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Display Links by Category icon
Possibly abandoned Tested up to 3.2.1 #16 in blogroll

Display Links by Category

This plugin allows users to display their WordPress links by category through custom fields.

Active installs40+10+ tier
Downloads · 30d58▲ +45% vs prev. 30d
Rating—0 reviews
Health score24/100At risk
All-time downloads4.3KSince Nov 2011
Support resolved—No recent threads
RequiresWP 3.2.1PHP any
Downloads · 7d14▼ -6.7% week over week
Our verdict

Consider an alternative

Display Links by Category shows warning signs in 2026 — compare the alternatives below before installing. It runs on 40+ sites and was last updated 15 years ago, and scores 24/100 on our health check.

  • Small user base (40+ active installs)
  • Very few reviews so far
  • No update in 14 years
  • Only tested up to WordPress 3.2 (latest is 7.1)

How does it stack up?

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

Daily downloads

123Jul 10Aug 23Oct 7
Yesterday2
Daily average (1y)1
Peak day5Nov 5, 2025
Last 12 months446

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

Rankings

Where Display Links by Category stands today

WordPress.org search rankings

Live position in the plugin search, top 100
KeywordPositionCompeting pluginsCategory
blogroll #58 97 Best blogroll plugins →
bookmarks >100 571 Best bookmarks plugins →
display links >100 10,000 Best display links plugins →
links >100 10,000 Best links plugins →
shortcode >100 10,000 Best shortcode plugins →

Version adoption

Share of active sites per release.

  • 1.0100.0%

About Display Links by Category

From the official readme · v1.0.1

Description

This plugin allows users to display their WordPress links by category through custom fields.

The following gives a step-by-step setup overview:

  1. Enable the plugin (check the installation tab)
  2. Go to the page/post where you’d like to place your links/blogroll
  3. Make sure that Custom Fields are visible (on the edit page or post page click on the “Screen Options” in the top right and make sure “Custom Fields” is checked off)
  4. Under CUstom fields click on the enter new link
  5. Enter an ID in the “Name” field – the plugin uses the ID “display_links” as a default
  6. Enter the category name of the links you’d like to display in the “Value” field
  7. Click on the “Add Custom Field” button
  8. Enter the following shortcode into the post content area or the widget area you prefer: [links_by_cat field_id="(ID previously entered in Name field goes here)"]
    • Note that if you used “display_links” in the Name field, you do not need to enter the “field_id” parameter in the shortcode and can simply do: [links_by_cat]

The shortcode also supports many other parameters for ordering and structuring your links. All parameters on the list (except “category”) found on the following page are available: https://codex.wordpress.org/Template_Tags/wp_list_bookmarks#Parameters

Other parameter example:

[links_by_cat orderby="rating"] -- This is an example using the orderby parameter from the list. The links will now be ordered by their rating.

Added in 1.0.1:

The ability to display all categories has been added to the shortcode. Simply add:
[links_by_cat display_all]

Many bug fixes have also been introduced in version 1.0.1 as well, so please upgrade.

Currently, only one category is supported per Custom Field entry; however, I am looking to update the plugin soon so that it supports multiple categories.

Installation

This section describes how to install the plugin and get it working.

  1. Upload the “display-links-by-category” folder to the “/wp-content/plugins/” directory
  2. Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress
  3. Add new custom fields where needed (full details in “Description” tab)
  4. Use the shortcode in any page, post or widget area where you wish your links to appear

Changelog

Several bug fixes and the addition for a display all categories option. Check plugin page for more details.

1.0.1

  • Addded the option to choose to display all categories
  • Bug fixes (ex: if category name is wrong, all categories used to display – now, none are displayed)

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 Display Links by Category alternatives

All blogroll plugins →
Alternatives
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2 Eazy Enable Blogroll Eazy Enable Blogroll Eazy Enable Blogroll brings back the one and only WordPress Blogroll Feature, with nearly… by Tamás 1K+ ★★★★★★★★★★ 5 (7) 3 years ago 39
3 Link View Link View Display a link-list or link-slider in a post or page by using a shortcode. by mibuthu 700+ ★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 (11) 6 years ago 38
4 Better Blogroll Better Blogroll Allows you to display a configurable number of random links from your Wordpress blogroll by dyersorg 300+ ★★★★★★★★★★ 5 (1) 15 years ago 33
5 Blogroll Links Blogroll Links Display your blogroll links anywhere in posts or pages using a simple shortcode. by rajivpant 300+ ★★★★★★★★★★ No reviews 10 months ago 35
6 VS Link Manager VS Link Manager With this lightweight plugin you can display a set of links from the Link Manager. by Guido 200+ ★★★★★★★★★★ 5 (2) 2 months ago 72
7 WP Social Blogroll WP Social Blogroll WP Social Blogroll adds a social blogroll to your blog. It will follow and display all… by Erunafailaro 200+ ★★★★★★★★★★ 2 (3) 13 years ago 24
8 Blogroll Widget with RSS Feeds Blogroll Widget with RSS Feeds Displays the recent posts of your blogroll links via RSS Feeds in a customizable sidebar… by Jan Teriete 100+ ★★★★★★★★★★ 5 (1) 13 years ago 32
9 RSS Blogroll RSS Blogroll Sidebar widget that links to recent entries from RSS/Atom feeds. by pantsonhead 100+ ★★★★★★★★★★ 2.3 (3) 11 years ago 24
10 Advanced Blogroll Advanced Blogroll Advanced Blogroll Widget displays your bookmarks as you want. You can customize your… by yakuphan 100+ ★★★★★★★★★★ No reviews 17 years ago 25

FAQ

Display Links by Category: quick answers

Straight answers, pulled from live WordPress.org data.

Live data from WordPress.org · checked Oct 8, 2026

Is Display Links by Category free?

Yes. Display Links by Category is free to download and use from the official WordPress.org plugin directory.

Is Display Links by Category safe to use in 2026?

Display Links by Category shows warning signs in 2026 — compare the alternatives below before installing. It runs on 40+ sites and was last updated 15 years ago, and scores 24/100 on our health check.

How many websites use Display Links by Category?

Display Links by Category is active on 40+ WordPress websites and has been downloaded 4,302 times since it launched in November 2011. It was downloaded 58 times in the last 30 days.

Does Display Links by Category work with WordPress 7.1?

Display Links by Category is officially tested up to WordPress 3.2.1, while the latest release is 7.1.3. It may still work, but try it on a staging site first.

When was Display Links by Category last updated?

The latest version, 1.0.1, was released on December 5, 2011 (15 years ago).

Who makes Display Links by Category?

Display Links by Category is developed and maintained by Aleksandar Arsovski.

What are the best alternatives to Display Links by Category?

The most popular alternatives to Display Links by Category are Link Manager (20K+ installs), Eazy Enable Blogroll (1K+ installs) and Link View (700+ installs).

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