Public Post Preview vs WP Popular Posts (2026)
Detailed side-by-side comparison of two WordPress plugins, based on real-time data from WordPress.org.
Quick Verdict
As of April 2026, Public Post Preview has a higher user rating (4.5/5 from 79 reviews) and leads in active installations (100K+ vs 100K+). Both are free WordPress plugins. Public Post Preview has accumulated 1.6M+ total downloads while WP Popular Posts has 8.6M+.
Detailed Comparison
| Metric | Public Post Preview | WP Popular Posts | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rating | 4.5/5 | 4.5/5 | |
| Total Reviews | 79 | ► | 248 |
| Active Installs | 100K+ | 100K+ | |
| Total Downloads | 1.6M+ | ► | 8.6M+ |
| Support Resolution | N/A | 88% | |
| Last Updated | 1 month ago | ◄ | 1 month ago |
| First Released | 2009 | 2008 | |
| Age | 17 years | 18 years | |
| WP Requires | 6.6+ | 6.2+ | |
| PHP Requires | 8.0+ | 7.4+ | |
| Business Model | Free | Free | |
| Latest Version | 3.1.0 | 7.3.8 |
Rating Breakdown
Public Post Preview
WP Popular Posts
Download Trends
Over the past 30 days, Public Post Preview averaged approximately 1,451 daily downloads while WP Popular Posts averaged 685.
Recent Reviews
Public Post Preview Reviews
Awesome Plugin
Does the work as it is advertised. Thanks for this good plugin.
What Happened?!
The preview links no longer work. Users are forced to log in when using the public preview link – defeating the entire purpose of this plugin. This used to be a must-have plugin. Unless you fix this,
no longer working
Been using this plugin always then all of a sudden it stopped working..
WP Popular Posts Reviews
Complete Design Flaw
WordPress Popular Posts is fundamentally broken for cached sites. It defeats the entire purpose of Nginx/WP Rocket caching. There you spend all your energy optimizing to reduce every imaginable PHP FP
Great plugin – great support
I’ve only been using the plugin for a few days. At first I had a problem, thanks to the good and fast support I was able to solve the problem quickly, it was not due to the plugin, but to my theme. Si
No css customization option
Out of sheer frustration I would like to give only one star because the css style cannot be changed in the normal way. I have tried for hours. It is only possible with great effort, e.g. via changes i
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Frequently Asked Questions
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Plugin data sourced from WordPress.org. Comparison and analysis by PluginSift.