Best sidebar plugins for WordPress
The most popular sidebar plugins for WordPress in November 2026, in WordPress.org’s own popular order, which follows active installs. Recent Posts Widget With Thumbnails leads with 100K+ active installs, ahead of Image Widget (100K+) and Custom Sidebars (100K+). All 606 plugins tagged “sidebar” are below, with figures from WordPress.org that update every day.
Installs aren’t everything: a recent release, a “Tested up to” that matches the current WordPress, and support threads that get resolved show a plugin is looked after. Open any plugin for its downloads, rank history and alternatives.
Research this niche or see all plugins.
Top 10 sidebar plugins
- 1.
Recent Posts Widget With ThumbnailsThe most installed sidebar plugin, with 100K+ active installs. Rated 4.8 from 215 reviews, updated 4 weeks ago.
- 2.
Image Widget100K+ active installs. Rated 4.9 from 287 reviews, updated 6 months ago. Tested only up to WordPress 6.7.11.
- 3.
Custom Sidebars100K+ active installs. Rated 4.7 from 1,028 reviews, updated 2 months ago.
- 4.
Fixed Widget and Sticky Elements for WordPress70K+ active installs. Rated 4.7 from 262 reviews, last updated 3 years ago. Tested only up to WordPress 6.2.15.
- 5.
Content Aware Sidebars30K+ active installs. Rated 4.9 from 724 reviews, updated 2 weeks ago.
- 6.
Ocean Custom Sidebar20K+ active installs. Rated 5.0 from 8 reviews, updated 2 months ago.
- 7.Widgets on Pages
20K+ active installs. Rated 4.7 from 161 reviews, last updated 1 year ago. Tested only up to WordPress 6.7.0.
- 8.
Meks Simple Flickr Widget10K+ active installs. Only 3 reviews so far, last updated 2 years ago. Tested only up to WordPress 6.6.11.
- 9.Simple Image Widget
10K+ active installs. Rated 4.5 from 39 reviews, last updated 1 year ago. Tested only up to WordPress 6.8.12.
- 10.
SMK Sidebar Generator10K+ active installs. Rated 4.4 from 5 reviews, updated 8 months ago. Tested only up to WordPress 6.9.11.
All 606 plugins tagged “sidebar”

Recent Posts Widget With Thumbnails
#353by Kybernetik Services28 days ago
List the most recent posts with post titles, thumbnails, excerpts, authors, categories, dates and more!
- Installs
- 100K+
- Rating
- 4.8(215)
- Downloads
- 623/day

Image Widget
#399by Nexcess6 months ago
A simple image widget that uses the native WordPress media manager to add image widgets to your site.
- Installs
- 100K+
- Rating
- 4.9(287)
- Downloads
- 345/day

Custom Sidebars
#448by WebFactory2 months ago
Flexible sidebars for custom classic widget configurations on any page or post. Create custom sidebars with ease!
- Installs
- 100K+
- Rating
- 4.7(1K)
- Downloads
- 230/day

Fixed Widget and Sticky Elements for WordPress
Up in the last 7 days:2#574by monetizemore3 years ago
More attention and a higher ad performance with fixed sticky widgets.
- Installs
- 70K+
- Rating
- 4.7(262)
- Downloads
- 77/day

Content Aware Sidebars
Up in the last 7 days:1#999by Joachim Jensen16 days ago
Display new sidebars on any post, page, category etc. Works with Classic Widgets, Block Widgets, and all themes!
- Installs
- 30K+
- Rating
- 4.9(724)
- Downloads
- 378/day

Ocean Custom Sidebar
Down in the last 7 days:1#1,114by oceanwp2 months ago
Generates an unlimited number of sidebars and place them on any page you wish. Go to Theme Panel > Sidebars to create your custom sidebars.
- Installs
- 20K+
- Rating
- 5.0(8)
- Downloads
- 123/day
Widgets on Pages
Up in the last 7 days:4#1,360by toddhalfpenny2 years ago
The easiest and highest rated way to Add Widgets or Sidebars to Posts and Pages using Visual editor, shortcodes or template tags.
- Installs
- 20K+
- Rating
- 4.7(161)
- Downloads
- 45/day

Meks Simple Flickr Widget
Down in the last 7 days:3#1,424by Meks2 years ago
Quickly display your Flickr photos inside WordPress widget.
- Installs
- 10K+
- Rating
- 4.3(3)
- Downloads
- 42/day
Simple Image Widget
Up in the last 7 days:5#1,605by Cedaro1 year ago
A simple widget that makes it a breeze to add images to your sidebars.
- Installs
- 10K+
- Rating
- 4.5(39)
- Downloads
- 28/day

SMK Sidebar Generator
#1,761by Andrei Surdu8 months ago
Create unlimited custom sidebars and widget areas. Display different sidebars on specific pages, posts, or custom post types with conditional logic.
- Installs
- 10K+
- Rating
- 4.4(5)
- Downloads
- 47/day

WP Sticky Sidebar
Up in the last 7 days:1#2,048by Premio2 months ago
WP Sticky Sidebar plugin will make your menu or header stick to the side of page, after desired number of pixels when scrolled 📌
- Installs
- 10K+
- Rating
- 4.9(153)
- Downloads
- 35/day
Newpost Catch
Down in the last 7 days:4#2,188by Tetsuya Imamura10 days ago
Thumbnails in new articles setting widget.
- Installs
- 9K+
- Rating
- 5.0(2)
- Downloads
- 103/day
Sidebar Login
Down in the last 7 days:7#2,202by Mike Jolley27 days ago
Easily add an ajax-enhanced login widget to your WordPress site sidebar.
- Installs
- 9K+
- Rating
- 4.5(78)
- Downloads
- 71/day
List Custom Taxonomy Widget
Down in the last 7 days:2#2,305by Nick Halsey3 months ago
The List Custom Taxonomy Widget is a quick and easy way to display custom taxonomies. Simply choose the taxonomy name you want to display from an auto …
- Installs
- 8K+
- Rating
- 4.7(21)
- Downloads
- 36/day

My WP Customize Admin/Frontend
Up in the last 7 days:2#2,317by gqevu6bsiz16 days ago
Simply and easy-to-use the customize for Admin and Frontend. A lot of custom filters and actions, and included the developer tools.
- Installs
- 8K+
- Rating
- 4.3(16)
- Downloads
- 112/day
Disable Author Pages
Down in the last 7 days:7#3,008by Frank Neumann-Staude9 years ago
Disable the author pages
- Installs
- 5K+
- Rating
- 4.9(17)
- Downloads
- 18/day

Collapsing Categories
Up in the last 7 days:1#3,400by robfelty8 months ago
Adds a widget which uses Javascript to dynamically expand or collapse the set of posts for each category.
- Installs
- 4K+
- Rating
- 4.1(57)
- Downloads
- 31/day
Recent Posts by Category Widget
Down in the last 7 days:3#3,454by Ross Cornell9 years ago
Just like the default Recent Posts widget except you can choose a category to pull posts from.
- Installs
- 4K+
- Rating
- 4.7(12)
- Downloads
- 15/day

WebwinkelKeur
Down in the last 7 days:7#3,566by Albert Peschar2 months ago
Reviews verzamelen voor je WordPress website of WooCommerce webshop doe je met WebwinkelKeur.
- Installs
- 4K+
- Rating
- 5.0(4)
- Downloads
- 48/day

cformsII
Down in the last 7 days:4#3,687by bgermann4 days ago
This is a fork of cformsII, a highly customizable, flexible and powerful form builder plugin, covering a variety of use cases and features.
- Installs
- 3K+
- Rating
- 4.3(21)
- Downloads
- 46/day

Image Widget
Down in the last 7 days:1#3,749by rbplugins1 year ago
Image Widget - most simple and fast way to create image widget to your sidebar
- Installs
- 3K+
- Rating
- 3.0(2)
- Downloads
- 19/day
Feature A Page Widget
Up in the last 7 days:4#3,877by mrwweb6 years ago
A widget to display an attractive summary of any page in any widget area.
- Installs
- 3K+
- Rating
- 5.0(29)
- Downloads
- 17/day

Collapsing Archives
Up in the last 7 days:15#3,993by robfelty8 months ago
This plugin uses Javascript to dynamically expand or collapse the set of months for each year and posts for each month in the archive listing of your …
- Installs
- 3K+
- Rating
- 4.1(21)
- Downloads
- 33/day

ACF Nav Menu Field
Down in the last 7 days:4#4,057by Galaxy Weblinks1 year ago
ACF Nav Menu field plugin provides an option to show a menu in the front end similar to other ACF fields (Text, Textarea, Number, Range etc.)
- Installs
- 3K+
- Rating
- 2.6(5)
- Downloads
- 22/day
Expanding Archives
Down in the last 7 days:2#4,119by Ashley2 months ago
This plugin adds a new widget where you can view your old posts by expanding certain years and months.
- Installs
- 3K+
- Rating
- 4.7(6)
- Downloads
- 23/day
Ultimate Floating Widgets
Up in the last 7 days:1#4,148by vaakash1 month ago
Create sticky / fixed / popup bubble and flyout sidebars and add your widgets to it.
- Installs
- 3K+
- Rating
- 4.9(14)
- Downloads
- 27/day
Widgetize Pages Light
Down in the last 7 days:5#4,193by OTWthemes4 years ago
Drop widgets in page or post content area. Widgetized pages. Build your custom Responsive page layout in no time. No coding, easy and fun!
- Installs
- 2K+
- Rating
- 4.2(32)
- Downloads
- 23/day
Login-Logout
Up in the last 7 days:5#4,203by webvitalii6 years ago
Widget with login, logout, admin and register links. Replacement of the default Meta widget.
- Installs
- 2K+
- Rating
- 5.0(25)
- Downloads
- 12/day

Ad Widget for WordPress
Down in the last 7 days:12#4,383by Broadstreet1 year ago
Easily upload ad images and ad code to your sidebar. For those that don't need or want a complicated ad management system.
- Installs
- 2K+
- Rating
- 4.3(16)
- Downloads
- 23/day
WP-dTree
Down in the last 7 days:13#4,401by ulfben10 days ago
Legacy collapsible navigation trees for WordPress. For a modern alternative with native blocks, see Content Trees.
- Installs
- 2K+
- Rating
- 4.8(25)
- Downloads
- 48/day
Contact Form 7 Widget
Up in the last 7 days:3#4,991by Strategy11 Team9 years ago
Use your Contact Form 7 forms and other shortcodes in your sidebars.
- Installs
- 2K+
- Rating
- 5.0(4)
- Downloads
- 17/day
Taxonomy Dropdown Widget
Down in the last 7 days:15#5,102by Erick Hitter9 months ago
Creates a dropdown list of non-hierarchical taxonomies as an alternative to the term (tag) cloud. Formerly known as Tag Dropdown Widget.
- Installs
- 1K+
- Rating
- 4.7(9)
- Downloads
- 11/day
Taxonomy List Widget
Up in the last 7 days:14#5,224by Erick Hitter9 months ago
Creates a list (bulleted, number, or custom) of non-hierarchical taxonomies as an alternative to the term (tag) cloud. Formerly known as Tag List Widg …
- Installs
- 1K+
- Rating
- 4.3(12)
- Downloads
- 11/day

Standard Widget Extensions
Down in the last 7 days:8#5,458by blogger3239 years ago
Adds Sticky Sidebar and Accordion Widget features to your WordPress sites.
- Installs
- 1K+
- Rating
- 5.0(9)
- Downloads
- 11/day
Duplicate Widget
Down in the last 7 days:2#5,465by Scott Reilly9 years ago
A widget that can act as a duplicate of another widget (for synchronized use in another sidebar)
- Installs
- 1K+
- Rating
- 4.3(12)
- Downloads
- 11/day

Custom Sidebars by ProteusThemes
Down in the last 7 days:7#5,520by ProteusThemes1 month ago
Allows you to create custom sidebars. Replace sidebars for specific posts and pages.
- Installs
- 1K+
- Rating
- –
- Downloads
- 22/day

Categorized Tag Cloud
Down in the last 7 days:7#5,793by whiletrue2 months ago
A cloud with the most used tags in a sidebar widget, filtered by post category.
- Installs
- 1K+
- Rating
- 3.8(10)
- Downloads
- 11/day
Posts By Tag
Up in the last 7 days:5#6,107by Sudar Muthu5 years ago
Provide sidebar widget, shortcode and template functions that can be used to display posts from a set of tags using various options in the sidebar or …
- Installs
- 1K+
- Rating
- 3.8(15)
- Downloads
- 11/day

bbPress WP Tweaks
#6,108by veppa11 months ago
Adds bbPress forum specific sidebar, wrapper, widgets, user columns, login links and other tweaks.
- Installs
- 1K+
- Rating
- 4.2(11)
- Downloads
- 11/day
NS Category Widget
Up in the last 7 days:3#6,173by Nilambar Sharma1 year ago
A plugin to add widget for listing Categories and Taxonomies. Extending Default WordPress Category Widget.
- Installs
- 1K+
- Rating
- 4.8(34)
- Downloads
- 11/day

Sidebar Shortcode
Up in the last 7 days:5#6,176by thinkerwebdesign4 years ago
Add sidebars to WordPress posts and pages using shortcodes with a sidebar Name or ID.
- Installs
- 1K+
- Rating
- 5.0(3)
- Downloads
- 11/day
LJ Multi Column Archive
Down in the last 7 days:5#6,510by littlejon15 years ago
LJ Multi Column Archive is a Wordpress plugin/widget that allows you to display your archive list with multiple columns.
- Installs
- 1K+
- Rating
- 5.0(1)
- Downloads
- 11/day

Widgets Reloaded
Down in the last 7 days:55#6,706by Justin Tadlock9 years ago
More advanced versions of the default WordPress widgets that come with highly customizable control panels.
- Installs
- 1K+
- Rating
- 4.5(11)
- Downloads
- 10/day

Swifty Image Widget
Up in the last 7 days:41#7,124by Goran873 years ago
Super simple but powerful widget that allows adding single or multiple images to your widget positions, using native media uploader.
- Installs
- 900+
- Rating
- 5.0(12)
- Downloads
- 6/day

Admin Sticky Sidebar
Up in the last 7 days:13#7,239by followalter2 months ago
Makes the post editor sidebar stick to the screen while scrolling, and restores scroll position after publishing or updating.
- Installs
- 900+
- Rating
- –
- Downloads
- 11/day

Widgets Control
Up in the last 7 days:4#7,536by itthinx10 months ago
A Widget toolbox that adds visibility management and helps to control where widgets, sidebars and content are shown efficiently.
- Installs
- 800+
- Rating
- 4.7(15)
- Downloads
- 11/day

ACF
Down in the last 7 days:10#7,563by danielpataki11 years ago
A field for Advanced Custom Fields which allows you to select a sidebar
- Installs
- 800+
- Rating
- 4.3(7)
- Downloads
- 11/day
Query Posts
Down in the last 7 days:6#7,694by Justin Tadlock9 years ago
A WordPress widget that gives you unlimited control over showing posts and pages.
- Installs
- 700+
- Rating
- 3.0(4)
- Downloads
- 11/day

Responsive Sidebar
Up in the last 7 days:17#7,893by Processby5 years ago
Makes your sidebar responsive.
- Installs
- 700+
- Rating
- 5.0(14)
- Downloads
- 11/day

WP Notes Widget
Down in the last 7 days:24#8,000by Steve Puddick3 years ago
Display important, short, time sensitive text and media in a 'sticky note' style. Auto Tweet your notes.
- Installs
- 700+
- Rating
- 4.6(12)
- Downloads
- 6/day