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Back to the Future icon
Possibly abandoned Tested up to 4.1.42 #2 in future post

Back to the Future

On your template, just simply add the string ‘post_status=future’ to your WP_Query

Active installs20+10+ tier
Downloads · 30d40▲ +8.1% vs prev. 30d
Rating5/51 reviews
Health score31/100At risk
All-time downloads2.3KSince Feb 2015
Support resolved—No recent threads
RequiresWP 1.5PHP any
Downloads · 7d11▲ 3.7× week over week
Our verdict

Consider an alternative

Back to the Future shows warning signs in 2026 — compare the alternatives below before installing. It runs on 20+ sites, is rated 5/5 and was last updated 12 years ago, and scores 31/100 on our health check.

  • Small user base (20+ active installs)
  • Very few reviews so far
  • No update in 11 years
  • Only tested up to WordPress 4.1 (latest is 7.1)

How does it stack up?

Side-by-side on installs, updates, ratings & support

Daily downloads

134Jul 22Sep 4Oct 19
Yesterday2
Daily average (1y)1
Peak day6Sep 17, 2026
Last 12 months369

Download spikes usually follow a new release — each site that auto-updates counts as a download.

Rankings

Where Back to the Future stands today

WordPress.org search rankings

Live position in the plugin search, top 100
KeywordPositionCompeting pluginsCategory
future post >100 3,857 Best future post plugins →
future post type >100 2,498 Best future post type plugins →
future shows >100 3,319 Best future shows plugins →
schedule post >100 3,011 Best schedule post plugins →
schedule post type >100 2,025 Best schedule post type plugins →

Version adoption

Share of active sites per release.

  • 1.0100.0%

Rating breakdown

★★★★★★★★★★ 5 from 1 reviews

  • 5★100.0%
  • 4★0.00%
  • 3★0.00%
  • 2★0.00%
  • 1★0.00%

About Back to the Future

From the official readme · v1.0

Description

  • Displays future/scheduled posts on single.php(Single Post Template)
  • Displays future/scheduled posts using shortcode
  • Enables comments for future/scheduled posts

For Developers

On your template, just simply add the string ‘post_status=future’ to your WP_Query

Example: WP_Query(‘post_status=future’);

$args = array(  'post_type' => 'post_type', 
                'posts_per_page' => '-99',
                'post_status' => array( 'publish', 'future' )
            );

            $loop = new WP_Query( $args );

            while ( $loop->have_posts() ) : $loop->the_post(); 

Read More in https://codex.wordpress.org/Class_Reference/WP_Query/

This displays all future and published posts.

License

Back to the Future is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

Back to the Future is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with Back to the Future. If not, see http://www.gnu.org/licenses/.

Installation

  1. Upload ‘back-to-the-future.php’ to the /wp-content/plugins/ directory
  2. Go to the Plugins page in your WordPress Admin area and click ‘Activate’ for Back to the Future

Changelog

Initial Release.

1.0 – 29/01/2015

  • Initial Release.

Full changelog on WordPress.org →

Screenshots

Post scheduled for October 21, 2015, the date movie Back to the future.
Post scheduled for October 21, 2015, the date movie Back to the future.
Movie image from back to the future where it shows the date of the future.
Movie image from back to the future where it shows the date of the future.

For developers

Is this your plugin? Show off the numbers.

Add a live badge to your site, docs or GitHub README. It updates on its own — no account needed.

Active installs badge Rating badge Health score badge

Best Back to the Future alternatives

All future post plugins →
Alternatives
Rank Plugin Active installs Rating Updated Health
1 Show Future Posts on Single Post Show Future Posts on Single Post Lets you show Future or Schedule Post on Single Posts. It also enables comments for future… by Stanley Dumanig 200+ ★★★★★★★★★★ 5 (3) 17 years ago 33
3 WP-Cat2Calendar WP-Cat2Calendar WP-Cat2Calendar is a plugin which can organize posts into a calendar by category(/ies). by Big Boss 20+ ★★★★★★★★★★ No reviews 16 years ago 24
4 Ys-Fp_md2pd Ys-Fp_md2pd Future post, adjust the modify date to post date. by yuuwoods 10+ ★★★★★★★★★★ No reviews 5 years ago 23

FAQ

Back to the Future: quick answers

Straight answers, pulled from live WordPress.org data.

Live data from WordPress.org · checked Oct 20, 2026

Is Back to the Future free?

Yes. Back to the Future is free to download and use from the official WordPress.org plugin directory.

Is Back to the Future safe to use in 2026?

Back to the Future shows warning signs in 2026 — compare the alternatives below before installing. It runs on 20+ sites, is rated 5/5 and was last updated 12 years ago, and scores 31/100 on our health check.

How many websites use Back to the Future?

Back to the Future is active on 20+ WordPress websites and has been downloaded 2,331 times since it launched in February 2015. It was downloaded 40 times in the last 30 days.

Does Back to the Future work with WordPress 7.1?

Back to the Future is officially tested up to WordPress 4.1.42, while the latest release is 7.1.3. It may still work, but try it on a staging site first.

When was Back to the Future last updated?

The latest version, 1.0, was released on February 5, 2015 (12 years ago).

Who makes Back to the Future?

Back to the Future is developed and maintained by Valerio Souza.

What are the best alternatives to Back to the Future?

The most popular alternatives to Back to the Future are Show Future Posts on Single… (200+ installs), WP-Cat2Calendar (20+ installs) and Ys-Fp_md2pd (10+ installs).

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