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PetMatchPro icon
Actively maintained Tested up to 7.0.7 #1 in animal rescue

PetMatchPro

Connect your animal shelter or rescue website to PetPoint/Petango, RescueGroups, or AnimalsFirst - and turn visitors into adopters.

Active installs10+10+ tier
Downloads · 30d77▼ -9.4% vs prev. 30d
Rating—0 reviews
Health score57/100Fair
All-time downloads2.4KSince Nov 2023
Support resolved—No recent threads
RequiresWP 6.5PHP 8.3+
Downloads · 7d9▼ -35.7% week over week
Our verdict

Use with caution

PetMatchPro works, but test it on a staging site before relying on it in 2026. It runs on 10+ sites and was last updated 2 months ago, and scores 57/100 on our health check.

  • Small user base (10+ active installs)
  • Very few reviews so far
  • Needs PHP 8.3 or newer

How does it stack up?

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

Daily downloads

71522Jul 16Aug 29Oct 13
Yesterday0
Daily average (1y)4
Peak day37Jun 7, 2026
Last 12 months1.3K

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

Rankings

Where PetMatchPro stands today

WordPress.org search rankings

Live position in the plugin search, top 100
KeywordPositionCompeting pluginsCategory
animal rescue #6 11 Best animal rescue plugins →
animal shelter #4 14 Best animal shelter plugins →
pet adoption #7 13 Best pet adoption plugins →
PetPoint #2 3 Best PetPoint plugins →
rescuegroups #1 2 Best rescuegroups plugins →

Version adoption

Share of active sites per release.

  • 8.23100.0%

About PetMatchPro

From the official readme · v8.23.26

Description

PetMatchPro is the most complete animal adoption plugin for WordPress. It connects your shelter or rescue website directly to the data management system you already use – so your available animals are always current, always branded, and always working to find forever homes.

Supported Integrations

  • PetPoint / Petango
  • RescueGroups
  • AnimalsFirst

Major Upgrade from 6.4.6 – A Whole New PetMatchPro

If you’re running an older version of PetMatchPro, the 8.x line is a complete leap forward. The plugin has been rewritten on a modern PHP 8.1+ foundation, with dozens of new operator-facing capabilities. Highlights since 6.4.6:

  • Lightning-Fast Analytics Dashboard – A new daily-summary architecture means dashboards that used to time out on busy shelters now load in under a second, no matter how many millions of events you’ve collected. Track impressions, detail views, adoption clicks, conversion funnels, traffic sources, peak engagement times, repeat visitors, and time-to-action – all from a single Analytics tab.
  • Smarter Impression Tracking – Impressions are only counted when a visitor actually dwells on an animal card (500ms minimum), so your numbers reflect real interest, not page-scroll noise. Pages with 300+ animals produce clean, meaningful data.
  • Conversion vs. Engagement Split – The dashboard now distinguishes adoption-intent actions (adoption application, email, phone, foster, meet-and-greet, donation, sponsor, volunteer) from engagement actions (video plays, shares, directions). Know what’s actually driving placements.
  • Visual Shortcode Builder – A new admin tab generates correct, copy-paste-ready shortcodes for the partner, method, license tier, installed templates, and field set you’ve configured. No more hand-typing parameters from the documentation.
  • Setup Wizard – A 13-step guided setup walks you through partner selection, method types, field presets, template choices, contact info, filters, labels, colors, and the poster page. Stand up a working configuration in minutes.
  • Hide Empty Fields – A per-method admin toggle (plus a shortcode parameter) suppresses empty fields on both search cards and detail pages. Cleaner layouts for unnamed-intake animals and partial records.
  • Search-Card Hover Text – Standardized, accessible tooltips and ARIA labels on every animal card across all three partners, with method-aware defaults (“Have You Seen {Name}?” for lost, “Help Rehome This {Species}” for found, “Learn More About {Name}” for adopt).
  • Lost & Found Search – Combined lost-and-found search results, partner-aware location handling, and printable lost/found posters with QR codes that route back to the animal’s detail page.
  • Print Posters – One-click adoptable, lost, and found posters with branded layouts, QR codes for last-seen or found locations, and the option to set a dedicated poster page.
  • Currency Symbols Worldwide – £, €, and $ now render correctly on detail pages, search cards, and posters – regardless of your locale.
  • Modernized Template Library – 60+ search and detail templates across all three partners, including default, conversion, conversion-no-app, profile, navigation, similar-animals, and celebration variants. Theme template overrides are supported (Junior+).
  • Multi-Lingual Ready – Full Spanish (es_ES) translation included; .pot file regenerated from current source for any custom locale.
  • WordPress.org Compliant – Color values validated at save and at render. Unserialize calls hardened against object injection. License-gated UI is hidden rather than shown locked. Operational logs route through a structured logger so error_log entries are debuggable in one round-trip.
  • Self-Healing Database – Schema migrations run automatically on the next admin page load after upgrade. No deactivate/reactivate dance.

What PetMatchPro Does for You

Whether you manage a large municipal shelter or a small breed-specific rescue, PetMatchPro gives you the tools to showcase your animals and measure what’s working:

  • Live Animal Listings – Adoptable, found, and lost animals pulled directly from your data management system in real time.
  • Branded Search & Display – Fully customizable search filters, field labels, colors, fonts, and layout so your listings match your website – not a generic widget.
  • Built-In Analytics – Track impressions, detail views, conversion actions, repeat visitors, and time-to-action. Understand what’s actually driving placements.
  • Simple Shortcodes – Place animal search, detail pages, single fields, and admin option values anywhere on your site. Five shortcodes cover every use case.
  • Visual Shortcode Builder – A guided builder generates correct shortcodes for your configuration. No documentation required.
  • Setup Wizard – 13-step guided setup gets you from install to live in minutes.
  • Free to Install – Works out of the box with PetPoint, RescueGroups, or AnimalsFirst – no credit card required to get started.

Why Shelters Choose PetMatchPro

Most shelters rely on an embedded iframe or a redirect to their data system’s generic public portal – giving up control of the visitor experience, losing branding, and getting zero data in return. PetMatchPro keeps visitors on your site, in your brand, and gives you the visibility you need to place more animals.

“PetMatchPro is the missing link between your shelter software and your website.”

Third-party API integrations
PetMatchPro retrieves filter values and species/breed/color lists from AnimalsFirst and RescueGroups APIs on-demand when administrators click the “Refresh Filter Values” button in the plugin’s admin settings. PetMatchPro also retrieves animal records from the configured shelter management system (PetPoint, AnimalsFirst, or RescueGroups) on every public-facing page render. No data is sent off-site without an explicit administrator action; no analytics or telemetry is sent to a vendor-controlled server.

Installation

  1. Download the PetMatchPro plugin zip file from petmatchpro.com or your account dashboard.
  2. In your WordPress admin, go to Plugins > Add New > Upload Plugin.
  3. Choose the zip file you downloaded and click Install Now.
  4. Once installed, click Activate Plugin.
  5. In your WordPress admin menu, go to PetMatchPro > Settings to enter your license key and configure your data integration partner (PetPoint, RescueGroups, or AnimalsFirst).
  6. Follow the step-by-step setup wizard to connect your account and configure your search display.
  7. Add the provided shortcodes to any page or post to display your animal listings.

For additional help, visit petmatchpro.com/faq.

Frequently asked questions

Configuration Constants

PetMatchPro reads a small set of optional define() constants from wp-config.php. These are operator-only kill switches and debugging toggles – none are required for normal operation. Add them above the /* That's all, stop editing! */ line. PMP_ANALYTICS_LEGACY_READS (since 8.9.6) – When defined and truthy, every dashboard read method that was migrated to the daily summary table in 8.9.4 falls back to its pre-8.9.4 raw-events body. Use as a one-line rollback if a migrated dashboard widget shows surprising numbers and you want to compare against the legacy implementation while the operator team…

Internationalization

PetMatchPro is fully translation-ready and ships with a complete Spanish (es_ES) translation out of the box. Every user-facing string – admin settings, the 13-step setup wizard, public-facing templates, error messages, and all shortcode output – is wrapped in WordPress’s standard translation functions with the pet-match-pro text domain. What’s included: Full Spanish (es_ES) translation – .po source and compiled .mo files in the plugin’s languages/ directory. Up-to-date .pot template regenerated from the current source. Drop it into Loco Translate, Poedit, or any GlotPress-compatible tool to…

Changelog

The four size parameters now actually work. icon_size, title_size, subtitle_size, and banner_size were accepted by the shortcodes, gated by license tier, and documented in the admin and the knowledge base - but had no effect on any page, on either search or detail. The code that turned them into CSS was never called. If you set one of these in the past and concluded it did nothing, you were right. All four now apply on both [pmp-search] and [pmp-details], scoped to the individual shortcode, so two blocks on the same page can size differently. icon_size accepts small/large/xl or a whole number from 8 to 200; values outside that range, or with units attached ("48px"), are ignored rather than guessed at. Because these parameters previously did nothing, any page already carrying one will change appearance after upgrading - worth a quick look at pages using them. Pages without them render exactly as before. No schema, settings, or migration change. Safe drop-in upgrade.

View the complete list of plugin updates in /CHANGE-LOG.pdf.

Full changelog on WordPress.org →

Screenshots

Adoptable animal search results - cards with photo, name, age, site, and configurable fields, plus order-by and sort controls.
Adoptable animal search results - cards with photo, name, age, site, and configurable…
Animal detail page with photo gallery, fields, description, social sharing, and adoption call-to-action buttons.
Animal detail page with photo gallery, fields, description, social sharing, and adoption…
Built-in analytics dashboard - impressions, detail views, conversions, and What the Data Says insights.
Built-in analytics dashboard - impressions, detail views, conversions, and What the Data…
Step-by-step setup wizard - 13 guided steps from partner selection to live site.
Step-by-step setup wizard - 13 guided steps from partner selection to live site.
Visual Shortcode Builder - generates correct shortcodes for your partner, method, and license tier.
Visual Shortcode Builder - generates correct shortcodes for your partner, method, and…
Admin settings - tabbed interface for general, partner, contact, colors, labels, filters, and tools.
Admin settings - tabbed interface for general, partner, contact, colors, labels, filters…
Print poster - adoptable, lost, and found posters with QR codes routing back to the animal.
Print poster - adoptable, lost, and found posters with QR codes routing back to the…
Lost & found search - combined results with method-specific hover text and partner-aware locations.
Lost & found search - combined results with method-specific hover text and partner-aware…
Customize field labels to match your organization's terminology.
Customize field labels to match your organization's terminology.

For developers

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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 PetMatchPro alternatives

All animal rescue plugins →
Alternatives
Rank Plugin Active installs Rating Updated Health
2 PetBridge PetBridge Embed PetBridge features on your WordPress site to streamline pet adoptions, surrenders… by PetBridge 10+ ★★★★★★★★★★ No reviews 2 weeks ago 66
3 Doobert Chatbot Doobert Chatbot   A WordPress plugin to allow a chatbot on the WordPress site that answers questions based… by doobertchris <10 ★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 (5) 4 months ago 60

FAQ

PetMatchPro: quick answers

Straight answers, pulled from live WordPress.org data.

Live data from WordPress.org · checked Oct 14, 2026

Is PetMatchPro free?

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

Is PetMatchPro safe to use in 2026?

PetMatchPro works, but test it on a staging site before relying on it in 2026. It runs on 10+ sites and was last updated 2 months ago, and scores 57/100 on our health check.

How many websites use PetMatchPro?

PetMatchPro is active on 10+ WordPress websites and has been downloaded 2,390 times since it launched in November 2023. It was downloaded 77 times in the last 30 days.

Does PetMatchPro work with WordPress 7.1?

PetMatchPro is officially tested up to WordPress 7.0.7, while the latest release is 7.1.3. It may still work, but try it on a staging site first.

What PHP version does PetMatchPro need?

PetMatchPro requires PHP 8.3 or higher. Most hosts run PHP 8.x today, so it works on any modern WordPress hosting.

When was PetMatchPro last updated?

The latest version, 8.23.26, was released on August 4, 2026 (2 months ago).

Who makes PetMatchPro?

PetMatchPro is developed and maintained by PetMatchPro.

What are the best alternatives to PetMatchPro?

The most popular alternatives to PetMatchPro are PetBridge (10+ installs) and Doobert Chatbot (<10 installs).

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