Essential Widgets vs Hide Categories and Products for… (2026)
Detailed side-by-side comparison of two WordPress plugins, based on real-time data from WordPress.org.
Hide Categories and Products for…
10K+ active installs
Free
Quick Verdict
As of April 2026, Hide Categories and Products for… has a higher user rating (4.1/5 from 27 reviews) while Essential Widgets leads in active installations (10K+ vs 10K+). Both are free WordPress plugins. Essential Widgets has accumulated 489K+ total downloads while Hide Categories and Products for… has 89K+.
Detailed Comparison
| Metric | Essential Widgets | Hide Categories and Products for… | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rating | 3.5/5 | ► | 4.1/5 |
| Total Reviews | 2 | ► | 27 |
| Active Installs | 10K+ | 10K+ | |
| Total Downloads | 489K+ | ◄ | 89K+ |
| Support Resolution | N/A | 0% | |
| Last Updated | 2 months ago | ◄ | 1 year ago |
| First Released | 2017 | 2020 | |
| Age | 9 years | 6 years | |
| WP Requires | 5.9+ | 4.9.7+ | |
| PHP Requires | false+ | 7.4+ | |
| Business Model | Free | Free | |
| Latest Version | 3.0.1 | 1.2.10 |
Rating Breakdown
Essential Widgets
Hide Categories and Products for…
Download Trends
Over the past 30 days, Essential Widgets averaged approximately 66 daily downloads while Hide Categories and Products for… averaged 20.
Recent Reviews
Essential Widgets Reviews
alot of useful widgets but in the paid version
A lot of useful widgets but in the paid version. The free one is limited. This topic was modified 5 years, 1 month ago by KJA4U.
Excellent
Excellent
Hide Categories and Products for… Reviews
Not very usefull
It does hide the category from my shop, but it also makes the url to the category non functional. Why would I want that? Then I might as well remove the category.
Should do what?
Does nothing at all, remove from plugin site
Simple but effective
Works quite well but there is one thing I would like to add/change. It would be perfect if the said categories and products could be hidden and still be available via direct link. This option could
More Categories Worth Comparing
Top alternatives in the same category as Essential Widgets and Hide Categories and Products for…
Very customizable plugin to list posts by category (or tag, author and more) in a post, page or widget. Uses the [catlist] shortcode to select posts.
Enhances the Media Library; powerful gallery and list shortcodes, full taxonomy support, IPTC/EXIF/XMP/PDF processing, bulk/quick edit.
Tags, Categories and WordPress terms are easy with TaxoPress. Add a Tag or Category to Pages, manage your WooCommerce Categories and Tags and more.
Adds a widget that shows the most recent posts from a single category.
Replaces the plain-text category and tag description editor with a visual editor.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Plugin data sourced from WordPress.org. Comparison and analysis by PluginSift.