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Back Button Widget icon
Actively maintained Tested with WP 7.1 #1 in back Freemium

Back Button Widget

A simple & customizable back button, add it to any WordPress page using shortcode or widget for enhanced user navigation and site accessibility.

Active installs4K+1K+ tier
Downloads · 30d1.1K▲ 24.5× vs prev. 30d
Rating5/510 reviews
Health score84/100Excellent
All-time downloads92.3KSince Aug 2017
Support resolved—No recent threads
RequiresWP 4.4PHP any
Downloads · 7d1K▲ 40.2× week over week
Our verdict

Safe pick

Yes — Back Button Widget is a safe, well-maintained plugin to use in 2026. It runs on 4K+ sites, is rated 5/5 and was last updated 1 week ago, and scores 84/100 on our health check.

  • Actively developed — last update 1 week ago
  • Tested with the latest WordPress (7.1)
  • Momentum — downloads up 2350% vs the previous 30 days

How does it stack up?

Side-by-side on installs, updates, ratings & support

Daily downloads

248496744Jul 15Aug 28Oct 12
Yesterday993
Daily average (1y)15
Peak day993Oct 12, 2026
Last 12 months5.4K

Download spikes usually follow a new release — each site that auto-updates counts as a download.

Rankings

Where Back Button Widget stands today

WordPress.org search rankings

Live position in the plugin search, top 100
KeywordPositionCompeting pluginsCategory
back #7 10,000 Best back plugins →
back button #1 7,308 Best back button plugins →
back button widget #1 3,090 Best back button widget plugins →
go back #1 7,755 Best go back plugins →

Version adoption

Share of active sites per release.

  • 1.755.5%
  • 1.620.7%
  • 1.815.3%
  • 1.55.3%
  • Other3.3%

Rating breakdown

★★★★★★★★★★ 5 from 10 reviews

  • 5★100.0%
  • 4★0.00%
  • 3★0.00%
  • 2★0.00%
  • 1★0.00%

About Back Button Widget

From the official readme · v1.8.0

Description

“GREAT! WORKS PERFECT AND WONDERFUL SUPPORT: I needed a simple way to allow my clients to go back (BACK TO RESULTS) using my IDX real estate pages. The Back Button worked perfect and was easy to use. The Developer also was very kind to provide me with some additional code to match the rest of my web site colors.” – ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ norwood451

Main Page | Support Forum | Documentation & How to

Navigating through a website should be smooth sailing, right?

Well, that’s where our Back Button plugin steps in. It’s all about simplicity and convenience. With just a shortcode or widget, users can add a customizable Back button to their WordPress site, a simple & handy tool for improving navigation and enhancing the user experience, making it smooth for visitors to explore your content and navigate your site easily.

🚀 Main Features: FREE Version

🚀 Add Back Button Using WordPress Widget

As simple as it sounds, you can add & customize your back button with WP Widget, whenever they are supported on your theme (sidebar, header, footer, menu, WooCommerce sidebar, etc).

It comes with multiple options to customize the appearance of your Back button widget:

  • Give it a unique title
  • Add text before button
  • Add text after button
  • Change button text (label)
  • Give it a class name (to customize it your own)
  • Change button style (color) using simple HTML styling options
  • Select to make the button type to be a button or simple text
  • Select button JavaScript function to be “back” or “go(-1)”

🚀 Add Back Button Using Shortcode or PHP Function

If you’re more into customizing the button through shortcode, the plugin allows adding the button by using [alg_back_button] or echo alg_back_button( 'Back' ); PHP function.

🚀 Font Awesome Support

You can include any icon in your back button using simple addition to the shortcode, like [alg_back_button fa="fas fa-angle-double-left"]

❤️ User Testimonials: See What Others Are Saying!

“Great plugin with excellent support: This is a “must have” plugin for every WordPress site, thanks to the developer for creating this plugin, and for providing excellent and fast support.” – ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ carsten-lund

“Great Plugin!!!: I had a slight issue that was mainly my own error, but the author responded very quickly and all was resolved on this wonderfully simple and very useful plugin.” – ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ kastenmeier

“Great plugin with excellent support: This is a “must have” plugin for every WordPress site, thanks to the developer for creating this plugin, and for providing excellent and fast support.” – ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ carsten-lund

“Awesome plugin: It just works perfect!” – ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ anticosti

🏆 Do More: PRO Version

The premium version of Back Button Widget plugin comes with more features, like:

🏆 Add Back Button to WordPress Menus

You can add the back button to any menu location (based on your theme options) or your own menus that you’ve created.
The options allow you to customize the button & item template for the back button

🏆 Add Back Button as Floating Button

Add the back function as a floating button anywhere on your page, select from bottom (right & left), and top (right & left) locations where the button should appear.

This comes with basic CSS options to change horizontal & vertical margins.

💯 Why WPFactory?

  • Experience You Can Trust: Over a decade in the business
  • Wide Plugin Selection: Offering 65+ unique and powerful plugins
  • Highly-Rated Support: Backed by hundreds of 5-star reviews
  • Expert Team: Dedicated developers and technical support at your service

What’s Next? Discover More Plugins by WPFactory

WPFactory has a diverse range of plugins tailored to enhance your experience:

Installation

Follow these simplified steps to get your plugin up and running:

From the WordPress Admin Panel:
1. Navigate to “Plugins” > “Add New”.
2. Use the search bar and find the plugin using the exact name.
3. Click “Install Now” for the desired plugin.
4. Once the installation is finished, and click “Activate”.

Manual Installation Using FTP:
1. Download the desired plugin from WordPress.org.
2. Using your preferred FTP client, upload the entire plugin folder to the /wp-content/plugins/ directory of your WordPress installation.
3. Go to “Plugins” > “Installed Plugins” in your dashboard and click “Activate”.

Manual download & upload from the WordPress Admin Panel:
1. Download the desired plugin in a ZIP format.
2. On your site, navigate to “Plugins” > “Add New” and click the “Upload Plugin” button.
3. Choose the downloaded plugin file and click “Install Now.”
4. After the installation is complete, click “Activate”.

Post-Activation:
Once activated, access the plugin’s settings by navigating to the “WPFactory” menu and look for the relevant tab.

Changelog

This is the first release of the plugin.

1.8.0 – 05/10/2026

  • Dev – Output escaped.
  • Dev – Font Awesome – Load locally.
  • Dev – Settings – Plugin icon added.
  • Dev – Code refactoring.
  • Dev – Coding standards improved.
  • Dev – WPFactory Admin Menu – Library updated (to v1.1.2).
  • Dev – WPFactory Cross-Selling – Library updated (to v1.1.6).
  • Dev – WPFactory Key Manager – Library updated (to v1.1.1).
  • Tested up to: 7.1.

1.7.2 – 23/05/2026

  • Tested up to: 7.0.

1.7.1 – 03/10/2025

  • Dev – WPFactory Admin Menu – Library updated.
  • Dev – WPFactory Key Manager – Library updated.

1.7.0 – 10/05/2025

  • Dev – Security – Escape output.
  • Dev – Plugin settings moved to the “WPFactory” menu.
  • Dev – “Recommendations” added.
  • Dev – “Key Manager” added.
  • Dev – Code refactoring.
  • Dev – Coding standards improved.
  • Tested up to: 6.8.

1.6.8 – 05/09/2024

  • Tested up to: 6.6.

1.6.7 – 09/05/2024

  • Dev – PHP 8.2 compatibility – “Creation of dynamic property is deprecated” notice fixed.
  • Dev – Admin settings descriptions updated.
  • Readme.txt – Minor fixes.

Full changelog on WordPress.org →

For developers

Is this your plugin? Show off the numbers.

Add a live badge to your site, docs or GitHub README. It updates on its own — no account needed.

Active installs badge Rating badge Health score badge

Best Back Button Widget alternatives

All back plugins →
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FAQ

Back Button Widget: quick answers

Straight answers, pulled from live WordPress.org data.

Live data from WordPress.org · checked Oct 13, 2026

Is Back Button Widget free?

Yes. Back Button Widget is free to download and use from the official WordPress.org plugin directory. The developer also sells premium add-ons or a Pro version with extra features.

Is Back Button Widget safe to use in 2026?

Yes — Back Button Widget is a safe, well-maintained plugin to use in 2026. It runs on 4K+ sites, is rated 5/5 and was last updated 1 week ago, and scores 84/100 on our health check.

How many websites use Back Button Widget?

Back Button Widget is active on 4K+ WordPress websites and has been downloaded 92,275 times since it launched in August 2017. It was downloaded 1,078 times in the last 30 days.

Does Back Button Widget work with WordPress 7.1?

Yes. The developer has tested Back Button Widget up to WordPress 7.1.3, the latest release. It requires WordPress 4.4 or newer.

When was Back Button Widget last updated?

The latest version, 1.8.0, was released on October 5, 2026 (1 week ago).

Who makes Back Button Widget?

Back Button Widget is developed and maintained by WPFactory.

What are the best alternatives to Back Button Widget?

The most popular alternatives to Back Button Widget are Pager Widget (100+ installs), Scroll To Top Plugin by InT… (20+ installs) and Awesome Scroll To Top (20+ installs).

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