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 Services1 month ago
List the most recent posts with post titles, thumbnails, excerpts, authors, categories, dates and more!
- Installs
- 100K+
- Rating
- 4.8(215)
- Downloads
- 594/day

Image Widget
Up in the last 7 days:1#398by 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
- 344/day

Custom Sidebars
Down in the last 7 days:1#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
- 226/day

Fixed Widget and Sticky Elements for WordPress
#574by monetizemore3 years ago
More attention and a higher ad performance with fixed sticky widgets.
- Installs
- 70K+
- Rating
- 4.7(262)
- Downloads
- 76/day

Content Aware Sidebars
#999by Joachim Jensen18 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
- 330/day

Ocean Custom Sidebar
Down in the last 7 days:1#1,115by 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
- 126/day
Widgets on Pages
Up in the last 7 days:4#1,359by 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:4#1,423by 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:3#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
- 27/day

SMK Sidebar Generator
Up in the last 7 days:1#1,760by 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
- 45/day

WP Sticky Sidebar
Down in the last 7 days:5#2,053by 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#2,189by Tetsuya Imamura12 days ago
Thumbnails in new articles setting widget.
- Installs
- 9K+
- Rating
- 5.0(2)
- Downloads
- 99/day
Sidebar Login
Down in the last 7 days:7#2,204by Mike Jolley28 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
Up in the last 7 days:4#2,304by 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
- 34/day

My WP Customize Admin/Frontend
Up in the last 7 days:4#2,312by gqevu6bsiz17 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
- 92/day
Disable Author Pages
Up in the last 7 days:3#3,004by 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:3#3,398by robfelty9 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
- 29/day
Recent Posts by Category Widget
Up in the last 7 days:6#3,448by 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
- 17/day

WebwinkelKeur
#3,560by Albert Peschar2 months ago
Reviews verzamelen voor je WordPress website of WooCommerce webshop doe je met WebwinkelKeur.
- Installs
- 4K+
- Rating
- 5.0(4)
- Downloads
- 42/day

cformsII
Down in the last 7 days:4#3,695by bgermann6 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
- 51/day

Image Widget
Up in the last 7 days:4#3,751by rbplugins1 year ago
Image Widget - most simple and fast way to create image widget to your sidebar
- Installs
- 3K+
- Rating
- 3.0(2)
- Downloads
- 22/day
Feature A Page Widget
#3,879by 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:5#3,995by robfelty9 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:8#4,062by 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
- 23/day
Expanding Archives
Up in the last 7 days:4#4,113by 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
- 24/day
Ultimate Floating Widgets
Up in the last 7 days:2#4,150by 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:1#4,197by 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:12#4,211by 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:3#4,380by 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:8#4,400by ulfben11 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
- 45/day
Contact Form 7 Widget
Up in the last 7 days:4#4,992by 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:12#5,100by 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:25#5,211by 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:2#5,448by 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
Up in the last 7 days:6#5,462by 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
Up in the last 7 days:13#5,515by ProteusThemes1 month ago
Allows you to create custom sidebars. Replace sidebars for specific posts and pages.
- Installs
- 1K+
- Rating
- –
- Downloads
- 17/day

Categorized Tag Cloud
Down in the last 7 days:11#5,807by 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

bbPress WP Tweaks
Up in the last 7 days:8#6,098by 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
Posts By Tag
Up in the last 7 days:19#6,105by 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
NS Category Widget
Up in the last 7 days:3#6,170by 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
Down in the last 7 days:8#6,180by 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:3#6,506by 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:54#6,713by 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:33#7,121by 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
- 11/day

Admin Sticky Sidebar
Up in the last 7 days:18#7,231by 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#7,540by 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:27#7,556by 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:3#7,693by 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:32#7,877by Processby5 years ago
Makes your sidebar responsive.
- Installs
- 700+
- Rating
- 5.0(14)
- Downloads
- 11/day

WP Notes Widget
Up in the last 7 days:10#7,994by 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