/ Plugin Category

/ Site Structure & Navigation

/ Menu Management & Mega Menus

/ Breadcrumb Trail

Breadcrumb Trail

By Justin Tadlock

Site Structure & Navigation / Menu Management & Mega Menus

Reviewed by Omar Dabbas

Trusted WordPress expert with 20+ years of experience evaluating plugins for the WP ecosystem.

Breadcrumb Trail Review - In-Depth Analysis

A powerful script for adding breadcrumbs to your site that supports Schema.org HTML5-valid microdata. It auto-detects permalink structures and custom post types.

Performance Overview

WPS Score

6.76/10

User Rating

4.3/5 (based on 30+ reviews)

Active Installations

10,000+

Update Frequency

Below Average It is calculated using the weighted average of same category plugins.

Security Score

1 / 10 (Very Low Risk) It is calculated using the weighted average of all versions.

What It Does

Breadcrumb Trail is one of the most advanced and robust breadcrumb menu systems available for WordPress. It started out as a small script for basic blogs but has grown into a system that can handle nearly any site's setup to show the most accurate breadcrumbs for each page.

Please note that Breadcrumb Trail requires that you understand and know how to edit your theme's PHP code, at least to the extent of copying and pasting one line of code. If you're not comfortable doing this, it's best to ask that your theme author integrate the code necessary to support this plugin.

This plugin automatically detects your permalink setup and displays breadcrumbs based off that structure. Nearly all sites have some sort of hierarchy. Breadcrumb Trail recognizes that and builds a set of unique breadcrumbs for each page on your site.

This means that it can also detect custom post types and taxonomies right out of the box. Whatever you throw at it, it's got a solution.

Features include auto-detecting the permalink structure of your site for the most accurate breadcrumbs, hooks for plugin/theme developers to overwrite output, and it is coded with object-oriented programming methods to allow developers to extend it for those highly-custom setups. Properly handles nearly any custom post type or taxonomy.

If you need professional plugin support from me, the plugin author, you can join the club at Theme Hybrid, which is a professional WordPress help/support site where I handle support for all my plugins and themes for a community of 75,000+ users (and growing).

If you're a theme author, plugin author, or just a code hobbyist, you can follow the development of this plugin on its GitHub repository.

Yes, I do accept donations. If you want to donate, you can do so from my donations page or grab me something from my Amazon Wish List. I appreciate all donations, no matter the size. Further development of this plugin is not contingent on donations, but they are always a nice incentive.

Comparing to Alternatives

Breadcrumb Trail is a solid breadcrumb plugin with several alternatives available that offer similar functionality.

Top alternatives

Strengths

Simple and easy to use with minimal setup required
Highly customizable with CSS styling options
Works well out of the box with good default settings
Good documentation available for users with coding knowledge
No known security vulnerabilities reported

Weaknesses

No pro version with advanced features
Limited updates as last security scan was in 2017
Lacks some advanced breadcrumb customization options found in alternatives
No built-in support for multilingual breadcrumb trails

User Sentiment Analysis

With an overall rating of 4.3 out of 5 from 30 reviews, most users are highly satisfied with Breadcrumb Trail, praising its simplicity and flexibility. There are no recorded complaints in the 1-2 star reviews.

Positive highlights

"This plugin does exactly what I needed. It's simple to use and easy to customize." — 84EM
"Great plugin! It works well out of the box and is also easy to style with CSS." — mizukimadness
"Love ya 🙂 I was in need of this plugin and it's really amazing!" — gautamgaura
"Easy, Good Documentation, Flawless." — CyberCobre
"Простий, працює з коробки без проблем, легко налаштовується." — Roman

Common complaints

Weaknesses

No recent security updates since 2017
Lacks advanced features found in some alternatives
No premium version for extended functionality

Who Should Use This?

Best for

Users looking for a straightforward, easy-to-use breadcrumb plugin that works well out of the box and can be styled with CSS.

Not ideal for

Users needing advanced breadcrumb features, frequent updates, or premium support options may find this plugin limiting.

Pricing & Value

Free version includes

The free version offers all core breadcrumb functionality with customization via CSS and good documentation.

Final Verdict

Breadcrumb Trail is a reliable and simple breadcrumb plugin that satisfies most users' needs with its ease of use and customization options. Its strong positive reviews and lack of security vulnerabilities make it a trustworthy choice for basic breadcrumb navigation.

However, the absence of a pro version and limited recent updates may deter users seeking advanced features or ongoing premium support. Alternatives with more frequent updates and extended functionality might be better suited for those users.

Other Notable Features

Here are a few other notable features of this free Breadcrumb Trail plugin.

Breadcrumbs

Navigation

Screenshots

FAQ

Many of my theme users had a real need for a functional breadcrumb menu without having to find and test a lot of other plugins. Therefore, I created a breadcrumbs script for those users. Eventually, I decided to package it as a plugin and share it with others.

The plugin is still mostly packaged with themes and is currently being used on millions of WordPress sites.

Basically, it’s a navigational tool. On many sites, you’ll see something that looks like this:

You are here: Home > Page > Sub-page > Sub-sub-page

This plugin allows you to easily add this type of menu your site.

There are several methods, but in general, you would add the following line of code to your theme. Generally, this goes somewhere near the bottom of your theme’s header.php template. However, you can add it anywhere you want in your theme, and it should work.

<?php if ( function_exists( 'breadcrumb_trail' ) ) breadcrumb_trail(); ?>

To see all methods and options, refer to the readme.md file included with the plugin download. You can also view the readme online.

You can disable the plugin styles by adding this to your theme’s functions.php file:

add_filter( 'breadcrumb_trail_inline_style', '__return_false' );

Note that the breadcrumbs will be completely unstyled at this point. You’ll need to add style rules to your theme’s style.css file.

Basically, it’s a navigational tool. On many sites, you’ll see something that looks like this:

You are here: Home > Page > Sub-page > Sub-sub-page

This plugin allows you to easily add this type of menu your site.

Contributors and developers

“Breadcrumb Trail” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin.

Justin Tadlock

Free Version

WPS

6.76

Average

Ratings

4.3 out of 5 | 30

Version

1.1.0

Last updated

8 years ago

Active installations

10,000+

WordPress version

4.8.33 or higher

PHP version

5.2 or higher

Languages

Other plugins you might like

Breadcrumb NavXT

By John Havlik

WPS

7.31

Very Good

4.6/5

132+reviews

800k+

active installation

Tested with

7.1.3

Flexy Breadcrumb

By PressTigers

WPS

6.99

Average

4.7/5

20+reviews

10k+

active installation

Tested with

7.1.3

Breadcrumb Block

By Phi Phan

WPS

6.8

Average

5/5

14+reviews

3k+

active installation

Tested with

7.1.3

Catch Breadcrumb

By Catch Themes

WPS

6.9

Average

5/5

5+reviews

2k+

active installation

Tested with

7.0.7

RDFa Breadcrumb

By Nitin Yawalkar

WPS

6.65

Average

4.1/5

7+reviews

600+

active installation

Tested with

4.4.34

Breadcrumb Trail Review - In-Depth Analysis

Performance Overview

What It Does

Comparing to Alternatives

User Sentiment Analysis

Who Should Use This?

Pricing & Value

Final Verdict

Other Notable Features

Screenshots

FAQ

Contributors and developers

Ratings

Reviews (30)

Sort by:

Contributors & Developers

Interested in development?

Security Status

Secure

No Unpatched Vulnerabilities

Known Vulnerabilities (0)

Previous Versions

WPS

6.76

Other plugins you might like

Breadcrumb NavXT

Flexy Breadcrumb

Breadcrumb Block

Catch Breadcrumb

RDFa Breadcrumb