Collapsing Archives vs Compact Archives (2026)
Detailed side-by-side comparison of two WordPress plugins, based on real-time data from WordPress.org.
Quick Verdict
As of April 2026, Compact Archives has a higher user rating (5/5 from 9 reviews) while Collapsing Archives leads in active installations (3.0K+ vs 2.0K+). Both are free WordPress plugins. Collapsing Archives has accumulated 146K+ total downloads while Compact Archives has 54K+. Compact Archives has a higher support resolution rate (100% vs 0%).
Detailed Comparison
| Metric | Collapsing Archives | Compact Archives | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rating | 4.1/5 | ► | 5/5 |
| Total Reviews | 21 | ◄ | 9 |
| Active Installs | 3.0K+ | ◄ | 2.0K+ |
| Total Downloads | 146K+ | ◄ | 54K+ |
| Support Resolution | 0% | ► | 100% |
| Last Updated | 1 month ago | ► | 1 month ago |
| First Released | 2008 | 2008 | |
| Age | 18 years | 18 years | |
| WP Requires | 2.8+ | 4.8+ | |
| PHP Requires | false+ | 5.6+ | |
| Business Model | Free | Free | |
| Latest Version | 3.0.8 | 4.1.1 |
Rating Breakdown
Collapsing Archives
Compact Archives
Download Trends
Over the past 30 days, Collapsing Archives averaged approximately 22 daily downloads while Compact Archives averaged 15.
Recent Reviews
Collapsing Archives Reviews
This broke my website, unforunately [v. 6.4.3]
I just installed this one single plug-in to my website today and after doing so, immediately, the page the plug-in was set to work on … broke, or was disabled. It was still visible in my raw page lis
Last update broke it
Last update has broke it. Somehow the plugin start working as collapsing categories instead of collapsing archives. This topic was modified 2 years, 2 months ago by petukhovsky.
Author is ignoring PHP 8.0 / 8.1 incompatibility
The author has released several versions since PHP 8.0 release but just ignores existance of PHP 8.0 / 8.1 although that’s pretty easy to fix. I just did it by myself but now all the not working updat
Compact Archives Reviews
Great! But….
Very simple and works, however, the title attribute is stuck on 2001. I’d suggest the plugin author fix this officially by changing the hardcoded 2001 to $year on line 97 of inc/compact-archives.php.
The best archive plugin
Works fine. Can be easily adjusted. Love it!
Love this Archive Plugin
Does the job.
More Archives Worth Comparing
Top alternatives in the same category as Collapsing Archives and Compact Archives
Disable Author Archives completely removes author archives and makes the web server return status code 404 ('Not Found') instead.
Simple Yearly Archive is a rather neat and simple Wordpress plugin that allows you to display your archives in a year-based list.
Fine grained control of how many of your posts appear on each of the various WordPress archive pages.
Improves your blog's search engine optimization by "noindexing" pages you choose. Now also for page-based (as opposed to date-based) archives.
This plugin adds a new widget where you can view your old posts by expanding certain years and months.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Collapsing Archives or Compact Archives more popular?
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Plugin data sourced from WordPress.org. Comparison and analysis by PluginSift.