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Lightweight Social Icons vs WP Social Widget (2026)

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

Lightweight Social Icons

Lightweight Social Icons

4.7(63)

30K+ active installs

Free

Updated 6 years ago
View Lightweight Social Icons
VS
WP Social Widget

WP Social Widget

4.7(11)

4.0K+ active installs

Free

Updated 10 months ago
View WP Social Widget

Quick Verdict

As of April 2026, Lightweight Social Icons has a higher user rating (4.7/5 from 63 reviews) and leads in active installations (30K+ vs 4.0K+). Both are free WordPress plugins. Lightweight Social Icons has accumulated 465K+ total downloads while WP Social Widget has 122K+.

Detailed Comparison

Rating
4.7/5Lightweight Social Icons
WP Social Widget4.7/5
Total Reviews
63Lightweight Social Icons
◄
WP Social Widget11
Active Installs
30K+Lightweight Social Icons
◄
WP Social Widget4.0K+
Total Downloads
465K+Lightweight Social Icons
◄
WP Social Widget122K+
Support Resolution
N/ALightweight Social Icons
WP Social WidgetN/A
Last Updated
6 years agoLightweight Social Icons
►
WP Social Widget10 months ago
First Released
2014Lightweight Social Icons
WP Social Widget2015
Age
12 yearsLightweight Social Icons
WP Social Widget11 years
WP Requires
4.5+Lightweight Social Icons
WP Social Widget2.8+
PHP Requires
false+Lightweight Social Icons
WP Social Widgetfalse+
Business Model
FreeLightweight Social Icons
WP Social WidgetFree
Latest Version
1.1Lightweight Social Icons
WP Social Widget2.3.1

Rating Breakdown

Lightweight Social Icons

4.7/5(63 reviews)
5
89%
4
5%
3
2%
2
2%
1
3%

WP Social Widget

4.7/5(11 reviews)
5
82%
4
9%
3
9%
2
0%
1
0%

Recent Reviews

Lightweight Social Icons Reviews

by Mahesh Pant

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

by Jimmy Lee

It’s Light!

Hasn’t been updated but super light and solid!

by Hematoma

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!

WP Social Widget Reviews

by sarcasius

good but old

Its a good plugin I like it. simple but the logos are the old versions. There are no different types of Facebook logos, instagram and youtube are old logos, and when you change colors it will not show

by mikefinestcity

Simple, clean, social icons

I love these social icons on my landing page. They’re simple and elegant. Just what I was looking for.

by intuitiveagencia

conflict with color box

nice view of the social icon but your plugin is in conflict with de color box #hexa of wordpress clic for the conflict

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Lightweight Social Icons or WP Social Widget more popular?
Lightweight Social Icons has 30K+ active installations while WP Social Widget has 4.0K+. Lightweight Social Icons is the more widely-used plugin as of April 2026.
Which has better ratings — Lightweight Social Icons or WP Social Widget?
Lightweight Social Icons has a 4.7/5 rating from 63 reviews, while WP Social Widget has a 4.7/5 rating from 11 reviews.
Are Lightweight Social Icons and WP Social Widget free?
Lightweight Social Icons is free and WP Social Widget is free. Both can be downloaded from the WordPress.org plugin directory.
Which plugin has better support — Lightweight Social Icons or WP Social Widget?
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?
Lightweight Social Icons was last updated 6 years ago and WP Social Widget was last updated 10 months ago.

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