Simple Social Icons vs Lightweight Social Icons (2026)
Detailed side-by-side comparison of two WordPress plugins, based on real-time data from WordPress.org.
Lightweight Social Icons
30K+ active installs
Free
Quick Verdict
As of April 2026, Lightweight Social Icons has a higher user rating (4.7/5 from 63 reviews) while Simple Social Icons leads in active installations (100K+ vs 30K+). Both are free WordPress plugins. Simple Social Icons has accumulated 3.2M+ total downloads while Lightweight Social Icons has 464K+.
Detailed Comparison
| Metric | Simple Social Icons | Lightweight Social Icons | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rating | 4.3/5 | ► | 4.7/5 |
| Total Reviews | 92 | ◄ | 63 |
| Active Installs | 100K+ | ◄ | 30K+ |
| Total Downloads | 3.2M+ | ◄ | 464K+ |
| Support Resolution | 100% | N/A | |
| Last Updated | 3 months ago | ◄ | 6 years ago |
| First Released | 2012 | 2014 | |
| Age | 14 years | 12 years | |
| WP Requires | 4.0+ | 4.5+ | |
| PHP Requires | 7.4+ | false+ | |
| Business Model | Free | Free | |
| Latest Version | 4.0.0 | 1.1 |
Rating Breakdown
Simple Social Icons
Lightweight Social Icons
Download Trends
Over the past 30 days, Simple Social Icons averaged approximately 336 daily downloads while Lightweight Social Icons averaged 15.
Recent Reviews
Simple Social Icons Reviews
Great Support and a great Social Icons plugin
I had an issue with my Pixelfed icon not displaying as it needed a colour to be active, support where very helpful and quick to give me the support I needed, I love the way I can control all the socia
My theme didn’t support Bluesky & Mastodon—Simple Social Icon does…
Hallo together,want to include social icons like Bluesky and Mastodon. Kadence Virtuel Theme didn’t support this and would not be able to enter this feature since one year.I tried the plugin Simple So
A smart and effective solution and great support
The plugin is simple to use and very efficient. I had only one problem with the display of the icons and the support responded nearly immediately and solved the problem with one line of CSS-Code. Than
Lightweight Social Icons Reviews
Affects Core Web Vitals creating Ensure Text Remains Visible During Webfont Load
I don’t recommend this plugin at all. It signs a useless font which is not displayed in the front end to the users but creates core web vitals issues on the back end. The font name is fontello.woff an
It’s Light!
Hasn’t been updated but super light and solid!
Fantastic Social Icons Plugin
Tom never fails to make amazing plugins and this social icons plugin is no different. I just hope that there are plans to add a discord icon in the near future. 5/5 plugin!
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Frequently Asked Questions
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Plugin data sourced from WordPress.org. Comparison and analysis by PluginSift.