10 Best Dashboard Notepad Alternatives in 2026
Updated September 7, 2026 · Ranked by how closely each plugin matches, from WordPress.org data · How this works
Dashboard Notepad has 10,000+ 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 Dashboard Notepad
- 1
Dashboard Widgets Suite
Closest match4.9 (38) 4,000+ active installsAdds 9 awesome widgets to your WP Dashboard. Includes User Notes, Social Buttons, System Info, Debug/Error Logs, and more!
Shares the dashboard, notes, widget tags on WordPress.org. About a third of the installs, last updated July 17, 2026.
- 2
4.6 (110) 20,000+ active installsWorking with multiple persons on a website? Want to make notes? You can do just that with WP Dashboard Notes. Create beautiful notes with a nice user …
Shares the notes tag on WordPress.org. About 2 times the installs, last updated April 8, 2026.
- 3
5.0 (24) 9,000+ active installsAdds simple notes to post, page and custom post type edit screen.
Shares the notes tag on WordPress.org. A similar number of installs, no update since September 4, 2025.
- 4
4.7 (84) 8,000+ active installsNewStatPress (Statpress plugin fork) is a real-time plugin to manage the visits' statistics about your blog (without external web analytics).
Shares the dashboard tag on WordPress.org. A similar number of installs, last updated July 7, 2026.
- 5
4.9 (35) 30,000+ active installsDisplays the currently installed PHP/MySQL version in the "At a Glance" admin dashboard widget.
Shares the dashboard tag on WordPress.org. About 3 times the installs, no update since May 16, 2023.
- 6
4.6 (78) 30,000+ active installsDisable Dashboard access for users of a specific role or capability. Disallowed users are redirected to a chosen URL. Get set up in seconds.
Shares the dashboard tag on WordPress.org. About 3 times the installs, last updated May 22, 2026.
- 7
4.3 (30) 10,000+ active installsHides the WordPress toolbar (admin bar) for all non-admin users. Simple plugin with no settings to configure.
Shares the dashboard tag on WordPress.org. A similar number of installs, last updated 25 days ago.
- 8
4.8 (24) 10,000+ active installsDisable sidebar and dashboard widgets with an easy to use interface.
Shares the dashboard tag on WordPress.org. A similar number of installs, last updated July 17, 2026.
- 9
WP Data Access – App Builder for Tables, Forms, Charts, Maps & Dashboards
4.9 (88) 10,000+ active installsTurn your data into WordPress apps with tables, forms, charts & maps — no code required, with optional hooks for developers. Supports 35+ languages.
Shares the dashboard tag on WordPress.org. A similar number of installs, last updated 12 days ago.
- 10
4.1 (23) 10,000+ active installsReplaces the default WordPress dashboard welcome panel with custom designed Elementor template.
Shares the dashboard tag on WordPress.org. A similar number of installs, last updated May 13, 2026.
Switching from Dashboard Notepad: common questions
What is the best alternative to Dashboard Notepad?
Dashboard Widgets Suite is the closest match: it shares the same WordPress.org tags and has 4,000+ active installs with a 4.9 out of 5 rating.
Which Dashboard Notepad alternative has the most users?
Display PHP Version, with 30,000+ active installs reported by WordPress.org.
Which Dashboard Notepad alternative is rated highest?
WP Data Access, rated 4.9 out of 5 by 88 reviewers. Only plugins with at least 50 reviews are counted.
Are these Dashboard Notepad 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 Dashboard Notepad 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 Dashboard Notepad 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
Dashboard Widgets Suite is the closest match to Dashboard Notepad by the data we track, and Display PHP Version has the widest reach with 30,000+ active installs. WP Data Access shipped the most recent release, on August 26, 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.