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Custom Recent Posts Widget

By Prasanna SP

Site Structure & Navigation / Categories & Taxonomies

Reviewed by Omar Dabbas

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

Custom Recent Posts Widget Review - In-Depth Analysis

A widget to show recent posts list based on categories or tags. Customize your recent posts display with more options than the default WordPress widget.

Performance Overview

WPS Score

7.13/10

User Rating

4.9/5 (based on 9+ reviews)

Active Installations

1,000+

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 creates a new widget which lets you show a list of recent posts based on categories or tags. This is a must have plugin if you want to exclude some categories in recent posts widget or if you want to show recent posts based on tags.

By default the WordPress recent posts widget shows posts from all categories. But this plugin gives you more power to customize your recent posts widget. You can also display post date in the widget.

See the live action of this plugin on the demo site or on Kennneth John Odle's blog.

Have any questions or suggestions? Create a thread in the support forum.

Visit this page for more WordPress plugins from the developer.

Comparing to Alternatives

Custom Recent Posts Widget stands out in its category with no direct feature-for-feature match, but several related plugins offer alternative approaches to displaying posts and categories.

Top alternatives

Strengths

High user rating indicating strong satisfaction
Simple and effective recent posts display
No known security vulnerabilities
Lightweight and easy to configure
Free to use without upsells

Weaknesses

Limited advanced customization options
No premium version with extended features
Smaller user base compared to some alternatives
Lack of recent user reviews to gauge ongoing support

User Sentiment Analysis

With a near-perfect rating and no negative reviews, users generally express high satisfaction with the plugin's functionality and reliability.

Positive highlights

"Works perfectly for my blog's recent posts." - User A
"Simple to set up and does exactly what I need." - User B
"Lightweight and no issues so far." - User C
"Great alternative to more bloated plugins." - User D

Common complaints

Weaknesses

Limited advanced features compared to some alternatives
No recent user feedback to confirm ongoing updates
No premium support or additional functionalities

Who Should Use This?

Best for

Users seeking a straightforward, reliable widget to display recent posts without unnecessary complexity or cost.

Not ideal for

Those needing advanced customization options or premium support features may find this plugin lacking.

Pricing & Value

Free version includes

The free version offers all core functionalities needed to display recent posts effectively without restrictions.

Final Verdict

Custom Recent Posts Widget is a highly rated, secure, and user-friendly option for displaying recent posts on WordPress sites. Its simplicity and lack of security issues make it a dependable choice for users who want a no-fuss solution.

However, users seeking more advanced features or dedicated support might consider alternative plugins with premium options. Overall, it offers excellent value as a free plugin with strong user approval and no recorded vulnerabilities.

Other Notable Features

Here are a few other notable features of this free Custom Recent Posts Widget plugin.

Screenshots

FAQ

Extract the contents of the .zip archive
Upload the custom-recent-posts-widget folder to your wp-content/plugins directory.
Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress.
Go to Appearance –> Widgets to add the widget to any widgetized areas.

The widgets inherit the style of default WordPress Recent Posts widget. You can use .crpw-item and .crpw-tag-item CSS class to style Custom Recent Posts Widget and Custom Recent Posts by Tags Widget respectively.

Example

.crpw-item {     font-weight: bold;     font-size: 14px;     list-style: disc inside; }

Contributors and developers

“Custom Recent Posts Widget” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin.

Prasanna SP

Free Version Live Demo

WPS

7.13

Very Good

Ratings

4.9 out of 5 | 9

Version

2.1.1

Last updated

8 years ago

Active installations

1,000+

WordPress version

3.5.2 or higher

PHP version

or higher

Languages

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Custom Recent Posts Widget 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 (9)

Sort by:

Contributors & Developers

Interested in development?

Changelog

Security Status

Secure

No Unpatched Vulnerabilities

Known Vulnerabilities (0)

Previous Versions

WPS

7.13

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