10 Best Custom post types Alternatives in 2026
Updated September 7, 2026 · Ranked by how closely each plugin matches, from WordPress.org data · How this works
Custom post types has 3,000+ active installs on WordPress.org. These 10 plugins share its category or its tags on WordPress.org, are actively maintained, and each has at least 100 active installs. They are ordered by how closely they match, not by our opinion.
The 10 closest alternatives to Custom post types
- 1
Pods
Closest matchPods – Custom Content Types and Fields
4.8 (418) 100,000+ active installsPods is a framework for creating, managing, and deploying customized content types and fields for any project.
Shares the custom fields, custom post types, Custom Taxonomies tags on WordPress.org. About 33 times the installs, rated 4.8 against 4.6, last updated 7 days ago.
- 2
Meta Box – A Framework for Dynamic Websites
4.8 (165) 500,000+ active installsMeta Box plugin is a powerful, professional developer toolkit to create custom meta boxes and custom fields for your custom post types in WordPress.
Shares the custom fields, custom post types, Custom Taxonomies tags on WordPress.org. About 167 times the installs, rated 4.8 against 4.6, last updated 4 days ago.
- 3
Custom Post Types and Custom Fields creator – WCK
4.7 (97) 10,000+ active installsA must have tool for creating custom fields, custom post types and taxonomies, fast and without any programming knowledge.
Shares the custom fields, custom post types tags on WordPress.org. About 3.3 times the installs, rated 4.7 against 4.6, last updated July 15, 2026.
- 4
Advanced Views for Custom Fields and Posts
Paid version available4.8 (36) 3,000+ active installsDisplay content with full control over selection and layout. Lightweight and compatible with any theme or page builder.
Shares the custom post types tag on WordPress.org. A similar number of installs, last updated 16 days ago.
- 5
4.4 (46) 10,000+ active installsMap your Gravity-Forms-generated posts to a custom post type and/or custom taxonomies.
Shares the custom post types tag on WordPress.org. About 3.3 times the installs, last updated August 4, 2026.
- 6
4.0 (24) 30,000+ active installsThe Custom Field Template plugin extends the functionality of custom fields.
Shares the custom fields tag on WordPress.org. About 10 times the installs, last updated 27 days ago.
- 7
4.9 (46) 3,000+ active installsManual related posts without slowing down your website!
A similar number of installs, last updated 19 days ago.
- 8
4.6 (276) 1 million+ active installsAdmin UI for creating custom content types like post types and taxonomies
Shares the custom post types tag on WordPress.org. About 333 times the installs, last updated July 14, 2026.
- 9
Advanced Custom Fields (ACF®)
4.5 (1,438) 2 million+ active installsACF helps customize WordPress with powerful, professional and intuitive fields. Proudly powering over 2 million sites, WordPress developers love ACF.
Shares the custom fields tag on WordPress.org. About 667 times the installs, rated 4.5 against 4.6, last updated 11 days ago.
- 10
Admin Columns
Paid version available4.9 (1,651) 100,000+ active installsTake control of your WordPress admin list tables. Add, remove, and reorder columns for posts, users, media, and more - no coding needed.
Shares the custom fields tag on WordPress.org. About 33 times the installs, rated 4.9 against 4.6, last updated 6 days ago.
Switching from Custom post types: common questions
What is the best alternative to Custom post types?
Pods is the closest match: it shares the same WordPress.org tags and has 100,000+ active installs with a 4.8 out of 5 rating.
Which Custom post types alternative has the most users?
Advanced Custom Fields, with 2 million+ active installs reported by WordPress.org.
Which Custom post types alternative is rated highest?
Admin Columns, rated 4.9 out of 5 by 1,651 reviewers. Only plugins with at least 50 reviews are counted.
Are these Custom post types alternatives free?
Every plugin listed here is free to install from WordPress.org. Where WordPress.org marks a plugin as commercial, the developer also sells a paid version or add-ons, and that is shown on each plugin.
How are alternatives chosen?
Automatically, from WordPress.org data: plugins that share a category top 10 with Custom post types score highest, then plugins that appear in the same WordPress.org rankings, then plugins with the same tags, weighted so rare tags count more than common ones. Plugins by the same author and plugins rated under 4.0 are left out.
How we choose these alternatives
Nothing on this page is picked by hand. Every day we walk the whole WordPress.org directory, then score every plugin against Custom post types on three signals: sharing a category top 10 counts most, then appearing in the same WordPress.org rankings, then carrying the same tags, with rare tags counting for more than common ones like "wordpress". Plugins by the same author are excluded, so an author's own add-ons cannot fill the list, and so is anything rated below 4.0 or with fewer than 100 active installs. The ten highest scores are what you see, in that order. Full methodology.
The bottom line
Pods is the closest match to Custom post types by the data we track, and Advanced Custom Fields has the widest reach with 2 million+ active installs. Meta Box shipped the most recent release, on September 3, 2026. The list is rebuilt every day from WordPress.org, so a plugin that stops being maintained drops out on its own.
Weekly · free
What moved this week
One email a week, built from the same daily snapshots these rankings come from: the plugins that climbed, what launched, and one ranking worth a look.