6 Best Widget Countdown Alternatives in 2026
Updated October 22, 2026 · Ranked by how closely each plugin matches, from WordPress.org data · How this works
Widget Countdown has 10,000+ active installs on WordPress.org. These 6 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 6 closest alternatives to Widget Countdown
- 1
Event Countdown for The Events Calendar
Closest match4.6 (48) 3,000+ active installsEvent countdown timer for The Events Calendar. Show a countdown to upcoming events with a shortcode, block, Elementor widget or sticky floating bar.
Shares the countdown, countdown timer tags on WordPress.org. About a third of the installs, last updated September 1, 2026.
- 2
Countdown, Coming Soon, Maintenance – Countdown & Clock
4.7 (183) 10,000+ active installsCountdown builder - Customizable Countdown Timer
Shares the countdown, countdown timer tags on WordPress.org. A similar number of installs, rated 4.7 against 3.6, last updated February 8, 2026.
- 3
HashBar
Paid version availableHashBar – Announcement, Notification Bar & Popup Campaign
4.2 (38) 9,000+ active installsCreate Announcement Bars, Notification Bars & Popup Campaigns with countdown timers, A/B testing, smart targeting & analytics.
Shares the countdown timer tag on WordPress.org. A similar number of installs, last updated 9 days ago.
- 4
HurryTimer – An Scarcity and Urgency Countdown Timer for WordPress & WooCommerce
4.8 (170) 20,000+ active installsCreate unlimited urgency and scarcity countdown timers for WordPress and WooCommerce to boost conversions and sales instantly.
Shares the countdown timer tag on WordPress.org. About 2 times the installs, rated 4.8 against 3.6, last updated today.
- 5
Coming Soon & Maintenance Mode by Colorlib
4.7 (42) 5,000+ active installsCreate a coming soon page or maintenance mode screen with 15 responsive templates, countdown timer, MailChimp subscribe form, and social media links.
Shares the countdown timer tag on WordPress.org. About half the installs, last updated 23 days ago.
- 6
Announcement & Notification Banner – Bulletin
4.6 (20) 2,000+ active installsPublish a slick announcement banner notice across your website or Woocommerce shop. Extend with icons, countdowns, placement rules and more!
Shares the countdown tag on WordPress.org. About a quarter of the installs, last updated September 16, 2026.
Widget Countdown against each of them
Head to head on installs, ratings, reviews and updates. Each measure names its own leader; there is no overall winner.
Switching from Widget Countdown: common questions
What is the best alternative to Widget Countdown?
Event Countdown for The Events Calendar is the closest match: it shares the same WordPress.org tags and has 3,000+ active installs with a 4.6 out of 5 rating.
Which Widget Countdown alternative has the most users?
HurryTimer, with 20,000+ active installs reported by WordPress.org.
Which Widget Countdown alternative is rated highest?
HurryTimer, rated 4.8 out of 5 by 170 reviewers. Only plugins with at least 50 reviews are counted.
Are these Widget Countdown 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 Widget Countdown 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 Widget Countdown 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
Event Countdown for The Events Calendar is the closest match to Widget Countdown by the data we track, and HurryTimer has the widest reach with 20,000+ active installs. HurryTimer shipped the most recent release, on October 20, 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.