WP Categories Widget

76 Quality Score

Active Installs

17/30

At 6,000 active installs it is a mid-tier plugin with reasonable traction, though nowhere near the adoption of top category or menu widgets.

Update Freshness

23/25

It was last updated in February 2026 and is tested against WordPress 6.9.4, which scores perfectly on currency and forward compatibility.

User Rating

14/15

A 90 out of 100 rating from 27 reviewers indicates strong user satisfaction, even with a relatively small sample size.

Support Health

8/15

Zero support threads and zero resolutions is a yellow flag: there is no public track record of responsive help, even though the install base is small enough that few issues may have surfaced.

WP Compatibility

15/15

Requires PHP 8.0 and WordPress 6.0 and is tested up to 6.9.4, which earns a perfect compatibility score for modern stacks but may exclude older PHP 7.4 environments.

Scores higher than 50% of indexed plugins

About

Display the list of categories for any taxonomies type (WooCommerce Product Category, Blog Category, Project Category...etc) in sidebar

Active Installs 6k+

Rating ★★★★½ 4.5/5

Last Updated 2026-02-16 2:20pm GMT

Requires WordPress 6.0+

Tested Up To 6.9.7

Requires PHP 8.0+

Security History

1 known vulnerability, all patched

1 Medium

Most recent: August 10, 2023

View details ▸

What It Does

WP Categories Widget is a sidebar widget that displays a list of categories for any registered WordPress taxonomy, including the built-in category system, WooCommerce product categories, and custom taxonomies for CPTs such as projects or listings. It lets you pick which taxonomy to show and place the output in any widget-ready area without writing code. It is essentially a more flexible replacement for the default Categories widget that ships with WordPress core.

Who It's For

This plugin is a fit for site owners running WooCommerce stores, directories, portfolios, or any site that relies on multiple custom taxonomies and wants a lightweight way to expose those category lists in widget areas. It is also useful for bloggers who want a simple, no-frills category list without the overhead of a full menu plugin. Developers building small-to-mid sized sites with one or two taxonomies will get the most value.

Who Should Skip It

If you already use the built-in WordPress Categories widget and only need standard post categories, there is no real reason to install this. Users who need accordion menus, mega menus, or post listings inside categories should look at a more feature-rich alternative.

The Bottom Line

WP Categories Widget does one thing, taxonomy-aware category lists, and it does it cleanly with current WordPress and PHP requirements. The main caveat is the complete absence of public support activity, so you are betting on a maintainer who has not yet been tested under fire. For simple taxonomy display needs it is a solid, lightweight pick, but anyone wanting menus, accordions, or post thumbnails should look elsewhere.

Pick Iks Menu instead if you want an accordion-style category menu with built-in FAQs and richer navigation styling.

Flex Posts – Responsive Posts Block 78/100

Pick Flex Posts if you actually want to display post tiles or thumbnails inside a category rather than just a text list of terms.