Latest News Widget
Show latest posts from specific categories in your sidebar. Simple, easy-to-use, and customizble.
Consider an alternative
Latest News Widget shows warning signs in 2026 — compare the alternatives below before installing. It runs on 200+ sites and was last updated 16 years ago, and scores 26/100 on our health check.
- Small user base (200+ active installs)
- Very few reviews so far
- No update in 15 years
- Only tested up to WordPress 3.0 (latest is 7.1)
How does it stack up?
Side-by-side on installs, updates, ratings & support
Daily downloads
Download spikes usually follow a new release — each site that auto-updates counts as a download.
Rankings
Where Latest News Widget stands todayWordPress.org search rankings
Live position in the plugin search, top 100| Keyword | Position |
|---|---|
| Featured Posts Widget | >100 |
| latest news widget | >100 |
| latest posts widget | >100 |
| new posts widget | >100 |
| posts-widget | >100 |
Version adoption
Share of active sites per release.
About Latest News Widget
From the official readme · v1.0.1Description
Show latest posts from specific categories in your sidebar. Simple, easy-to-use, and customizble.
Special Features:
- Choose posts from up to three categories to display posts from
- Optionally show post titles
- Optionally show post bylines
- A dashboard widget that displays WordPress blogging tips, SEO tricks, exclusive tutorials, SEO strategies, and more!
- Show either the content, the excerpt, or the content with a limited number of characters
- Limit the number of posts shown. Offset the posts that are shown
- Widget includes a style manager!
- Easily change the font size, font family, title font size, etc from within the widget.
- This widget is reusable
- Very easy to setup. Requires NO technical knowledge to install
- Can be translated to multiple languages
- Outputs clean, validated code
- Free Support via email
Restrictions/Requirements:
- Works with WordPress 2.8.1+, WPMU, and BuddyPress (WordPress 3.0+ is highly recommended)
- PHP 4 or 5
- PHP register_globals and safe_mode should be set to “Off” (this is done in your php.ini file)
- Your theme must call wp_head() and wp_footer()
Configuring and Using the Plugin
Instructions for this plugin can be found at http://www.taylorlovett.com/wordpress-plugins
Support
For questions, feature requests, and support concerning the Latest News Widget plugin, please visit:
http://www.taylorlovett.com/wordpress-plugins
Installation
- Upload to /wp-content/plugins
- Activate the plugin from your WordPress Admin Panel
- Go to Appearance > Widgets and drag the widget in to a sidebar
- Done!
You can find more information about this plugin at http://www.taylorlovett.com/wordpress-plugins
Changelog
For questions, feature requests, updates, and support concerning the Latest News Widget plugin, please visit: http://www.taylorlovett.com/wordpress-plugins
1.0.1
- latest-news-widget.php – Plugin admin links fixed
1.0
- latest-news-widget.php – Dashboard widget added
- css/latest-news-widget-dashboard.css – Added
- widget/class.dashboard.php – Added
- class.utils.php – New methods added
0.2
- Small bug fixes
0.1
- Plugin Release
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.
Best Latest News Widget alternatives
All Featured Posts Widget plugins →
FAQ
Latest News Widget: quick answers
Straight answers, pulled from live WordPress.org data.
Live data from WordPress.org · checked Oct 12, 2026
Is Latest News Widget free?
Yes. Latest News Widget is free to download and use from the official WordPress.org plugin directory.
Is Latest News Widget safe to use in 2026?
Latest News Widget shows warning signs in 2026 — compare the alternatives below before installing. It runs on 200+ sites and was last updated 16 years ago, and scores 26/100 on our health check.
How many websites use Latest News Widget?
Latest News Widget is active on 200+ WordPress websites and has been downloaded 23,654 times since it launched in January 2011. It was downloaded 97 times in the last 30 days.
Does Latest News Widget work with WordPress 7.1?
Latest News Widget is officially tested up to WordPress 3.0.5, while the latest release is 7.1.3. It may still work, but try it on a staging site first.
When was Latest News Widget last updated?
The latest version, 1.0.1, was released on January 30, 2011 (16 years ago).
Who makes Latest News Widget?
Latest News Widget is developed and maintained by Taylor Lovett.
What are the best alternatives to Latest News Widget?
The most popular alternatives to Latest News Widget are Featured Posts Widget (30+ installs), WP Featured News (10+ installs) and CCR Featured Posts (10+ installs).
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