10 Best Custom Sidebars Alternatives in 2026
Updated October 22, 2026 · Ranked by how closely each plugin matches, from WordPress.org data · How this works
Custom Sidebars has 100,000+ 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 Sidebars
- 1
Insert Headers and Footers
Closest matchWPCode – Insert Headers and Footers + Custom Code Snippets – WordPress Code Manager
4.9 (1,910) 3 million+ active installsEasily add code snippets in WordPress. Insert header & footer scripts, add PHP code snippets with conditional logic, insert ads pixel code, and more.
About 30 times the installs, rated 4.9 against 4.7, last updated 14 days ago.
- 2
Content Blocks (Custom Post Widget)
4.9 (80) 10,000+ active installsThis plugin enables you to edit and display Content Blocks in a sidebar widget or using a shortcode.
Shares the widget tag on WordPress.org. 10,000+ installs against 100,000+, rated 4.9 against 4.7, last updated September 21, 2026.
- 3
Pods – 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.
A similar number of installs, rated 4.8 against 4.7, last updated August 31, 2026.
- 4
Code Snippets
Paid version available4.7 (509) 1 million+ active installsManage custom WordPress code in one dashboard. Create PHP and HTML snippets, preview code, track snippet totals and reuse code across sites.
About 10 times the installs, last updated today.
- 5
4.8 (584) 300,000+ active installsEasily reorder posts, pages, custom post types, and taxonomies with intuitive drag-and-drop sorting in the WordPress admin.
About 3 times the installs, rated 4.8 against 4.7, last updated 3 days ago.
- 6
Custom Twitter Feeds – A Tweets Widget or X Feed Widget
4.8 (401) 100,000+ active installsDisplay X posts (Twitter tweets) from any public user account in a clean, attractive looking feed that updates weekly.
A similar number of installs, rated 4.8 against 4.7, last updated 22 days ago.
- 7
ECS – Ele Custom Skin for Elementor
4.6 (117) 100,000+ active installsSeven free modules for Elementor: dark mode, container layouts, mobile menu, editorial text, style presets, JSON editor — all modular, all free.
A similar number of installs, rated 4.6 against 4.7, last updated 6 days ago.
- 8
Forminator Forms
Paid version availableForminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder
4.8 (2,139) 600,000+ active installsBest WordPress form builder plugin. Create contact forms, payment forms & order forms with 1000+ integrations.
About 6 times the installs, rated 4.8 against 4.7, last updated 8 days ago.
- 9
Royal Addons for Elementor – Addons and Templates Kit for Elementor
4.8 (612) 600,000+ active installsElementor templates, Header footer builder, Elementor Post Grid, Woocommerce Grid builder, Slider, Forms, Gallery, Nav menu addons, Elementor widgets.
About 6 times the installs, rated 4.8 against 4.7, last updated 7 days ago.
- 10
Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE)
5.0 (424) 200,000+ active installsDuplicate post, post order, image resize, email via SMTP, admin menu editor, custom css / code, disable gutenberg and much more in a single plugin.
About 2 times the installs, rated 5.0 against 4.7, last updated 3 days ago.
Switching from Custom Sidebars: common questions
What is the best alternative to Custom Sidebars?
Insert Headers and Footers is the closest match: it shares the same WordPress.org tags and has 3 million+ active installs with a 4.9 out of 5 rating.
Which Custom Sidebars alternative has the most users?
Insert Headers and Footers, with 3 million+ active installs reported by WordPress.org.
Which Custom Sidebars alternative is rated highest?
Admin and Site Enhancements, rated 5.0 out of 5 by 424 reviewers. Only plugins with at least 50 reviews are counted.
Are these Custom Sidebars 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 Sidebars 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 Sidebars 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
Insert Headers and Footers is the closest match to Custom Sidebars by the data we track, and Insert Headers and Footers has the widest reach with 3 million+ active installs. Code Snippets shipped the most recent release, on October 21, 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.