSpot Marketplace
Shopify App Store Developer Contacts · Emails & Address	Unique Shopify App Store publishers
Google Play Developer Contacts · Emails & Legal Address	Google Play publisher emails — unique developers, not per app
Chrome Web Store Developer Contacts	Chrome Web Store publisher emails
Google Workspace Marketplace Vendors	Google Workspace Marketplace unique vendors
SW Website Rankings Scraper	Rank the website / domain after you have the URL

FAQ, disclaimers, and support

Is there a WordPress.org plugin author email API?

No official public one for this job. This Actor is a WordPress plugin author email API alternative: it reads the public plugin directory and public author sites WordPress.org already shows.

How do I find WordPress plugin author emails?

Run a keyword (smtp, security) or a tag (WooCommerce, SEO, Security). Leave Require public email on Yes. Download the Outreach view.

How is this different from a WordPress plugin scraper?

Catalog scrapers dump one row per plugin (version, screenshots, reviews). This Actor dumps an outreach file: unique authors with a public inbox, website, installs and portfolio. Same publisher, one row.

Can I scrape the whole WordPress.org plugin directory?

Paid plans: set Mode to Full catalog and Max authors to 5,000. That walks popular plugins into unique authors (not 60k plugin rows).

Free plan: no. Full catalog is rejected; keyword / tag runs stop at 20 authors.

Does this scrape private emails?

No. It only reads fields the author published on WordPress.org, their plugin homepage or a public contact page. It does not guess inboxes from GitHub commit history.

Why do two plugins become one row?

Rows are unique by WordPress.org username. Several plugins from the same publisher share one contact file.

Why did I get fewer rows than Max authors?

The directory ran out of publicly listed plugins in that query/tag, or Require public email is Yes and some authors have no inbox. On the Free plan, each run is also capped at 20 authors. Check OUTPUT and RUN_LOG.

Why is an email empty?

Empty fields mean the author did not show them on the directory or plugin site — not a failed scrape.

Do I pay an Actor-start fee?

Almost nothing: $0.00005 per run (Apify default, first 5 seconds of compute included). The bill is the authors written to the dataset.

Do I pay per plugin?

No. Two plugins from the same author = one username = one charge. Pricing is per unique author, not per listing.

Do I pay for rows with an empty email?

Only if Require public email is No. Pricing is per author scraped, not per filled field.

Is a proxy required?

No. Enable Apify Proxy only if you get blocked.

Our Actors are ethical and do not extract private user data. They only extract what the author has chosen to publish on WordPress.org or a public plugin site (public email, website, GitHub). We therefore believe that our Actors, when used for ethical purposes by Apify users, are safe. However, you should be aware that your results could contain personal data. Personal data is protected by the GDPR in the European Union and by other regulations around the world. You should not scrape personal data unless you have a legitimate reason to do so. If you are unsure, consult your lawyers.

Use the Issues tab for bugs and feature requests. Use the API tab to run the Actor programmatically. Custom needs: corentin@outreacher.fr

Keywords: WordPress.org scraper, WordPress plugin author email, WordPress plugin developer leads, WordPress.org plugin directory contacts, WordPress plugin author API.