10 Best Recent Posts Widget With Thumbnails Alternatives in 2026
Updated September 7, 2026 · Ranked by how closely each plugin matches, from WordPress.org data · How this works
Recent Posts Widget With Thumbnails 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 Recent Posts Widget With Thumbnails
- 1
Ultimate Posts Widget
Closest match4.5 (55) 10,000+ active installsThe ultimate widget for displaying posts, custom post types or sticky posts with an array of options.
Shares the featured image, recent posts, widget tags on WordPress.org. 10,000+ installs against 100,000+, rated 4.5 against 4.8, no update since July 17, 2024.
- 2
Content Views – Post Grid & Filter (Shortcode, Blocks, Elementor Widgets)
4.8 (333) 100,000+ active installsEasy to show posts, pages, custom posts in customizable grid, list, slider, accordion... Available as Widgets (for Elementor), Shortcode, and Blocks.
A similar number of installs, last updated 7 days ago.
- 3
4.3 (163) 30,000+ active installsPost Grid is a powerful WordPress plugin for creating customizable post grid layouts with advanced query options, allowing users to display posts dyna …
About a third of the installs, rated 4.3 against 4.8, last updated July 19, 2026.
- 4
The Post Grid – Shortcode, Gutenberg Blocks and Elementor Addon for Post Grid
4.8 (265) 100,000+ active installsDisplay WordPress posts in beautiful grid, list, slider, and filter layouts. Works with Gutenberg, Elementor, Divi, and Shortcodes.
A similar number of installs, last updated 14 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 a quarter of the installs, rated 4.7 against 4.8, 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.
10,000+ installs against 100,000+, rated 4.9 against 4.8, 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.
10,000+ installs against 100,000+, last updated 11 days ago.
- 8
Post Grid Gutenberg Blocks – PostX
4.8 (262) 40,000+ active installsDesign professional blogs with advanced Gutenberg blocks, premade templates, dynamic post grids, and smart filters.
About a third of the installs, last updated 8 days ago.
- 9
Custom Sidebars – Dynamic Sidebar Classic Widget Area Manager
4.7 (1,028) 100,000+ active installsFlexible sidebars for custom classic widget configurations on any page or post. Create custom sidebars with ease!
Shares the sidebar, widget tags on WordPress.org. A similar number of installs, rated 4.7 against 4.8, last updated 22 days ago.
- 10
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 a third of the installs, rated 4.5 against 4.8, last updated 17 days ago.
Switching from Recent Posts Widget With Thumbnails: common questions
What is the best alternative to Recent Posts Widget With Thumbnails?
Ultimate Posts Widget is the closest match: it shares the same WordPress.org tags and has 10,000+ active installs with a 4.5 out of 5 rating.
Which Recent Posts Widget With Thumbnails alternative has the most users?
Content Views, with 100,000+ active installs reported by WordPress.org.
Which Recent Posts Widget With Thumbnails alternative is rated highest?
Post Grid Addon for Elementor, rated 4.9 out of 5 by 76 reviewers. Only plugins with at least 50 reviews are counted.
Are these Recent Posts Widget With Thumbnails 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 Recent Posts Widget With Thumbnails 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 Recent Posts Widget With Thumbnails 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
Ultimate Posts Widget is the closest match to Recent Posts Widget With Thumbnails by the data we track, and Content Views 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.