/ Plugin Category

/ Community & Social

/ User-Generated Content

/ Simple Social Icons

Simple Social Icons

By OsomPress

Community & Social / User-Generated Content

Reviewed by Abdul Hameid

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

Simple Social Icons Review - In-Depth Analysis

Easily insert customizable social icons in widget areas. Link to your social profiles with various design options.

Performance Overview

WPS Score

6.81/10

User Rating

4.3/5 (based on 92+ reviews)

Active Installations

100,000+

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

Simple Social Icons is an easy to use, customizable way to display icons that link visitors to your various social profiles. With it, you can easily choose which profiles to link to, customize the color and size of your icons, as well as align them to the left, center, or right, all from the widget form.

This plugin requires no settings page and is designed for simplicity and ease of use. You can quickly enhance your site's social media presence by adding these icons to any widget area.

Note: The simple_social_default_glyphs filter has been deprecated from this plugin.

Comparing to Alternatives

Simple Social Icons is a straightforward plugin focused on adding customizable social media icons, with several alternatives available that offer similar functionality.

Top alternatives

Strengths

Supports a wide range of social media platforms including newer ones like Bluesky and Mastodon.
Simple and intuitive setup with minimal configuration needed.
Responsive and helpful support team.
Lightweight and does not bloat the site.
Allows easy customization of icon colors and sizes.

Weaknesses

Lacks some social media icons users might want, such as Google My Business after Google+ removal.
No advanced features beyond basic icon display.
No pro version with additional premium features.
Limited to widget areas for placement.

User Sentiment Analysis

With a strong majority of 5-star and 4-star ratings, users generally appreciate the plugin's simplicity and support. Negative reviews are minimal and do not highlight major issues.

Positive highlights

"Simple Social Icon does what my theme couldn't for Bluesky & Mastodon." - vegisto
"Great support and quick help with Pixelfed icon color." - mwplant
"Responsive support added missing icons within a week." - ecollart
"Easy to install and set up with updated icons I needed." - LindaLovesWordPress
"Simple, effective, and quick to set up with no unnecessary features." - Albert Calzada

Common complaints

Weaknesses

Limited icon set compared to some competitors.
No premium version to unlock advanced features.
Placement options are limited to widget areas.
Some users miss icons like Google My Business after Google+ removal.

Who Should Use This?

Best for

Users seeking a lightweight, easy-to-use plugin to add social media icons without complicated settings or bloat.

Not ideal for

Those needing advanced social media integration features, extensive icon sets, or multiple placement options beyond widgets.

Pricing & Value

Free version includes

The free version offers a solid set of customizable social icons with color and size controls, suitable for most basic needs.

Final Verdict

Simple Social Icons excels at providing a clean, no-fuss solution for adding social media icons to WordPress sites. Its strong user ratings and responsive support highlight its reliability and ease of use. While it lacks advanced features and a premium version, it covers the essentials well for users who want straightforward functionality.

Compared to alternatives, it stands out for simplicity and support but may fall short for users needing more extensive icon options or placement flexibility. Its excellent security record and free availability make it a safe and valuable choice for most WordPress users.

Other Notable Features

Here are a few other notable features of this free Simple Social Icons plugin.

social media

social networking

social profiles

FAQ

Yes, icons can be reordered with the use of a filter. See: https://github.com/copyblogger/simple-social-icons/wiki/Reorder-icons-in-version-2.0

If your theme includes custom icon styling, you can try adding this line to your functions.php file:

add_filter( 'simple_social_disable_custom_css', '__return_true' );

This will remove icon styling options in the widget settings, and prevent Simple Social Icons from overriding custom theme styling.

Contributors and developers

“Simple Social Icons” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin.

Tiago Hillebrandt

Free Version Docs

WPS

6.81

Average

Ratings

4.3 out of 5 | 92

Version

4.1.0

Last updated

4 weeks ago

Active installations

100,000+

WordPress version

7.1.3 or higher

PHP version

7.4 or higher

Languages

Other plugins you might like

Ultimate Member – User Profile, Registration, Login, Member Directory, Content Restriction & Membership Plugin

By Ultimate Member

WPS

7.03

Very Good

4.4/5

1.4k+reviews

200k+

active installation

Tested with

7.1.3

bbPress

By John James Jacoby

WPS

6.85

Average

3.9/5

343+reviews

100k+

active installation

Tested with

7.1.3

Meks Smart Social Widget

By Meks

WPS

6.8

Average

4.6/5

10+reviews

10k+

active installation

Tested with

6.6.10

WP Social Widget

By catchsquare

WPS

6.79

Average

4.7/5

11+reviews

4k+

active installation

Tested with

6.7.10

Socials Ignited

By Anastis Sourgoutsidis

WPS

6.75

Average

4.3/5

4+reviews

2k+

active installation

Tested with

6.8.11

The Social Links

By seagyn

WPS

6.87

Average

4.4/5

7+reviews

2k+

active installation

Tested with

5.8.18

Simple Social Icons 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

FAQ

Contributors and developers

Ratings

Reviews (92)

Sort by:

Contributors & Developers

Interested in development?

Changelog

Security Status

Secure

No Unpatched Vulnerabilities

Known Vulnerabilities (0)

Previous Versions

WPS

6.81

Other plugins you might like

Ultimate Member – User Profile, Registration, Login, Member Directory, Content Restriction & Membership Plugin

bbPress

Meks Smart Social Widget

WP Social Widget

Socials Ignited

The Social Links