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Breadcrumb Trail

By Justin Tadlock

Site Structure & Navigation / Menu Management & Mega Menus

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

7.05/10

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 straightforward breadcrumb plugin that offers simplicity and ease of customization compared to other options.

Top alternatives

Strengths

Simple to use and customize
Works well out of the box
Good documentation available
Compatible with multilingual and multisite setups

Weaknesses

Lacks advanced features found in some alternatives
No premium version for extended functionality
Limited styling options without CSS knowledge

User Sentiment Analysis

Users generally praise Breadcrumb Trail for its simplicity and reliability, highlighting its ease of use and effective performance.

Positive highlights

Simple and flexible to use (84EM)
Works well out of the box and easy to style with CSS (mizukimadness)
Amazing and compatible with current WordPress versions (gautamgaura)
Well-documented and flawless operation (CyberCobre)
Works perfectly with multisite and multilingual setups (Roman)

Common complaints

Requires some coding knowledge for customization
Limited features compared to other breadcrumb plugins

Weaknesses

No pro version limits advanced functionality
Styling requires CSS skills

Who Should Use This?

Best for

Users looking for a simple, reliable breadcrumb plugin that works well immediately and can be customized with basic CSS skills.

Not ideal for

Those seeking advanced breadcrumb features or a plugin with a dedicated premium version for extended capabilities.

Pricing & Value

Free version includes

The free version includes all core breadcrumb functionality, easy setup, and compatibility with various WordPress configurations.

Final Verdict

Breadcrumb Trail is an excellent choice for users who want a straightforward breadcrumb solution that is easy to implement and customize with minimal effort.

While it lacks a premium version and some advanced features, its reliability and simplicity make it a valuable plugin for many WordPress sites.

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

7.05

Very Good

Ratings

4.3 out of 5 | 30

Version

1.1.0

Last updated

8 years ago

Active installations

10,000+

WordPress version

4.8.30 or higher

PHP version

5.2 or higher

Languages

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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

7.05

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