/ Plugin Category

/ Content Management

/ Blog & Article Publishing

/ WP Popular Posts

WP Popular Posts

By Hector Cabrera

Content Management / Blog & Article Publishing

Reviewed by Abdul Hameid

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

WP Popular Posts Review - In-Depth Analysis

WP Popular Posts is a customizable plugin that displays your most popular posts. It supports multiple lists, time ranges, and custom layouts.

Performance Overview

WPS Score

6.97/10

User Rating

4.5/5 (based on 249+ reviews)

Active Installations

100,000+

Update Frequency

Very Good It is calculated using the weighted average of same category plugins.

Security Score

5.49 / 10 (Medium Risk) It is calculated using the weighted average of all versions.

What It Does

WP Popular Posts is a highly customizable plugin that displays your most popular posts. You can create multiple popular posts lists on your blog, each with its own settings. The plugin allows you to list posts based on specific time ranges, such as the last 24 hours or the last 30 days.

It supports custom post types, so you can showcase popular products or other content types. The plugin also includes features like thumbnail display, a statistics dashboard, and sorting options based on comments or views. You can style your popular posts list using built-in themes or customize the layout to fit your needs.

WP Popular Posts is compatible with Elementor and supports shortcodes for easy embedding. It also offers REST API support, allowing integration with web applications. The plugin works well with multilingual setups and is designed to support WordPress Multisite installations.

Comparing to Alternatives

WP Popular Posts is a widely used plugin for displaying popular posts, but there are several other notable options available that offer similar functionality.

Top alternatives

Strengths

Easy to set up and use with automatic display of popular posts
Lightweight and clean design that integrates well with most themes
Works well with page builders like Elementor via REST API
Responsive and visually appealing output
Good support and responsiveness to user requests

Weaknesses

Not suitable for cached sites due to backend XHR calls
Lacks easy CSS customization options
Has a history of security vulnerabilities, though fixed in recent versions
No pro version with advanced features available

User Sentiment Analysis

With a strong majority of 5-star ratings (82.7%) and an overall rating of 4.5, users generally appreciate the plugin's functionality and support. However, about 10.4% of ratings are 1-2 stars, highlighting some significant issues.

Positive highlights

"Worked right from the start" - WebHostPro
"Simple plugin. Does what it says." - smkstoll
"Works good with Elementor!" - kspr
"Great plugin – great support" - seegeist
"Plugin incrível. A melhor e mais elegante maneira de exibir postagens populares." - Anonymous User

Common complaints

Fundamentally broken for cached sites, defeating caching optimizations
Plugin stopped working and appears abandoned by developers

Weaknesses

Backend calls impact performance on cached sites
Limited styling customization without code changes
Security vulnerabilities have been present historically

Who Should Use This?

Best for

Users who want a straightforward, lightweight popular posts plugin that integrates well with themes and page builders and do not rely heavily on caching mechanisms.

Not ideal for

Sites that use aggressive caching solutions like Nginx or WP Rocket, or users who require advanced styling customization or guaranteed long-term plugin support given recent abandonment concerns.

Pricing & Value

Free version includes

The free version offers core functionality to display popular posts with automatic updates and basic customization options.

Final Verdict

WP Popular Posts is a popular and generally well-regarded plugin that delivers on its promise of displaying popular posts with ease and good support. Its lightweight design and compatibility with page builders make it attractive for many users.

However, its performance issues on cached sites, lack of advanced styling options, and a history of security vulnerabilities, combined with signs of abandonment, suggest that users should carefully consider their needs and possibly explore alternatives if these factors are critical.