Home / Plugins / Smart Download Redirector

Freev2.0.0 · updated Oct 1, 2026 · GPL · no Pro version

Smart Download Redirector: a countdown page for downloads and external links

A free WordPress plugin that sends the links you choose through a short countdown page on your own domain. A file gets “Preparing your download” with its name, a link to another website gets “You are leaving this website” with the domain. Three layouts, a live preview in the settings and download statistics without cookies. Your existing links need no change.

A blog post with a PDF download and a link to another website. Each link opens a countdown page on your own domain: Preparing your download with the file name, or You are leaving this website with the domain. Below, the download statistics of the last 30 days.

Download free on wordpress.org How it works ↓

Why put a page in front of a link?

A link to a file on another server or to another website hands the visitor over the moment they click. The file starts from a host with someone else’s name on it, the partner shop opens without a word from you, and the click is the last thing that happens on your site. You do not even learn which files people actually took.

A short page of your own in between changes that. It says what is happening, “Preparing your download” or “You are leaving this website”, shows the file name or the target domain, and has room for whatever you put around it: a thank-you, the next lesson, a newsletter form, related downloads. And because every click passes through it, it can count: views and downloads per file and day, nothing about the person.

The catch with most redirect plugins is the plumbing. Links that expire because they were built with a nonce, pages that break under a cache, visitors left on a blank screen when a script is blocked. This plugin keeps that part boring: signed links that never expire, a fallback button at zero, a timer between one and sixty seconds, and link rules that leave every other link alone.

It does not hide the destination. The file name and the domain stay readable on the page; anything confidential needs real authentication, not a countdown.

This is what it looks like

Three layouts, two kinds of link, live

The layouts and screens of the plugin, live.

yoursite.com/download/

Download

Thanks for downloading. Your file is on its way.

Card, Minimal or Inline, a download or a link to another website, the fallback button at zero, Replay to watch it again. Each of these is a setting in the plugin.

New in 2.0

Version 2.0 is a rebuild from the ground up. Your settings from 1.x are taken over and every link created with 1.x keeps working.

Two kinds of link

Downloads and links to other websites are told apart automatically, each with its own screen and texts.

Three layouts

Card with a progress ring, Minimal with a large number and a thin bar, Inline as a compact bar between your content.

Live preview

The settings show every change right away, in every state: counting, at zero, fallback button, invalid link.

Link rules

Domains with *.subdomains, file types, files from your media library or every external link, plus exclusions.

Statistics

Countdown views, downloads and completion rate per file, a chart per day and a dashboard widget.

Block and setup

A "Download Countdown" block, a button that creates the download page and a link tester.

How it works

Choose which links go through it

Settings, Download Redirector: add the domains of your file hosts (with *.example.com for every subdomain), the file types you want counted, files from your media library, or simply every link to another website. Exclusions and the class smartdr-skip keep single links out. The plugin changes matching links on output, in posts, pages, blocks, navigation, headers and footers of block themes and widgets, so old posts start routing the moment you save. The link tester tells you which rule applies to a link and gives you the finished countdown link to copy, for a newsletter or a printed QR code.

The visitor lands on your page first

The download page is an ordinary WordPress page with the "Download Countdown" block, or the shortcode from 1.x. The settings create it with one click; everything around the block is yours: a thank-you, a donation link, a newsletter form, related downloads. The page is kept out of search results, and with WPML or Polylang every language gets its own translated page and texts.

The download page is an ordinary WordPress page. The countdown is one block on it.

A download or a link to another website

The plugin sees what a link points to. Files get "Preparing your download", the file name and the source; web pages get "You are leaving this website" and "Continue to example.com". Both screens have their own texts in the settings. At zero the download starts or the page opens, or, if you prefer, a button appears. If the browser stays on the page, a "Download now" button catches it, and visitors without JavaScript get that button right away.

Four countdown screens side by side: Card with a progress ring, Minimal with a large number and a thin bar, Inline as a compact bar between lines of text, and the screen for external links reading You are leaving this website with the domain example.org and the link Continue now. — Card, Minimal and Inline, and the screen for links to other websites.

Set it up with the preview open

Waiting time from 1 to 60 seconds, start at zero or show a button, file name, domain and skip link each on or off, the skip link only in the last seconds if you like. Three layouts, an accent color, corners and a frame; font and text color come from your theme, and the button text picks its own contrast. The preview next to the form plays every state, for downloads and for external links, before you save.

Settings page of Smart Download Redirector with waiting time, behavior at zero, what to show, the three layout tiles, accent color, corners and frame on the left, and on the right a live preview with buttons for Download, External link, Play, Counting, At zero, Fallback and Invalid link. — Every change shows up in the preview before you save, in every state of the countdown.

See what gets used

The statistics tab counts countdown views and started downloads per file and per link, with the completion rate, a chart per day for 7, 30 or 90 days, 12 months or all time, and a dashboard widget. Only totals per target and day are stored. Each visitor counts once per file and browser session, administrators are left out unless you turn that on, and the numbers arrive from the browser, so a cached download page is counted too.

Statistics tab with 1,248 downloads, 1,573 countdown views and 79 percent completed in the last 30 days, a bar chart of downloads per day and a table of the most downloaded files and links with views, downloads, completion rate and last activity. — Totals per file and day. No IP addresses, no cookies, nothing sent anywhere.

What it does not do

This is the part most plugin pages leave out.

It does not hide the destination. The file name and the domain are shown on the page and the link can be read by anyone who wants it. A countdown discourages hotlinking and the download limit blunts abuse; anything confidential needs real authentication.

It only changes links WordPress outputs. Posts, pages, blocks, navigation, template parts and widgets are covered. Links in emails, PDFs or on other sites are not, but the link tester gives you the countdown link to use there.

It cannot make the destination fast. The page sits in front of the link; what happens after it is up to the file host, shop or site at the other end.

It counts files, not people. The statistics store totals per target and day. You see which file was taken how often, never who took it or where they came from.

The download limit needs an uncached page. Statistics work behind a page cache, the per-visitor limit does not. Exclude the download page from the cache if you rely on the limit.

It ships in English. The texts on the countdown are yours and translatable with WPML or Polylang; translations of the settings screen come through translate.wordpress.org.

Why not a plain redirect?

A 301 to the destination is invisible, which is the problem: the visitor never sees you, you never learn what was taken, and a bot following the link ten thousand times never meets anything that slows it down.

A link built with a WordPress nonce expires after a day, and a cached page happily serves the expired one. That is where most redirect pages break, usually after the launch, once the cache has warmed up.

A signed link is different: the token is a hash of the destination and a key only your site knows, so it never expires and never depends on who requested the page. The download page can be cached like any other, the statistics are sent from the browser, and the link in a post from three years ago still works.

Updating from 1.x

Update as usual. Your domains, countdown time, heading, link text, counter color, corner radius, download limit and download page are taken over. The layouts map to the new ones: Standard becomes Card, Compact becomes Inline, Progress bar becomes Minimal. Links created with 1.x keep the same format and keep working.

A few things are gone on purpose: the per-element styling (font and text color now come from your theme), the separate redirect delay, the “Show Manual Link” option (the fallback button replaces it) and the Content-Security-Policy header, which blocked fonts and scripts of many themes. Settings and statistics now stay when the plugin is deleted, unless you turn on removal.

Set up in three steps

Install it

Plugins, Add New, search for Smart Download Redirector, install, activate. No account and no license key.

Create the download page

Settings, Download Redirector: click "Create download page", or put the "Download Countdown" block on a page of your own and choose it there. Write whatever should sit around it.

Add a rule and test it

Add the domain of your file host, a file type or all external links, then paste a link into "Test a link" and look at it on your site.

Free forever, and why

This plugin is free and stays free, statistics included. There is no Pro tier and none is planned. It exists because a link recommended in a post years ago should still lead through your page today, and the plugins that did this either expired their links or sold the countdown and the counter as a Pro feature.

If it saved you an afternoon, the useful things are a rating on wordpress.org, a post in the support forum when something is off, or a hand with the translation.

Frequently asked questions

Do I have to change my existing links?

No. Links that match one of your rules are changed on output. Old posts start routing through the download page the moment you save.

Which links are changed?

Links in posts, pages, blocks, navigation, headers and footers of block themes and widgets that match a rule: a domain, a file type, a file from your media library or, if you turn it on, every link to another website. Links with the class smartdr-skip and links that contain one of your exclusions stay as they are.

Can I use it as a notice for external links?

Yes. Turn on "Send every link to another website through the countdown", or add single domains. Web pages get their own screen, "You are leaving this website" and "Continue to example.com", with their own texts. Links to files keep the download screen.

How does it tell downloads and external links apart?

Links that match the file type rule or point to your media library are downloads, as are links whose address ends in a file ending like .zip or .pdf. Everything else is an external link. Developers can change this with the filter smartdr_target_kind.

How long can the countdown be?

Anything from 1 to 60 seconds. Five to ten seconds with something worth reading on the page is common; sixty seconds of empty screen teaches people to close the tab. The skip link can be hidden or shown only in the last seconds.

Can I put my own content on the download page?

Yes. It is an ordinary page with the "Download Countdown" block. A thank-you, a donation link, a newsletter form or related downloads can sit above and below it.

Does it work with caching plugins?

Yes. Countdown links are signed with a fixed key of your site instead of a nonce, so they never expire, and the statistics are sent from the browser, so a cached page is counted too. Only the download limit needs the page uncached.

What do the statistics store?

Per target and day: how often the countdown was shown and how often the download started. No IP addresses, no cookies, nothing sent to other services. Each visitor counts once per file and browser session; administrators are not counted unless you turn that on.

What if the redirect does not happen?

If the browser stays on the page, a "Download now" button appears. Visitors without JavaScript get that button right away, so nobody is left on a dead page.

Is it multilingual?

Yes. The texts on the countdown can be translated with WPML or Polylang, and the translated download page is used automatically.

What happens to my settings from 1.x?

They are taken over when you update, and links created with 1.x keep working. The old layouts map to the new ones: Standard becomes Card, Compact becomes Inline, Progress bar becomes Minimal.

What happens on uninstall?

Your pages and links are never touched. Settings and statistics are only removed if you turn that on in the settings before deleting the plugin.

Is there a Pro version?

No, and none is planned. Every feature, statistics included, is in the free plugin.

Changelog

2.0.0

Oct 1, 2026: rebuilt from the ground up. Three layouts (Card, Minimal, Inline) with a live preview in the settings; a separate screen and texts for external links; link rules for domains with *.subdomains, file types, media library files and all external links, with exclusions; a link tester and a button that creates the download page; the "Download Countdown" block; download statistics with chart, table and dashboard widget; fallback button, also without JavaScript; timer pauses in background tabs, screen reader announcements, reduced motion; links in navigation, template parts and all blocks recognized; settings from 1.x taken over.

1.0.1

Jun 24, 2026: signed links instead of nonces, so links no longer expire and survive page caching; rate limiting actually enforced; security headers on the countdown request; no more forced www; the timer no longer runs twice; PHP 8.1 compatibility.

1.0.0

Jul 9, 2025: first release: domain-based routing through a countdown page, three layouts, custom heading and link text, per-element styling, rate limiting.

Full changelog on WordPress.org

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At a glance

Version2.0.0

Last updateOct 1, 2026

Requires WP6.8+

Tested up to7.1.3

PHP7.4+

LicenseGPL

Why it is free

Every feature is in the free plugin, and it stays that way. If it saves you time, a review on wordpress.org is the best way to say thanks.

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