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WordPress Importer

By WordPress.org

Site Administration & Utilities / Site Migration & Cloning

Reviewed by Omar Dabbas

Trusted WordPress expert with 20+ years of experience evaluating plugins for the WP ecosystem.

WordPress Importer Review - In-Depth Analysis

Easily import posts, pages, comments, and custom fields from a WordPress export file.

Performance Overview

WPS Score

7.57/10

User Rating

3.1/5 (based on 327+ reviews)

Active Installations

2,000,000+

Update Frequency

Average It is calculated using the weighted average of same category plugins.

Security Score

5 / 10 (Medium Risk) It is calculated using the weighted average of all versions.

What It Does

The WordPress Importer allows you to import various content types from a WordPress export file. You can import posts, pages, and other custom post types, along with comments and their metadata. It also supports importing custom fields, categories, tags, and terms from custom taxonomies.

This plugin can handle authors as well, making it a comprehensive solution for migrating content. Additional filters are available to enable or block specific features, such as user creation and attachment fetching.

For detailed instructions, refer to the documentation on Importing Content.

Comparing to Alternatives

WordPress Importer is the official core-adjacent tool for moving WXR export files between sites, but its narrow focus means many users outgrow it quickly. A wide field of specialized importers now covers CSV, XML, and platform-specific migrations more robustly.

Top alternatives

Strengths

Free and maintained as an official WordPress.org tool
Simple, familiar workflow for standard WXR file imports
Good enough for small sites with modest post and media counts
No cost barrier for basic migrations

Weaknesses

Struggles or fails outright on larger imports (100+ posts)
Limited export capabilities compared to dedicated import/export plugins
Lacks CSV support and advanced field mapping found in alternatives
History of a medium-severity PHP Object Injection vulnerability

User Sentiment Analysis

With a 3.1/5 average from 327 ratings, sentiment is sharply polarized: nearly 40% give 5 stars while over 34% give just 1 star, and the 1-2 star share sits at 43.4%. Positive reviewers praise its simplicity for basic transfers, while detractors report reliability failures on larger sites.

Positive highlights

"I managed to export all of my posts and images easily and import them to my new installation" — mrkenobi
"Beiträge wurden vollständig importiert" (posts were fully imported) — Maxim
"War beim Erstellen hilfreich. Produkte, Bilder und Kunden importiert" — Klaus Kullmann
"Gar nicht so schlecht... alles übrigens war kostenlos" (not bad at all, and it was free) — Maxim

Common complaints

Fails or conflicts with certain hosting environments, wasting hours of troubleshooting time
Unreliable performance beyond small imports, freezing or failing past roughly 100 posts

Weaknesses

Known history of a medium-severity Admin+ PHP Object Injection vulnerability (fixed in 0.8.4)
Nearly half of all reviewers rate it 1-2 stars, signaling inconsistent real-world performance
Limited scalability for larger sites or bulk migrations

Who Should Use This?

Best for

Site owners doing a one-time, small-scale migration of posts, pages, and images via standard WXR export files, especially those who want a free, no-frills tool without third-party dependencies.

Not ideal for

Anyone importing large volumes of content, needing CSV/XML flexibility, migrating orders or complex WooCommerce data, or running on hosts with strict resource limits — these users should look at dedicated alternatives. Users should also ensure they're on version 0.8.4 or later given the past object injection vulnerability.

Pricing & Value

Free version includes

The plugin is entirely free and provides basic WXR import/export functionality for posts, pages, comments, custom fields, categories, tags, and media attachments — sufficient for straightforward, small-scale site migrations.

Final Verdict

WordPress Importer remains a serviceable free option for simple, small migrations, but user sentiment reflects real limitations: nearly 43% of reviewers rate it 1-2 stars, citing hosting conflicts and failures once import size grows. Its one known vulnerability, though patched, adds a reminder to keep the plugin updated.

Given the crowded field of more capable alternatives like WP All Import, WP All Export, and platform-specific importers, this plugin suits only the lightest use cases. Anyone handling substantial content volumes, CSV data, or e-commerce records will likely find a dedicated alternative more dependable.

Other Notable Features

Here are a few other notable features of this free WordPress Importer plugin.

WordPress import

content migration

import posts

FAQ

If your exported file is very large, the import script may run into your host’s configured memory limit for PHP.

A message like “Fatal error: Allowed memory size of 8388608 bytes exhausted” indicates that the script can’t successfully import your XML file under the current PHP memory limit. If you have access to the php.ini file, you can manually increase the limit; if you do not (your WordPress installation is hosted on a shared server, for instance), you might have to break your exported XML file into several smaller pieces and run the import script one at a time.

For those with shared hosting, the best alternative may be to consult hosting support to determine the safest approach for running the import. A host may be willing to temporarily lift the memory limit and/or run the process directly from their end.

— Support Article: Importing Content