Trending/Popular Post Slider and Widget icon

Trending/Popular Post Slider and Widget

by Essential Plugin

View on WordPress.org
73 Quality Score
Active Installs
15/30

With only 2,000 active installs, this is a niche plugin rather than a mainstream choice, though it exceeds the install count of the closest alternatives listed.

Update Freshness
23/25

The plugin was updated on 2026-02-20 and is tested up to WordPress 6.9.4, indicating the developer is actively keeping pace with core releases.

User Rating
13/15

An 84 out of 100 from 24 ratings is a solid signal, though the small sample size limits how confidently we can generalize user satisfaction.

Support Health
8/15

Zero support threads opened and zero resolved means there is essentially no track record to evaluate, which is a yellow flag for anyone who expects responsive help.

WP Compatibility
15/15

Full marks here thanks to a low WordPress 4.0 minimum requirement, recent core testing, and shortcode plus Gutenberg block support.

Scores higher than 31% of indexed plugins

About

A quick, easy way to add Popular/Trending posts slider, grid block and widget. Also work with Gutenberg shortcode block.

Active Installs 2k+
Rating ★★★★ 4.2/5
Last Updated 2026-02-20 7:39pm GMT
Requires WordPress 4.0+
Tested Up To 6.9.4

Security History

3 known vulnerabilities, all patched
1 Critical 2 Medium

Most recent: April 9, 2026

View details ▸

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What It Does

This plugin adds a trending or popular post slider, grid block, and sidebar widget to your WordPress site. It tracks post views and surfaces the most-read content so visitors see what others are engaging with. It works with classic widgets, shortcodes, and the Gutenberg block editor.

Who It's For

News sites, magazines, and high-volume blogs that want to keep readers clicking through to more articles will get the most value from this plugin. It suits content publishers who want to automate surfacing of trending content without manually curating it. Multi-author platforms with steady traffic will benefit from its view-tracking approach to popularity.

Who Should Skip It

Low-traffic sites with fewer than a few hundred daily visitors will get unreliable or empty trending lists since there is not enough view data to rank meaningfully. Anyone needing advanced personalization, A/B testing, or analytics-grade tracking should look at a more dedicated analytics or recommendation solution.

The Bottom Line

Trending/Popular Post Slider and Widget delivers exactly what it promises for sites with enough traffic to make popularity rankings meaningful, and the active maintenance and WordPress 6.9.4 compatibility are genuine strengths. The lack of any support history and modest install base mean you are betting on a small developer with a quiet forum. It is a reasonable choice for straightforward trending post displays, but power users will outgrow it.

Tags

daily popular post views popular posts slider popular trending posts carousel popular trending posts widget trending posts slider