79
Recent Posts Widget With Thumbnails
Beautifies your sidebar but occasionally trips over WordPress updates.
HealthyDeclining
79/100
Users appreciate the extra customization despite occasional bugs with recent WordPress updates and specific themes.
Active installs
~150,000
our estimate · wp.org shows 100k+
Rating
4.8★
212 ratings
Trend · vs a year ago
-30%
Declining fast
178 → 124 installs/day
What to watch out for
- MINORdownloads down 30% vs a year ago
Downloads over time
real new installs per day · release spikes shown separately from the trend2025-04-302025-08-082025-11-162026-02-232026-06-03
organicrelease spikerelease tailorganic trend · 14d rolling median
Declining fast · -30% in the last year
178/day a year ago→124/day today
Reviews
what people actually sayRecent Posts Widget With Thumbnails is a well-regarded, lightweight widget plugin praised for its range of display options, though a handful of users report compatibility issues with certain themes and WordPress updates causing thumbnails or settings to stop working.
What people like
- +Provides extended recent-posts display options (thumbnails, titles, dates) that the default WordPress widget lacks×3
- +Highly configurable with granular control over appearance×3
- +Works reliably for most users across common themes like GeneratePress and Astra×4
- +Free to use
Common complaints
- −Thumbnails stopped displaying after a WordPress update (6.1.1) (since 6.1.1)
- −Thumbnail size setting does not work for some users — thumbnails remain fixed at 75×75 regardless of configuration
- −Plugin settings (intro text, title) not functioning correctly on the Divi theme
- −Debug mode triggers an undefined array key PHP warning
- −Widget does not appear in the Appearance > Widgets screen for some users, preventing use
- −List item vertical spacing can be excessive, requiring manual CSS fixes depending on the theme
- −Incompatible with Polylang in the block-based widgets editor without an additional workaround plugin
Review trustReviews look organic
- 4.87★Verified rating — holds steady vs the raw 4.80★
- 4%One-shot reviewers — most reviewers are active community members
Reviews per month · 5★ vs lower
2023-07-202025-01-102026-06-04
5★ reviews1–4★ reviews
All-time ratings · 212 total
Latest reviews · 90 analyzed
- 2026-02-01★★★★★Niiiiice, thanksrapidasia
- 2025-10-10★★★★★So many settings!Lera
- 2025-07-02★★★★★Simple but Invaluable Pluginfunkster
- 2025-01-11★★★★★Help on a undefined array key randtechspecx
- 2024-12-11★★★★★Génialevolute2
- 2024-09-22★★★★★BRILLIANT!jeanedwa
- 2024-09-16★★★★★Just what I needed !elcondorito
- 2023-10-17★★★★★interesting, if the thumbnail size worksMarc73
- 2023-07-07★★★★★Can't findwebstpro
- 2023-04-18★★★★★Excellent plugin!mystnick
Releases
recent versions from WordPress.org SVNFor developers & the curious
the raw signals behind the grade — none of this is on the friendly summary aboveDownload signals
Baselines are computed on organic days only — release spikes and their tails are excluded, so they're not inflated by the auto-update wave.
124
Baseline · median of last 7 organic days
116
Prior 7-day baseline
107
Floor · 25th percentile over 14 days
148
Latest day · 2026-06-03(organic)
+6.9%
Week-over-week organic trend
Review signals
Concentration and drive-by metrics drive the review-burst and fake-review flags. 30–40% solo reviewers is normal; we only flag the extremes.
22%
Max month share · biggest single 30-day window
1.97
Distribution CV · <0.6 even, >1.5 bursty
94%
5★ share in analyzed sample
4%
Solo reviewers · only this one wp.org activity
—
Volume velocity · last 6mo vs prior 6mo
4.88 → 4.87★
Sample avg · raw → solo-filtered