WordPress plugin comparison

Dashboard Commander vs Lightweight Sidebar Manager

Dashboard Commander

by Josh Hartman

800+ installs4.8

Lightweight Sidebar Manager

by Brainstorm Force

70K+ installs4.2

At a glance

Lightweight Sidebar Manager has more active installs: 70K+, against 800+ for Dashboard Commander.
On a typical day, Lightweight Sidebar Manager is downloaded about 107 times, Dashboard Commander about 7.
Dashboard Commander is rated higher: 4.8 out of 5 from 8 reviews, against 4.2 from 21 reviews.
Lightweight Sidebar Manager was updated more recently: Aug 24, 2026, against Jun 17, 2026 for Dashboard Commander.
Lightweight Sidebar Manager is tested with a newer WordPress: 7.1.4, against 7.0.8 for Dashboard Commander.
Dashboard Commander has been around longer: since 2011, against 2017 for Lightweight Sidebar Manager.

Lightweight Sidebar Manager leads on 6 of 7 comparable lines.

Metric	Dashboard Commander	Lightweight Sidebar Manager
Popular rank	#7,293	#547
Active installs	800+	70K+
Downloads, last 30 days	167	3K
Rating	4.8(8)	4.2(21)
Support threads resolved	–	–
Tested up to	7.0.8	7.1.4
Search multiplier	×0.59	×1.01
Last release	4 months ago	2 months ago
Requires PHP	–	–

From WordPress.org's public data, refreshed every night. Downloads are WordPress.org's official daily figures for the last 30 days.

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