Footnotes Made Easy vs References (2026)

Detailed side-by-side comparison of two WordPress plugins, based on real-time data from WordPress.org.

Footnotes Made Easy

4.6(38)

2.0K+ active installs

Free

Updated 4 months ago

View Footnotes Made Easy

References

5(1)

30 active installs

Free

Updated 1 year ago

View References

Quick Verdict

As of April 2026, References has a higher user rating (5/5 from 1 reviews) while Footnotes Made Easy leads in active installations (2.0K+ vs 30). Both are free WordPress plugins. Footnotes Made Easy has accumulated 55K+ total downloads while References has 3.0K+.

Detailed Comparison

Metric	Footnotes Made Easy		References
Rating	4.6/5	►	5/5
Total Reviews	38	◄	1
Active Installs	2.0K+	◄	30
Total Downloads	55K+	◄	3.0K+
Support Resolution	N/A		N/A
Last Updated	4 months ago	◄	1 year ago
First Released	2017		2016
Age	9 years		10 years
WP Requires	4.6+		3.0+
PHP Requires	7.4+		false+
Business Model	Free		Free
Latest Version	3.1.0		1.202

Rating

4.6/5Footnotes Made Easy

►

References5/5

Total Reviews

38Footnotes Made Easy

◄

References1

Active Installs

2.0K+Footnotes Made Easy

◄

References30

Total Downloads

55K+Footnotes Made Easy

◄

References3.0K+

Support Resolution

N/AFootnotes Made Easy

ReferencesN/A

Last Updated

4 months agoFootnotes Made Easy

◄

References1 year ago

First Released

2017Footnotes Made Easy

References2016

Age

9 yearsFootnotes Made Easy

References10 years

WP Requires

4.6+Footnotes Made Easy

References3.0+

PHP Requires

7.4+Footnotes Made Easy

Referencesfalse+

Business Model

FreeFootnotes Made Easy

ReferencesFree

Latest Version

3.1.0Footnotes Made Easy

References1.202

Rating Breakdown

Footnotes Made Easy

4.6/5(38 reviews)

87%

References

5/5(1 reviews)

100%

Download Trends

Recent Reviews

Footnotes Made Easy Reviews

by Greg Taylor

Great Plugin

Very easy to set up and understand. Makes creating useful, interactive footnotes a total breeze. I found I did not have to leave a space after the last character before the double parentheses for a fo

by JCV

Plugin not updated anymore

This plugin was great. Then the original developer got busy and passed it to another developper, who in months hasn’t fixed small bugs that users takes the time to report, claims to be PHP 8.2 complia

by yolandal

What do I do with all my footnotes now?

Hello David, I’m sorry to hear you had to discontinue this plugin. But I have a problem now, as I’ve used footnotes on several of my blogs, the code is now shown in the text which gives a lot of clutt

References Reviews

No reviews yet

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Footnotes Made Easy or References more popular?

Footnotes Made Easy has 2.0K+ active installations while References has 30. Footnotes Made Easy is the more widely-used plugin as of April 2026.

Which has better ratings — Footnotes Made Easy or References?

Footnotes Made Easy has a 4.6/5 rating from 38 reviews, while References has a 5/5 rating from 1 reviews.

Are Footnotes Made Easy and References free?

Footnotes Made Easy is free and References is free. Both can be downloaded from the WordPress.org plugin directory.

Which plugin has better support — Footnotes Made Easy or References?

Support resolution data is not available for all plugins. Check each plugin's WordPress.org support forum for current response quality.

Which plugin is updated more frequently?

Footnotes Made Easy was last updated 4 months ago and References was last updated 1 year ago.

Plugin data sourced from WordPress.org. Comparison and analysis by PluginSift.