Category Posts Block

82 Quality Score

Active Installs

21/30

Popularity scores well above its install base, with 40,000 active installs and healthy adoption for a single-purpose widget.

Update Freshness

25/25

Maintenance is a strong point, with a recent update on June 15, 2026, indicating the developer is still actively shipping changes.

User Rating

14/15

User ratings are excellent at 90 out of 100 from 79 reviewers, signalling consistent satisfaction among those who have tried it.

Support Health

8/15

Support health is the weak spot, with zero support threads recorded, so there is no public track record of how the author handles issues.

WP Compatibility

15/15

Compatibility is outstanding, tested with WordPress 7.0 while only requiring WordPress 2.8 and PHP 5.3, making it usable on nearly any host.

Scores higher than 86% of indexed plugins

About

Shows a list of recent posts from a category - with thumbnails, excerpt and a load more button. For posts, pages and the Site Editor.

Active Installs 40k+

Rating ★★★★½ 4.5/5

Last Updated 2026-09-21 7:39pm GMT

Requires WordPress 6.6+

Tested Up To 7.1.2

Requires PHP 7.2+

Security History

3 known vulnerabilities, all patched

3 Medium

Most recent: April 3, 2025

View details ▸

What It Does

Category Posts Widget adds a sidebar widget that displays the most recent posts from a single category you choose. It includes a block-based version for the site editor and classic widget support, giving site owners a quick way to surface category-specific content without coding.

Who It's For

This plugin is a good fit for bloggers, magazine-style sites, and niche content publishers who want a lightweight way to highlight recent posts from a specific category in a sidebar or widget area. It works particularly well for sites that organize content into clear topic categories and need a simple, focused listing.

Who Should Skip It

Anyone needing featured post sorting, custom thumbnails, view counts, or multi-category aggregation should look at WP Popular Posts or a block plugin like Spectra or GenerateBlocks instead, as this widget does very little beyond showing recent titles from one category.

The Bottom Line

Category Posts Widget does exactly what its name promises and nothing more, which makes it a reliable, no-frills choice for simple category-based recent post lists. The zero-thread support history is a small concern, but the recent update, high rating, and broad compatibility make it a low-risk install for basic needs.

Pick Spectra when you want a full block library with post-grid, post-list, and design controls built in, not just a single widget.

WP Popular Posts 89/100

Pick WP Popular Posts if you need sorting by views or comments, multiple taxonomies, and thumbnail support rather than simple recency.

Breadcrumb NavXT 88/100

Pick Breadcrumb NavXT if your real need is category-based navigation breadcrumbs, since that is its dedicated focus.

PDF Embedder 86/100

Pick PDF Embedder if you need to display PDF documents inline rather than category post listings.

GenerateBlocks 86/100

Pick GenerateBlocks if you want flexible, lightweight block building where you can compose a custom post list with full styling control.