Download Monitor provides an interface for uploading and managing downloadable files (including support for multiple versions), inserting download links into posts and logging downloads!
Features
- Add, edit and remove downloads from a familiar WP interface; Your downloads are just like posts.
- Sell your downloads from within your WordPress website!
- 100% Gutenberg compatible, including a new Download Monitor Download Block. Type /download to use it!
- Quick-add panel for adding downloads / files whilst editing posts.
- Add multiple file versions to your downloads each with their own data like download count and file links.
- Define alternative links (mirrors) per download version.
- Categorize, tag, or add other meta to your downloads.
- Display download links on the frontend using shortcodes.
- Change the way download links get displayed via template files.
- Track downloads counts and log user download attempts.
- Member only downloads, requires users to be logged in to download your files.
- Customisable endpoints for showing pretty download links.
Download Monitor has been featured on the websites of some of the most popular and leading businesses in the WordPress ecosystem, such as WPBeginner, Pagely, Jilt, WP Fusion & Kinsta.
Download Monitor Extensions
- Buttons: Create beautiful, fully customizable download buttons for your files.
- Downloading Page: Serve your downloads from a separate page.
- Google Drive: Lets you use the files hosted on your Google Drive as Download Monitor files.
- Advanced Access Manager: Create advanced download limitations per download and on a global level.
- Email Notification: Trigger an email notification whenever one of your files is downloaded.
- Page Addon: List downloads, categories, tags, and show info pages about each of your resources using a simple shortcode.
- Lock downloads option: Set restrictions to your download functionality using MailChimp Lock, Email Lock, CAPTCHA, Twitter Lock
- Gravity Forms Gated Content: easily create a download gate with Gravity Forms. Require users to fill-in a form before accessing a download.
- Ninja Forms Lock: if you are an user of Ninja Forms, you can also use this to require users to fill-in of a form before accesing a download.
Documentation
We have a large Knowledge Base on our Download Monitor website that contains documentation about how to how to setup and use Download Monitor.
Are you a new Download Monitor user? Read these articles on how to get your files ready for download with Download Monitor:
- How to install Download Monitor
- How to add your first download in Download Monitor
- How to list your first download on your website with the download shortcode
More advanced topics that a lot of people find interesting:
- Learn more about the different ways you can style your download buttons
- Learn more about how to customize your download buttons
- Learn more about what actions and filters are available in Download Monitor
Contributing and reporting bugs
You can contribute code to this plugin via GitHub: https://github.com/WPChill/download-monitor
You can contribute localizations via Transifex https://www.transifex.com/projects/p/download-monitor/
NEED HELP USING DOWNLOAD MONITOR?
– Search our extensive knowledge base for documentation about installing the plugin/the extensions, available settings and how to use them.
– Browse Download monitor’s WordPress forum to find answers to your queries or create a new topic.
– Contact us directly for support.
3rd party or external service disclaimer
The plugin connects to our website through an API call (https://download-monitor.com/?dlm-all-extensions=true) in order to request a list of available extensions.
IT DOES NOT SEND ANY DATA NOR DO WE COLLECT INFORMATION FROM THE REQUEST
Our privacy policy can be found at this URL https://download-monitor.com/privacy-policy/
Download Monitor uses the WordPress uploader for uploading files. By default these formats are supported:
- Images – .jpg, .jpeg, .png, .gif
- Documents – .pdf, .doc, .docx, .ppt, .pptx, .pps, .ppsx, .odt, .xls, .xlsx
- Music – .mp3, .m4a, .ogg, .wav
- Video – .mp4, .m4v, .mov, .wmv, .avi, .mpg, .ogv, .3gp, .3g2
To add more you can use a plugin, or filters. This post is a good resource for doing it with filters: Change WordPress Upload Mime Types.
Yes, you can use both local paths and external URLs.
Download links are powered by endpoints. If you find them 404’ing, go to Settings > Permalinks and save. This will flush the permalinks and allow our endpoints to be added.
Admin hits are not counted, log out and try again!
Does what it said, Cheers!
By 
Good plugin, try it.. Works great!
Does not work when wp uploads folder is on CDN
By 
The plugin seems decent and very featured.
My site is on Shifter, but even in the staging site, creating a new download results in it saving without the actual url. All downloads say "File not provided". My uploads folder is hosted on an external CDN, but I tried adding to the "Approved Paths" list as many versions of that path I can think of. There are no errors shown. I can type the URL manually, or choose from media library, or upload right in the new download page - no matter what the url never gets added to the database. Going to look for alternatives.
Sehr nützliches Plug-in
By 
Sehr nützliches Plug-in
Easy to use, great customer support!
By 
I have tried different plugins for document download management for my website, none of them is as simple as this one. I tried the free version to start with, it just took me less than 30 minutes to get the files upload and enabled them on my website for customers to download. During the time when I configured the plugin, I reached out to the support team, and got response within minutes even I am using the free version.
I definitely recommend this plugin to anyone who needs a simple plugin for download management, with a great support team behind the product. I will upgrade to the paid version just to support this great team
Easy to use, meets my needs, very good.
By 
Easy to use, meets my needs, very good.
Great! Very reliable and stable!
By 
After Google Drive reset settings awhile back out of the blue, I kept getting a bujillion notifications a week from users asking me permission to download my files. Rather than go back to Google Drive or switch to another third party hosting platform, I figured it was time to have my downloads self-hosted. However, with so many downloads, I needed a manager, so picked this one. I can't speak for users wanting a more robust plugin (like for an ecommerce or subscription site), but for someone like me, Download Manager is perfect. It's also incredibly reliable and stable. It's sailed through many updates with flying colors, so no worries on that end.
Feature Rich and Fantastic Support
By 
We needed a plugin that could both protect specific media files for specific roles as well as keep track of who was accessing those files. The Download Monitor provided that and so much more at a very reasonable price.
We had a minor issue understanding how metric tracking was working so we reached out to support for clarification. Their response was lightning fast and they worked with us both to understand how it worked and how to tweak things to make sure it performed exactly how we needed it to work for our use case.
Highly recommend this plugin!
Good plugin
By 
Very useful to organize the evolution of download files
Solid, reliable
By 
Unfailing solid plug-in. Have had it on my site for about 2 years and it's working just fine!
Excellent
By 
I've been using Download Monitor for over 6 years - never had a problem. Works flawlessly. Recommended. Does what it says, what more could anyone want.
5.0.12 – 25.09.2024
Fixed: Error on simple site approved download path deletion
5.0.11 – 25.09.2024
Fixed: Critical error when no paths ( #1558 )
Fixed: REST API Version creation order ( #1557 )
Fixed: Allow network admin to quick add paths from Download edit screen ( #1559 )
5.0.10 – 24.09.2024
Fixed: Check user capability when enabling Shop ( thanks to @truonghuuphuc for reporting ) ( #1551 )
Fixed: Double slash for home url ( #1533 )
Changed: Downloadable file URLs format on save ( #1536 )
Fixed: PHP Error ( #1534 )
Changed: Downloads Paths for multisite, now on each site ( only network admin can add them ) ( #1538 )
Fixed: Database error when installing tables on multisite ( #1540 )
Added: Terms & Conditions quick edit action in admin list ( #1510 )
Fixed: New untitled Download fatal error ( #1541 )
Fixed: Plugin conflict with Event Espresso ( #1548 )
Fixed: Main site in multisite incorrect route ( #1549 )
Fixed: Printing emoji in Insert in Editor action ( #1504 )
Fixed: Creating API Keys on Firefox & Firefox like browsers ( #1553 )
5.0.9 – 29.08.2024
Fixed: Security update when exporting single Download CPT
5.0.8 – 28.08.2024
Fixed: Logging bug in some conditions ( #1527 )
Fixed: Legacy importer null content bug ( #1528 )
5.0.7 – 27.08.2024
Fixed: Versions order not following menu order ( #1511 )
Fixed: Undefined variable ( #1523 )
Fixed: Not logging downloads in some conditions ( #1522 )
5.0.5 – 23.08.2024
Fixed: Dev fixes
5.0.4 – 23.08.2024
Fixed: Dev files included
5.0.0 – 21.08.2024
Fixed: File Browser not working on installations that return ‘//’ ( double slashed ) paths. ( #1412 )
Fixed: File Browser no longer displays cross-site folders in multisite environments. ( #1402 )
Fixed: Performance issues that were affecting websites with a large number of downloads or a large postmeta table. ( #1421 )( #1425 )
Fixed: Error when trying to delete files on Download deletion ( #1468 )
Fixed: When using XHR to download files, some browsers would block redirecting a Download file in a new tab ( #1467 )
Fixed: Incompatibility with the WPML plugin ( #1453 )
Fixed: Certain UI bugs in the admin area
Fixed: Filetype was not showing the icon ( #1426 )
Fixed: Multiple downloads bug when on the same page using the “Button” template ( #1449 )
Fixed: PayPal payment gateway PHP 8.x compatibility
Fixed: UUID column from download_log can not be null ( #1506 )
Fixed: External file Downloads might not register downloads ( #1508 )
Changed: Admin download edit view ( #1398 )
Changed: Enhanced display of settings descriptions. ( #1444 )
Changed: Major change, multiple allowed uploads paths and setting redesign ( #1447 )
Changed: Major change, switched to DLM-globaly used cookie for Download Monitor and its extensions ( #1384 )
Changed: File restriction, search and placement now based on allowed paths, and now is absolute
Chaged: Removed Twitter Lock upsells, extension meets the end of life ( #1497 )
Added: File type & location column to the admin list table ( #1450 )
Added: REST API endpoints for creating, updating, and deleting downloads and versions ( #1215 )
Added: REST API Keys, to allow access to the REST API endpoint functionality
Added: Included the Terms and Conditions premium plugin in the LITE version ( #1445 )
Added: Download debug export metabox ( #1387 )
Added: Possibility in Multisite to specify the uploads folder for each site ( #1403 )
Added: Directories access restriction ( #1401 )
4.9.14 – 27.05.2024
Fixed: Security issue, thanks to Arkadiusz Hydzik for reporting it.
4.9.13 – 15.04.2024
Fixed: Enforce on what pages should the ID pe appended in the title ( #1443 )
Fixed: WP 6.5 compatibility for fresh installs ( #1442 )
4.9.12 – 11.04.2024
Fixed: Lite vs Premium page not showing when a license is not added.( #1441 )
4.9.11 – 16.02.2024
Changed: Removed Freemius
Fixed: Slight UI fixes
4.9.10 – 05.02.2024
Fixed: Versions download link for the “Version list” template ( #1422 )
4.9.9 – 30.01.2024
Fixed: Performance issue fix
4.9.8 – 25.01.2024
Fixed: Products update problem ( #1415 )
Fixed: PHP Warnings on non-defined Download templates ( #1413 )
4.9.7 – 23.01.2024
Fixed: [] operator not supported for strings error. ( #1409 )
Fixed: User reports not showing user name & role. ( #1410 )
4.9.6 – 22.01.2024
Changed: Moved, removed and updated admin settings for “General” section ( #1346 )
Changed: Moved, renamed and updated admin settings for “Shop” section ( #1347 )
Changed: Moved, removed and updated admin settings for “Advanced” section ( #1348 )
Changed: Prevent Duplicate Downloads ON by default on production(live) websites. ( #1350 )
Changed: Reports – don’t get users without downloads. ( #1313 )
Fixed: Removed nonce check on reports for WordPress’ own requests ( #1383 )
Added: Templates section where the user can see overridden templates. Also, moved the Misc section in the General tab ( #1389 )
Added: Dynamic data to plugin’s templates, now offering way to add attributes to the link without needing to override the template ( #1385 )
Added: Open in new tab option when selecting “Redirect to file” option ( #1386 )
Added: Alert if some PHP functions/modules are disabled ( #1392 )
Changed: Do not take into consideration the 60s window for unique downloads on localhost or staging ( #1350 )
Fixed: Disabling file browser from wp-config.php ( #1259 )
Changed: Moved external hosting upsell to its own metabox ( #1405 )
You can read the complete changelog here
Automatic installation
Automatic installation is the easiest option as WordPress handles the file transfers itself and you don’t even need to leave your web browser. To do an automatic install, log in to your WordPress admin panel, navigate to the Plugins menu and click Add New.
In the search field type “Download Monitor” and click Search Plugins. Once you’ve found the plugin you can view details about it such as the the point release, rating and description. Most importantly of course, you can install it by clicking Install Now.
Manual installation
The manual installation method involves downloading the plugin and uploading it to your webserver via your favourite FTP application.
- Download the plugin file to your computer and unzip it
- Using an FTP program, or your hosting control panel, upload the unzipped plugin folder to your WordPress installation’s
wp-content/plugins/directory. - Activate the plugin from the Plugins menu within the WordPress admin.
Reviews
4.5 out of 5 stars
- Version: 5.0.12
- Last updated: 1 week ago
- Active installations: 90K
- WordPress version: 5.5
- Tested up to: 6.6.2
- PHP version: 7.4