WordPress Popular Posts Plugins For Free

If you want to add a popular posts widgets section to your website, we'll show you the best free plugins to use on your WordPress

By Claudio Pires
Updated on December 20, 2023
WordPress Popular Posts Plugins For Free

While browsing the web, you have probably encountered websites with popular articles. Displaying popular posts helps website visitors find your best content and boost page views. If you want to add a popular posts widgets section to your website, we’ll show you the best free plugins to use on your WordPress.

If you only have a few articles on your site, finding them won’t be a problem. Visitors might have difficulty finding your best work if you have dozens or hundreds of posts.

Fortunately, you can use the features provided by popular WordPress post plugins to promote your content. Promoting your content on other pages is a simple and practical way.

What Are The Factors For Choosing A Free WordPress Popular Posts Plugin?

Eventually, it all comes down to your website requirements. We list some of the main criteria.

  • Cost– you have free and premium plugins. While the free plugins work fine, don’t forget to explore the additional features of the premium ones.
  • Easy to use– plugins that require minimal configuration.
  • Customization possibilities
  • Love customization? Watch out for plugins that give you the option to change the style.
  • Type of posts to display– showcase your most amazing content, which got the most comments or the most popular post.
  • Select a plugin that allows you to display exactly what you want.

1- Display Posts

Display Posts, a free plugin. Display posts aren’t focused on just popular posts, but it lets you display your popular posts using two criteria: Comment count—social shares.

So if that’s how you want to define “popular,” this is a good choice. Remember that there is no option to show notifications based on the traffic they receive.

Also, the plugin comes with many shortcode parameters that you can utilize to target posts by categories, authors, and more. You can also choose to include thumbnails, snippet summaries, and other content.

There’s a lot to like here… In addition to being easy to use, WordPress Popular Posts allows you to choose a custom time range for your popular posts. Since you can create many separate lists, it allows you to do some cool things, like create separate lists for the most popular posts of all time and the most popular posts from the past, regardless of how many days. 

You can include posting thumbnail images and set options to sort popularity by comments.

3- Top 10

Top 10 is another popular free option in WordPress. It lets you view your most popular posts by daily or overall traffic. Top 10 works with regular blog posts and any custom post types you use. You have fine control over your list of popular posts, with the ability to choose whether or not to include: a small picture, extraction, show quantity, or publication date.

4- Jetpack

Jetpack is a plugin from Automattic (the maker of WordPress.com) offering various features. One of these features is…you guessed it: Popular Posts.

I wouldn’t recommend it if you want popular posts, but the all-in-one approach might come in handy if you like Jetpack’s other features.

One downside of Jetpack is your lack of flexibility in defining popular posts – by default. You can use it to show your favorite posts or the most trafficked posts from the last 48 hours. If you’re tech-savvy, you can use filters to define custom date ranges. Other than that, Jetpack is very easy to use, and the output looks great out of the box.

5- Post Views Counter 

While this plugin focuses on counting post views, it also offers a widget to display the most popular posts on your site based on view counts.

6- MonsterInsights

MonsterInsights is another very popular WordPress plugin. Best known for its in-depth analysis and reporting of the traffic coming to your website, you can enable the popular posts option using this plugin. You can use MonsterInsights traffic data to promote the most famous content using Gutenberg blocks, widgets, or shortcodes. The dashboard also provides metrics on which content receives the most visits.

Customizing the popular post is another feature that this plugin can easily achieve. From choosing the shape and color to the placement of your choice, you can do a lot. 

7- Contextual Related Posts

Although primarily designed to display related posts, this plugin has the option to show popular posts as well. It uses post views to determine popularity.

Remember always to check the plugin’s compatibility with your version of WordPress and read user reviews to ensure the plugin meets your specific needs. We hope this article featuring the best free popular posts widgets plugins for WordPress has helped you!

Claudio Pires

Claudio Pires is the co-founder of Visualmodo, a renowned company in web development and design. With over 15 years of experience, Claudio has honed his skills in content creation, web development support, and senior web designer. A trilingual expert fluent in English, Portuguese, and Spanish, he brings a global perspective to his work. Beyond his professional endeavors, Claudio is an active YouTuber, sharing his insights and expertise with a broader audience. Based in Brazil, Claudio continues to push the boundaries of web design and digital content, making him a pivotal figure in the industry.