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List category posts vs Essential Widgets (2026)

Detailed side-by-side comparison of two WordPress plugins, based on real-time data from WordPress.org.

List category posts

List category posts

4.7(254)

80K+ active installs

Free

Updated 3 weeks ago
View List category posts
VS
Essential Widgets

Essential Widgets

3.5(2)

10K+ active installs

Free

Updated 2 months ago
View Essential Widgets

Quick Verdict

As of April 2026, List category posts has a higher user rating (4.7/5 from 254 reviews) and leads in active installations (80K+ vs 10K+). Both are free WordPress plugins. List category posts has accumulated 4.4M+ total downloads while Essential Widgets has 489K+.

Detailed Comparison

Rating
4.7/5List category posts
◄
Essential Widgets3.5/5
Total Reviews
254List category posts
◄
Essential Widgets2
Active Installs
80K+List category posts
◄
Essential Widgets10K+
Total Downloads
4.4M+List category posts
◄
Essential Widgets489K+
Support Resolution
0%List category posts
Essential WidgetsN/A
Last Updated
3 weeks agoList category posts
◄
Essential Widgets2 months ago
First Released
2008List category posts
Essential Widgets2017
Age
18 yearsList category posts
Essential Widgets9 years
WP Requires
3.3+List category posts
Essential Widgets5.9+
PHP Requires
5.6+List category posts
Essential Widgetsfalse+
Business Model
FreeList category posts
Essential WidgetsFree
Latest Version
0.95.0List category posts
Essential Widgets3.0.1

Rating Breakdown

List category posts

4.7/5(254 reviews)
5
86%
4
7%
3
2%
2
1%
1
3%

Essential Widgets

3.5/5(2 reviews)
5
50%
4
0%
3
0%
2
50%
1
0%

Recent Reviews

List category posts Reviews

by Jlwp

Fantastic

This is an absolutely amazing plugin because it can be used in so many different ways from eg creating a Navigation page that lists pages categorized with “Navigation”, to creating “Related pages” etc

by gdavide

wonderful plugin

I used to do this kind of things with manual and hacky changes to wordpress themes, this created a lot of problem to upgrade themes. With this plugin you can change the post lists in a lot of ways. It

by Brisch

Works great with the free Beaver Builder!

Works great if you want to show a post preview on a page with the free Version Beaver Builder! This topic was modified 2 years, 1 month ago by Brisch.

Essential Widgets Reviews

by KJA4U

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.

by adminmaw

Excellent

Excellent

Frequently Asked Questions

Is List category posts or Essential Widgets more popular?
List category posts has 80K+ active installations while Essential Widgets has 10K+. List category posts is the more widely-used plugin as of April 2026.
Which has better ratings — List category posts or Essential Widgets?
List category posts has a 4.7/5 rating from 254 reviews, while Essential Widgets has a 3.5/5 rating from 2 reviews.
Are List category posts and Essential Widgets free?
List category posts is free and Essential Widgets is free. Both can be downloaded from the WordPress.org plugin directory.
Which plugin has better support — List category posts or Essential Widgets?
Support resolution data is not available for all plugins. Check each plugin's WordPress.org support forum for current response quality.
Which plugin is updated more frequently?
List category posts was last updated 3 weeks ago and Essential Widgets was last updated 2 months ago.

Plugin data sourced from WordPress.org. Comparison and analysis by PluginSift.