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Conditional Widgets

By Jason LeMahieu (MadtownLems)

Site Administration & Utilities / Site Health & Diagnostics

Reviewed by Omar Dabbas

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

Conditional Widgets Review - In-Depth Analysis

Control widget display based on pages or categories easily. Requires Classic Widgets plugin for compatibility.

Performance Overview

WPS Score

7.02/10

User Rating

4.5/5 (based on 24+ reviews)

Active Installations

6,000+

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 will not function after the Widgets screen overhaul that is part of WordPress 5.8 unless you use the Classic Widgets plugin. The plugin will continue to be supported and maintained for those using Classic Widgets, but there are no plans to make Conditional Widgets work once Widgets are Blocks.

This plugin adds a form to each widget on the Widgets panel which allows users to choose which pages and/or categories the widget is either displayed on or hidden from.

For each widget, you can choose criteria to either show or hide the widget based on a number of categories. The interface is quite intuitive and requires no knowledge of PHP or conditional tags.

Comparing to Alternatives

Conditional Widgets offers a straightforward solution for widget visibility control, standing out among several alternatives that provide similar functionalities with varying features.

Top alternatives

Strengths

Simple and efficient functionality delivering exactly what it promises
Lightweight and easy to use for customizing widgets by category or page
Compatible with recent WordPress versions like WP 5.5
No recorded security vulnerabilities, ensuring safe usage
High user satisfaction with a 4.5-star average rating

Weaknesses

Lacks compatibility with WooCommerce, limiting use for e-commerce sites
No active developer support or updates, raising concerns about plugin maintenance
Potential conflicts with certain browser extensions causing delays or crashes
No pro version available, limiting advanced feature options

User Sentiment Analysis

With a strong majority of 5-star ratings and very few low ratings, users generally appreciate the plugin's simplicity and effectiveness, though some have expressed concerns about compatibility and support.

Positive highlights

'Fantastic Functional Plugin' delivering exactly what it promises (stellaseaspirit)
'Very useful plugin, light, easy to use' for customizing widgets (FeliceAntonio)
Works well with WordPress 5.5, fulfilling a needed function (zinkab)

Common complaints

Incompatibility with WooCommerce and poor support response (worsin)
Perception of the plugin being abandoned with no recent updates (momo-fr)

Weaknesses

Compatibility issues with WooCommerce
Lack of developer support and updates
Conflicts with some browser extensions causing performance issues

Who Should Use This?

Best for

Users seeking a lightweight, straightforward plugin to control widget visibility on standard WordPress sites without complex e-commerce needs.

Not ideal for

Sites relying heavily on WooCommerce or those needing active developer support and frequent updates should consider other options.

Pricing & Value

Free version includes

The free version provides essential widget visibility control features suitable for most users.

Final Verdict

Conditional Widgets is a reliable and easy-to-use plugin that effectively manages widget visibility with a strong positive reception from users. Its lack of security issues and high rating make it a solid choice for standard WordPress sites.

However, its incompatibility with WooCommerce and absence of active support or updates may limit its suitability for e-commerce sites or users requiring ongoing development. Alternatives may better serve those needs.

Other Notable Features

Here are a few other notable features of this free Conditional Widgets plugin.

widget display control

conditional widgets

page and category widgets

Screenshots

FAQ

Yes and No.

Conditional Widgets can be configured with additional Type/Taxonomy pairs (both native and custom), similar to how it functions with Posts and Categories. However, it does not support additional Custom Post Types the way it does Pages. (If I were going to write it from scratch, I would have definitely included that, but have no plans to add it given that Widgets themselves are on the way to becoming unsupported.)

The following filter is available to take pairs of Post Type and Taxononmy slugs (use in functions.php or a small plugin):

 // Add Conditional Widgets support for Success Stories (Post Type) & Story Groups (Taxonomy) add_filter('conditional_widgets_type_tax_pairs', 'success_story_conditional_widget_type_tax_pairs' );  function success_story_conditional_widget_type_tax_pairs( $pairs_array ) {      $success_story_pair = array(         'type'=> 'success-story',         'tax'=> 'story-group'      );      $pairs_array[] = $success_story_pair;     return $pairs_array;  }

If you really want to be able to use Conditional Widgets to control Widget display on individual instances of a Custom Post Type (rather than based on a Taxonomy), the workaround would be to create unique Taxonomy terms for those Custom Posts.