Comparison
An Edit Flow alternative, and when to stay with Edit Flow
Looking for an Edit Flow alternative or replacement? Editloft is a fork of Edit Flow, and a smaller plugin on purpose. This page says plainly what each one does so you can pick the one that fits your desk.
Is Editloft an Edit Flow replacement?
For some teams, yes. If you mostly used Edit Flow for its editorial calendar, Editloft covers that and adds an audit trail and role-based publishing rules. If your process depends on custom post statuses, editorial comments, editorial metadata, notifications or a story budget, Editloft is not a replacement today, because it does not include them. The table below shows every difference.
At a glance
What each plugin includes
| Capability | Editloft | Edit Flow |
|---|---|---|
| Editorial calendar | Yes. Drag and drop, filters, unscheduled panel, signed calendar feed. | Yes. |
| Audit trail of status and date changes | Yes. Editor, REST and WP-CLI. | No. |
| Role-based status transition rules | Yes. One filter to change them. | No. |
| Custom post statuses | No. Uses WordPress's own statuses. | Yes. |
| Editorial comments | No. | Yes. |
| Editorial metadata | No. | Yes. |
| Notifications | No. | Yes. |
| Story budget | No. | Yes. |
| Works in the block editor | Yes. Requires WordPress 6.4 and PHP 7.4 or newer. | Written for the classic editor era, with a copyright line of 2009 to 2019. |
| Outbound requests | None in the plugin code. | Not checked. See its plugin page. |
| Price and license | Free, GPLv2 or later. | Free, GPLv2 or later. |
The Edit Flow column is based on what Edit Flow provided in the version I forked, not a fresh audit of every release. Check its own plugin page for its current state.
Choosing
Which one fits your desk
Choose Editloft if
- You want the calendar, a history of changes and publishing rules, and nothing else
- You care about a small plugin that loads only what you turn on
- You work in the block editor and want a plugin that keeps saves and Publish buttons working there
- You want to script or audit editorial history
Stay with Edit Flow if
- Your process depends on custom post statuses such as Pitch or Needs review
- You rely on private editorial comments or editorial metadata
- You need email notifications on status changes or a story budget view
Questions
Moving between them
Can I run Editloft and Edit Flow together?
It is better not to. They overlap on calendars and status handling, so running both means two tools reaching for the same controls. Pick one.
Is there a migration tool?
Not yet. Moving from Edit Flow means setting up Editloft's modules and rules rather than importing. Editloft does not use custom post statuses, so there are none to carry across.
Why fork instead of contributing upstream?
I did both. The fork exists because I wanted a much smaller plugin than the original, and I contributed small security fixes to Edit Flow while auditing it. The GPL and the original copyright line make that possible.
The full story of the fork is on the about page.
Free, open source, GPLv2
Try Editloft on a staging copy of your site
It is free, it takes a minute to install, and you can switch each module off again from one settings screen.