by Robert Peake 4.6 (10 reviews)

Better Random Redirect

Name: Better Random Redirect
Rating: 4.6 (10 reviews)
Author: Robert Peake

Based on the original Random Redirect, this plugin enables efficient, easy random redirection to a post. Supports setting a category for all random re …

Better Random Redirect ranks #8,103 among WordPress.org plugins with 700+ active installations, a 4.6/5 rating from 10 reviews, and was last updated May 26, 2025. Data from WordPress.org, refreshed twice daily — see methodology.

Tested up to WP 6.8 (Current: 7.1)

v1.3.20 Current Version v1.3.20

Updated 1 year ago Last Update on 26 May, 2025

Refreshed 11 hours ago Last Refreshed on

Top 25% by installs No update in over a year

View on WordPress.org

Rank

#8,103

-7 this week

Active Installs

700+

-7.2%

KW Avg Position

— No change

Downloads

26.7K

+3 today

Support Resolved

— No change

Rating

92%

Review 4.6 out of 5

4.6 (10 reviews)

Next Milestone 800

Total Progress 42%

700+ 800+

414

Ranks to Climb

Growth Needed

8,000,000

Active Installs

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Rank Changes

Current #8,103

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Active Installs Growth

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Active Installs 0,000,000+

Growth +0.0%

Peak 0,000,000

Downloads Growth

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Reviews & Ratings

4.6

10 reviews

Overall 92%

9 (90%)

0 (0%)

1 (10%)

Security History

Source: WPVulnerability

1 known vulnerability on record · 1 in the last 24 months · checked 1 month ago

Jun 19, 2025 UNPATCHED

Better Random Redirect [better-random-redirect] <= 1.3.20 (unfixed)

CVE-2025-50021 · No fix released

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Plugin Details

Version: 1.3.20
Last Updated: May 26, 2025
Requires WP: 3.0.0+
Tested Up To: 6.8
PHP Version: N/A
Author: Robert Peake

Support & Rating

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 4.6
Reviews: 10
Support Threads: 0
Resolved: 0%

Keywords

category post random

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TL;DR

AI summary of the plugin's readme

This plugin is for WordPress site owners who want to send visitors to a random post. It solves the problem of inefficient random redirection by offering a scalable method suited to high-traffic sites with thousands of posts.

Random redirection to a post
Category setting for redirects
Shortcodes to generate URLs
Override default category via shortcode
Custom redirector URL
Scales to thousands of posts

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about Better Random Redirect

Yep, really. So many of the ones currently out there are not suitable for large websites with lots of traffic. This is because many random redirect plugins rely on the 'orderby' => 'rand' constraint in Wordpress, or directly use 'ORDER BY RAND()' in their MySQL queries. This results in notoriously poor performance and can really cause problems with your MySQL server if this operation is heavily repeated on a website with lots of eligible posts. This plugin uses a more efficient approach, including transient caching of all eligible posts by category and their post counts to minimise the time it takes to pick a true random post.

Go to Settings > Better Random Redirect and change the URL slug from the default of "random" to whatever you want it to be.

Select the category you want to use in Settings > Better Random Redirect. This will become the default category used for all subsequent random requests. It can be overridden, however using the cat= shortcode attribute or query string as described below.

Select the post type you want to use in Settings > Better Random Redirect. This will become the default post type used for all subsequent random requests. It can be overridden, however using the posttype= shortcode attribute or query string as described below.

For random results in e.g. category 'foo', use the shortcode [random-url cat="foo"]. The generated link will select a random post from that category. Alternatively, use the URL you set up in the configuration above, and optionally append cat= as part of the URL query string.

For random results in e.g. post type 'page', use the shortcode [random-url posttype="page"]. The generated link will select a random post from that post type. Alternatively, use the URL you set up in the configuration above, and optionally append posttype= as part of the URL query string.

Use the shortcode [random-url] anywhere you want to place the URL for a link to the randomiser, such as in text links or buttons. You can also use the cat= attribute to create a link to a randomiser that will only select random posts from a specific category, or the posttype= attribute to create a link to a randomiser that will only select random posts from a specific post type. Alternatively, simply use the URL you set up in the configuration above as the link for the link or button, and optionally append cat= and/or posttype= as part of the URL query string.

You can use the URL you set up in the configuration, and optionally append cat= and/or posttype= as part of the URL query string. Alternatively, for sidebar items, you can use the PHP Widget along with some php code like <?php echo do_shortcode('[random-url]'); ?> to resolve the shortcode to a link that includes the r= attribute to defeat URL-based caching.

This is a random integer in the range of possible index values for the relevant category. It is appended to the generated URLs to defeat URL-based caching, and also to give deterministic routing of results (i.e. the same r value and category combination will lead to the same post each time). This helps with services like Facebook that cache the resulting 302 redirect, to make sure they are caching accurate metadata on a link-by-link basis.

Better Random Redirect

Next Milestone 800

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