How to Collect Feature Requests from Your WordPress Plugin Users (2026 Guide)

If you maintain a WordPress plugin, you know the feeling.

A user emails you asking for a feature. You note it down somewhere. A week later, three more users ask for the same thing. Six months later, you cannot remember which requests were popular and which were one-off requests from unusually loud users.

Feature requests are valuable signal. Most plugin makers waste them.

This guide covers how to actually capture, organise, and act on feedback from your plugin users — including options that range from free and manual to fully automated.

Why email is not enough

The most common approach: users email you directly or open a support ticket.

The problems with this:

1. No visibility across requests. Each email is isolated. You cannot see that 47 users have asked for the same thing in different words.
2. Loud voices skew decisions. The user who emails most frequently gets the most influence, regardless of whether their request represents real demand.
3. No public roadmap. Users who request features do not know if you received it, whether you plan to build it, or whether others want the same thing.
4. High support burden. Answering "can you add X?" emails one by one takes time that could go into actually building X.

Option 1 — Public board tools (Canny, Frill, Upvoty)

Standalone feedback board tools let you create a public page where users submit and vote on feature requests.

Pros

• Clear vote counts show genuine demand
• Users can see each other's requests and vote
• You get a prioritised list automatically

Cons

• Lives outside WordPress. Users must click an external link to submit. Most will not bother.
• Separate cost. Canny starts at $360/year.
• Separate tool for you to manage alongside your plugin.
• Collecting is where it ends. None of them help you build the features.

Option 2 — GitHub Issues

If your plugin is on GitHub, Issues can double as a feature request board.

Pros

• Free
• Developers are comfortable there
• Labels and milestones give some organisation

Cons

• Non-technical users (most of your users) will not use GitHub.
• No voting mechanism beyond reactions.
• No way to show a roadmap to non-technical users.
• Still does not help you build the features.

Option 3 — A feedback tab inside your plugin

This is the approach we built into BuildPlugins.ai.

Instead of sending users to an external tool, the feedback system lives inside your plugin's WordPress admin area. Users see a Suggest & Vote tab in the same menu where they manage your plugin.

How it works

1. Build your plugin with BuildPlugins.ai with the feedback option enabled.
2. A feedback tab is included in the generated plugin automatically.
3. Your users submit ideas directly from WordPress admin.
4. You get an approval email for each submission. Nothing goes public without your review.
5. Approved ideas appear on a vote board. Other users vote.
6. When votes hit your threshold, you are notified.
7. You approve the build. BuildPlugins.ai generates the updated plugin.

The difference from every other approach: the tool that manages your feedback queue is the same tool that builds the features.

Which approach is right for you?

Choose email management if:

• You have fewer than 50 active users
• You build features on a fixed schedule regardless of demand

Choose a standalone board tool if:

• Your users are technical and will follow an external link
• You are willing to pay separately for the feedback tool and development

Choose a built-in feedback tab if:

• Your users are WordPress site owners or store managers (non-technical)
• You want to build features based on real demand, not guesswork
• You want the feedback system and the plugin builder in one place

Getting started

If you want to try the built-in approach, BuildPlugins.ai includes the feedback system in Starter, Pro, and Agency plans.

You can preview your plugin spec (including the feedback tab) for free. You only pay when you are ready to build.