No Category Parents
Removes the mandatory 'Category Base' and every parent category from your category permalinks.
Solid choice
No Category Parents is a solid plugin choice in 2026, with a few things worth checking first. It runs on 6K+ sites, is rated 5/5 and was last updated 4 weeks ago, and scores 74/100 on our health check.
- Actively developed — last update 4 weeks ago
- Momentum — downloads up 66.7% vs the previous 30 days
- Very few reviews so far
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 No Category Parents stands todayWordPress.org search rankings
Live position in the plugin search, top 100| Keyword | Position |
|---|---|
| categories | #26 |
| category base | #3 |
| category parents | #1 |
| permalinks | #33 |
| seo | >100 |
Version adoption
Share of active sites per release.
Rating breakdown
★★★★★★★★★★ 5 from 3 reviews
About No Category Parents
From the official readme · v0.3.1Description
This plugin completely removes the mandatory ‘Category Base’ and all the parents from your
category permalinks (e.g. /category/parent-category/my-category/ becomes /my-category/).
It also shortens post permalinks when you use the /%category%/ permastruct, so a post filed
under a deeply nested category still gets a short URL.
If a post or page already uses the same slug as a category, the post keeps the clean URL and
the category is served from /my-category-cat/ instead.
Installation
- Install and activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress.
- That’s it. Your categories are now reachable at http://mysite.com/my-category/
Deactivating the plugin restores the stock WordPress permalinks.
Frequently asked questions
My category URLs did not change
Go to Settings > Permalinks and press Save once. That rebuilds the rewrite rules.
Do old links with the parent path still work?
Yes. /parent-category/my-category/ keeps resolving to the same archive.
Changelog
Housekeeping only: updates the plugin URI. No functional changes.
0.3.1
- Update the plugin URI to point at the plugin landing page.
0.3.0
- Compatible with WordPress 7.0 and PHP 8.
- Fixed: parent categories were only removed one level deep. A category nested two or more
levels down (parent > child > grandchild) kept its immediate parent in the URL. Links are
now rebuilt from the term instead of being regex-patched, so any depth works. - Fixed: PHP 8 warnings (“Undefined array key 0”, “Attempt to read property ID on null”)
when building permalinks. - Fixed: the rewrite rules were flushed on every page load, rebuilding and re-saving the
whole rule set on each request. Flushing now happens once, only after a category changes.
Measured on a local WordPress 7.0 install: ~197 ms/request before, ~114 ms/request after. - Added: category feeds (
/my-category/feed/) now resolve. - Changed: all functions are prefixed with
ncp_. Earlier versions declared generic names
such asfilter_category()andmy_flush_rules()in the global namespace, which could
collide with a theme or another plugin. - Changed: the category base is now forced empty through a filter instead of being written
to the database on every request. - Added:
ncp_collision_suffixandncp_post_link_categoryfilters. - Removed: leftover debug code and an unused
idquery var.
0.2.4.1
- Quickfix: fixed pagination bug
0.2.4
- Tested up to WP 4.1
- Fixed pagination problem (special thanks to Lukáš Wojnar).
0.2.3
- Changed some links.
- Fixed “empty category” problem (special thanks to absolutex).
0.2.2
- In 0.2.1 when the “Category Base” field wasn’t empty the plugin didn’t work. Now the
“Category Base” field will automatically be empty when you activate the plugin.
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 No Category Parents alternatives
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FAQ
No Category Parents: quick answers
Straight answers, pulled from live WordPress.org data.
Live data from WordPress.org · checked Sep 27, 2026
Is No Category Parents free?
Yes. No Category Parents is free to download and use from the official WordPress.org plugin directory.
Is No Category Parents safe to use in 2026?
No Category Parents is a solid plugin choice in 2026, with a few things worth checking first. It runs on 6K+ sites, is rated 5/5 and was last updated 4 weeks ago, and scores 74/100 on our health check.
How many websites use No Category Parents?
No Category Parents is active on 6K+ WordPress websites and has been downloaded 76,485 times since it launched in November 2009. It was downloaded 1,354 times in the last 30 days.
Does No Category Parents work with WordPress 7.1?
No Category Parents is officially tested up to WordPress 7.0.6, while the latest release is 7.1.2. It may still work, but try it on a staging site first.
What PHP version does No Category Parents need?
No Category Parents requires PHP 7.4 or higher. Most hosts run PHP 8.x today, so it works on any modern WordPress hosting.
When was No Category Parents last updated?
The latest version, 0.3.1, was released on September 1, 2026 (4 weeks ago).
Who makes No Category Parents?
No Category Parents is developed and maintained by Sergio Milardovich.
What are the best alternatives to No Category Parents?
The most popular alternatives to No Category Parents are List category posts (80K+ installs), Media Library Assistant (70K+ installs) and Tag, Category, and Taxonomy… (40K+ installs).
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