/ Plugin Category

/ Content Management

/ Blog & Article Publishing

/ Easy Add Thumbnail

Easy Add Thumbnail

By Samuel Aguilera

Content Management / Blog & Article Publishing

Reviewed by Abdul Hameid

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

Easy Add Thumbnail Review - In-Depth Analysis

Automatically sets the featured image to the first image uploaded into the post. Simple and effective for any post type with thumbnail support.

Performance Overview

WPS Score

6.97/10

User Rating

4.5/5 (based on 52+ reviews)

Active Installations

7,000+

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

This plugin automatically assigns the featured image to the first image uploaded in a post. It works seamlessly across any post type that supports thumbnails. Simply install and activate the plugin without needing to configure any options.

The plugin checks if a post already has a featured image. If not, it sets the featured image dynamically for old posts when they are viewed. For new content, the featured image is assigned during the publishing process.

It does not add any data to your WordPress database beyond the necessary meta key for the featured image. Ensure that at least one image is attached to the post for this plugin to function correctly.

Comparing to Alternatives

Easy Add Thumbnail is a straightforward plugin that automatically sets featured images from the first image in posts. It has several alternatives that offer similar or extended functionality.

Top alternatives

Strengths

Simple and effective at setting featured images automatically
Clean and reliable code base
Helps especially with magazine-style themes requiring featured images
Lightweight with no unnecessary features
No known security vulnerabilities

Weaknesses

Lacks options to exclude certain post types without code modification
No built-in feature to set a default image when no images exist in a post
Limited customization options compared to some alternatives
No pro version with extended features

User Sentiment Analysis

With a high rating of 4.5 out of 5 from 52 reviews, most users appreciate the plugin's simplicity and effectiveness. However, a minority express frustration over the need for code changes to customize behavior.

Positive highlights

'Great plugin that does what it says... Helps tremendously with magazine themes' - wesleytech
'Really great plugin. Simple and effective. And very clean code.' - brandonjp
'Very nice, simple, super effective plugin.' - deepcore2
'Funciona a la perfección... una mejora interesante sería especificar el post-type' - Yorsh
'Does exactly what is expected, nothing less, nothing more.' - stanilund

Common complaints

Requires code modification to exclude pages or customize behavior

Weaknesses

Limited user interface for customization
No default image setting feature
Customization requires coding knowledge

Who Should Use This?

Best for

Users seeking a lightweight, no-fuss plugin to automatically assign featured images from post content without needing advanced customization.

Not ideal for

Users who want to exclude certain post types or pages without coding, or who require more control and default image options.

Pricing & Value

Free version includes

The free version provides automatic assignment of featured images from the first post image with no additional features.

Final Verdict

Easy Add Thumbnail is a reliable and straightforward solution for automatically setting featured images, praised for its simplicity and clean code. It suits users who want a set-it-and-forget-it plugin without complex options.

However, its lack of customization without code edits and absence of a default image feature may limit its appeal for users needing more flexibility. Alternatives may better serve those with advanced needs.

Other Notable Features

Here are a few other notable features of this free Easy Add Thumbnail plugin.

Automatic Feature Image

Automatic Thumbnail

Featured Image

FAQ

No. This plugin uses only standard WordPress functions to set the featured image. And using this standard (and friendly) method WordPress simply has not any knowing about images not attached to the post.

If you don’t want to use Easy Add Thumbnail for your pages or any other post type, you can exclude them by simply adding a little snippet of code to your theme functions.php file before enabling the plugin.
The following example will exclude pages:

add_filter ('eat_exclude_types', 'my_excluded_types', 10, 1); function my_excluded_types ( $exclude_types ){     $exclude_types[] = 'page';      return $exclude_types; }

If you want to exclude a custom post type you need to know the value of ‘name’ used in register_post_type() function for registering that post type.
e.g. If you have a custom post type and its ‘name’ is ‘book’ the you’ll use:

add_filter ('eat_exclude_types', 'my_excluded_types', 10, 1); function my_excluded_types ( $exclude_types ){     $exclude_types[] = 'book';      return $exclude_types; }

If you want to exclude more than one post type just duplicate the $exclude_types[] line for each one.

This snippet must be added to your site BEFORE enabling Easy Add Thumbnail in your site,
if you add it later it will stop assigning the thumbnails for new posts in the excluded types after that moment, previous posts will not be modified.