10 Best PE Recent Posts Alternatives in 2026
Updated September 7, 2026 · Ranked by how closely each plugin matches, from WordPress.org data · How this works
PE Recent Posts has 2,000+ 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 PE Recent Posts
- 1
Recent Posts Widget With Thumbnails
Closest match4.8 (212) 100,000+ active installsList the most recent posts with post titles, thumbnails, excerpts, authors, categories, dates and more!
Shares the recent posts, thumbnails tags on WordPress.org. About 50 times the installs, last updated 20 days ago.
- 2
4.5 (55) 10,000+ active installsThe ultimate widget for displaying posts, custom post types or sticky posts with an array of options.
Shares the recent posts tag on WordPress.org. About 5 times the installs, no update since July 17, 2024.
- 3
Custom Layouts – Post + Product grids made easy
5.0 (25) 3,000+ active installsBuild a list or grid layout of any post type (posts, products, pages + more).
Shares the recent posts tag on WordPress.org. About 1.5 times the installs, last updated December 29, 2025.
- 4
Category Posts Block
4.5 (79) 40,000+ active installsAdds a block that shows the most recent posts from a single category.
Shares the recent posts tag on WordPress.org. About 20 times the installs, last updated 17 days ago.
- 5
Smart Post
Paid version availableSmart Post – Post Grid, Post Carousel, Post Slider Gutenberg Blocks for Blog & News
4.7 (209) 20,000+ active installsDisplay posts in Grid, Carousel, Slider, Timeline, List & Live Filter layouts with Gutenberg Blocks & Ready Patterns - Elementor, Divi, & Shortcodes.
About 10 times the installs, last updated 5 days ago.
- 6
4.9 (76) 10,000+ active installsAddon for the Elementor page builder to display posts in a grid. Useful for generating post grid from your blog posts with multiple options.
About 5 times the installs, last updated 13 days ago.
- 7
A Responsive Post Slider
Paid version availablePost Slider and Post Carousel with Post Vertical Scrolling Widget – A Responsive Post Slider
4.7 (31) 10,000+ active installsPost Slider and Post Carousel display WordPress post in slider and carousel layouts with shortcode and Latest/Recent vertical post scrolling widget.
About 5 times the installs, last updated 11 days ago.
- 8
Display Post Types – Post Grid, post list and post sliders
5.0 (26) 7,000+ active installsDisplay list of posts, pages or any custom post types anywhere using block and widget. Show as grid, list or posts slider.
About 3.5 times the installs, last updated 15 days ago.
- 9
BlockSpare – Gutenberg Blocks for News, Magazine, Blog & Business Websites
4.8 (33) 10,000+ active installsBuild professional news, magazine, blog, editorial and business websites with powerful Gutenberg blocks, starter templates, advanced post layouts, sli …
About 5 times the installs, last updated 11 days ago.
- 10
4.9 (84) 20,000+ active installsEasily create awesome post grids and post carousel sliders. Different widget types, powerful filters, "load more" button and many customizab …
About 10 times the installs, no update since January 9, 2025.
Switching from PE Recent Posts: common questions
What is the best alternative to PE Recent Posts?
Recent Posts Widget With Thumbnails 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 PE Recent Posts alternative has the most users?
Recent Posts Widget With Thumbnails, with 100,000+ active installs reported by WordPress.org.
Which PE Recent Posts alternative is rated highest?
AnWP Post Grid and Post Carousel Slider for Elementor, rated 4.9 out of 5 by 84 reviewers. Only plugins with at least 50 reviews are counted.
Are these PE Recent Posts 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 PE Recent Posts 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 PE Recent Posts 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
Recent Posts Widget With Thumbnails is the closest match to PE Recent Posts by the data we track, and Recent Posts Widget With Thumbnails has the widest reach with 100,000+ active installs. Smart Post shipped the most recent release, on September 2, 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.