Broken Link Checker vs External Permalinks Redux (2026)
Detailed side-by-side comparison of two WordPress plugins, based on real-time data from WordPress.org.
External Permalinks Redux
2.0K+ active installs
Free
Quick Verdict
As of April 2026, External Permalinks Redux has a higher user rating (5/5 from 4 reviews) while Broken Link Checker leads in active installations (500K+ vs 2.0K+). Both are free WordPress plugins. Broken Link Checker has accumulated 22M+ total downloads while External Permalinks Redux has 22K+.
Detailed Comparison
| Metric | Broken Link Checker | External Permalinks Redux | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rating | 3.8/5 | ► | 5/5 |
| Total Reviews | 592 | ◄ | 4 |
| Active Installs | 500K+ | ◄ | 2.0K+ |
| Total Downloads | 22M+ | ◄ | 22K+ |
| Support Resolution | 71% | N/A | |
| Last Updated | 3 weeks ago | ◄ | 2 months ago |
| First Released | 2007 | 2011 | |
| Age | 19 years | 15 years | |
| WP Requires | 5.2+ | 3.0+ | |
| PHP Requires | 7.4+ | 5.2+ | |
| Business Model | Free | Free | |
| Latest Version | 2.4.8 | 1.3.2 |
Rating Breakdown
Broken Link Checker
External Permalinks Redux
Download Trends
Over the past 30 days, Broken Link Checker averaged approximately 13,816 daily downloads while External Permalinks Redux averaged 8.
Recent Reviews
Broken Link Checker Reviews
False Positives for Broken Links EVERY TIME
I have used this plugin for years and it’s always been problematic, but now it gives every single link a false positive and then I have to manually check and dismiss each one. If I bulk rescan all of
Thank you
Thank you very much your work developers. I am very grateful for your wok and for your helpful plugin <3. I was migrating from my old CMS to WordPress and on my WordPress Localhost PC I successfully a
Useful by annoyingly inaccurate.
I’ve been using this plugin on 3 of my main sites for several years. It reports too many false positives when it encounters a crawler violation when checking the URLs. I have NEVER been able to connec
External Permalinks Redux Reviews
Good one
Works as expected. Maybe you should consider adding the link target.
Almost exactly what I needed.
This plugin does almost exactly what I need out of the box, but I wanted for the URL redirect to go to a new page/tab. Turns out that was easier than I expected. I just had to add the target=”_blank”
Perfect
Simple yet easy functionality – this is exactly what I was looking for. I was thinking about writing this type of plugin myself, because we have a bunch of content on other parts of our domain outside
More External Link Worth Comparing
Top alternatives in the same category as Broken Link Checker and External Permalinks Redux
Broken Link Checker by AIOSEO ensures all links on your website are working. Check your site for broken links and easily fix them to improve SEO.
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This plugin is intended to display a link in a blog card format. The goodbye to the text-only link.
Try it out on your free dummy site: Click here => https://tastewp.com/new?pre-installed-plugin-slug=custom-url-to-featured-image&redirect=plugi …
Frequently Asked Questions
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Plugin data sourced from WordPress.org. Comparison and analysis by PluginSift.