Meta Collections
Meta Collections is developed to turn WordPress into a Collection manager. Beside ‘Posts’ and ‘Pages’ you can add your own custom post types (a Collection e.g. ‘Films’, ‘Recipes’ or ‘Products’). For that particular post…
Consider an alternative
Meta Collections shows warning signs in 2026 — compare the alternatives below before installing. It runs on 10+ sites, is rated 1/5 and was last updated 13 years ago, and scores 18/100 on our health check.
- Small user base (10+ active installs)
- Very few reviews so far
- No update in 12 years
- Only tested up to WordPress 3.7 (latest is 7.1)
How does it stack up?
Side-by-side on installs, updates, ratings & supportDaily downloads
Download spikes usually follow a new release — each site that auto-updates counts as a download.
Rankings
Where Meta Collections stands todayWordPress.org search rankings
Live position in the plugin search, top 100| Keyword | Position |
|---|---|
| collection | >100 |
| collection management | >100 |
| custom post type | >100 |
| custom taxonomy | >100 |
| post type | >100 |
Version adoption
Share of active sites per release.
Rating breakdown
★★★★★★★★★★ 1 from 1 reviews
About Meta Collections
From the official readme · v2.0.3Description
Meta Collections
Meta Collections is developed to turn WordPress into a Collection manager.
Beside ‘Posts’ and ‘Pages’ you can add your own custom post types (a Collection e.g. ‘Films’, ‘Recipes’ or ‘Products’).
For that particular post type you can add you own Metadata schema (custom fields: For ‘Products’ a price, image and manufacturer field).
For example, if you want a Dublin Core metadata schema you can. That schema can be a mixture of system and custom fields or a completely customized metadataschema.
You can intuitively compose the user interface for the post type in a preview screen by dragging and dropping metafields in the right places using neat metaboxes.
Fields can be validated and can consist of multiple instances (e.g. more dan one ingredient field with a custom post type ‘recipes’).
You can add metafields in the post overview table.
Fields types
- Text
- Textarea
- Wysiwyg (WordPress’ native Editor)
- Vimeo API connector (copies vimeo’s preview images and other metadata into wordpress, configure embedding options)
- Youtube field. (Using YouTube’s API to get all the metadata for the film) Ability to use the title and description from the Youtube film in WordPress’ title and description
- ColorPicker (jQuery UI Colorpicker with hsb, rgb, lab, cmyk, hex colortype and transparancy support)
- Date (jQuery UI datepicker)
- Datetime (jQuery Mobiscroll)
- Image
- Georeference (Using google maps API for displaying a map and (reverse) geocode)
- True / False (checkbox with text comment)
- Taxonomy (adds a ‘WordPress’ native taxonomy or tags to your post type)
- Select (for selecting one or multiple values in a dropdownmenu)
- Radio buttons (for single value)
- Open Layer New Open Layer field for managing multiple point with a post (or other custom post type) every point can contain a title, date time and amount.
- User field. Select single or multiple wordpress users en roles in checkbox, select or radio setting.
- Combination Field. A field that can contain multiple other fieltypes. For example a text field and an image field. This field can also be repeated.
This field you will enable to add multiple ‘records’ to one post, page or other custom post type you created.
For instance, if you would have a custom post type ‘films’, this field would enable you to add mulitple actors with each film containing a bio, photo and other personal info.
Wishlist
* File
* multiple checkboxes
* ask/request!
Shortcode
Shorcodes is still quite simple
you can add the follow shorcode in your posts description in order to use the fields
[collections metafield=”identifier” instance=”all” seperator=” – “]
The shorcode analyzed:
1. ‘collections’ to identify the shortcode for the collections plugin. alwya begin the shorcode with
1. ‘metafield= metafieldID’ you can look a metafieldID up by editing a metadataset and then a metadatafield.
1. ‘instance = number’ to enable use of multiple values in a metafield. use 0 for the value for instance 0 or 1 for instance 1. Default if variable is not used is 0.
Use ‘all’ to return all the values.
1. ‘seperator = ‘number’ if you use ‘All’for ‘instance’ then you can define a ‘seperator’ which seperate the values.
Localized interface
The plugin is published in a language supporing two languages, English and Dutch. Feel free to translate it to another language.
Installation
- Upload the plugin folder
to the/wp-content/plugins/` directory - ..or just download it trough the wordpress new plugin interface searching for ‘meta collections’
- Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress
- Create a Collection
- Create a Metadata Schema
- Compose the Collection’s User Interface
- Start managing your collection
- Build your collection details into your template or use shortcode
Changelog
This is the first release so no notices.
1.0
- This is the first release.
1.0.1
- Some issues fixed for php 5.2 compatibility
- fixed some minor bugs
1.0.2
- Fixed path errors for metadatafields
- Number of fatal errors fixes
- Bug fixed in save_metabox() name metabox saved properly now
- Added functionality to order fields in the table overview
- Tags and Category support for Collections
- Empty container ‘class’ caused the drop field in ‘Side’ to be to short
- Changes all old names ‘collections’ to ‘metacollections’
1.0.3
- Fixed compatibility issues with WordPress 3.5
- Fixed javascript bug
- Fixed true false field error
- Fixed and bug in georeference field.
- Added field type: Vimeo API field which enables users to add vimeo video with a single video id.
- Added field type: radio-buttons field.
2.0
- WordPress 3.8 compatible
- Fixed compatibility issues with WordPress 3.8
- Fixed google maps, javascript loads without a specific api key
- Added local javascript libraries instead of using my own.
- Fixed numerous bugs
- Bug drag and drop function in the user interface edit screen
- missing collections.css
- added renewed custom vimeo field. communicates trought the Vimeo Api
2.0.1
- Added the Openlayer field with lots of options. Possibility to add multiple point on a map, use all google maps layers
- Fixed numerous bugs
- Removed unnecessary field options.
- Added more structure in folders.
- Change the loading of javascript files. They only load when the have to now.
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 Meta Collections alternatives
All collection plugins →FAQ
Meta Collections: quick answers
Straight answers, pulled from live WordPress.org data.
Live data from WordPress.org · checked Oct 8, 2026
Is Meta Collections free?
Yes. Meta Collections is free to download and use from the official WordPress.org plugin directory.
Is Meta Collections safe to use in 2026?
Meta Collections shows warning signs in 2026 — compare the alternatives below before installing. It runs on 10+ sites, is rated 1/5 and was last updated 13 years ago, and scores 18/100 on our health check.
How many websites use Meta Collections?
Meta Collections is active on 10+ WordPress websites and has been downloaded 3,474 times since it launched in September 2012. It was downloaded 62 times in the last 30 days.
Does Meta Collections work with WordPress 7.1?
Meta Collections is officially tested up to WordPress 3.7.41, while the latest release is 7.1.3. It may still work, but try it on a staging site first.
When was Meta Collections last updated?
The latest version, 2.0.3, was released on January 14, 2014 (13 years ago).
Who makes Meta Collections?
Meta Collections is developed and maintained by bastiaaaan.
What are the best alternatives to Meta Collections?
The most popular alternatives to Meta Collections are CBX Bookmark & Favorite (1K+ installs), Flipdish Ordering System (400+ installs) and Payment Gateway for MTN MoM… (300+ installs).
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