Recent Comments Widget with Comment Excerpts
Changes the behavior of the built-in Recent Comments widget to display comment excerpts instead of post titles
Solid choice
Recent Comments Widget with Com… is a solid plugin choice in 2026, with a few things worth checking first. It runs on 100+ sites, is rated 4.5/5 and was last updated 4 months ago, and scores 63/100 on our health check.
- Small user base (100+ active installs)
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 Recent Comments Widget with… stands todayWordPress.org search rankings
Live position in the plugin search, top 100| Keyword | Position |
|---|---|
| comment excerpts | #1 |
| latest comments | #9 |
| newest comments | #4 |
| recent comment excerpts | #2 |
| recent comments | #4 |
Version adoption
Share of active sites per release.
Rating breakdown
★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 from 6 reviews
About Recent Comments Widget with Comment Exc…
From the official readme · v1.0.2Description
This plugin replaces the default recent comments widget so it behaves differently. Instead of the format “username on post title,” the widget will display “username said comment excerpt.”
All development happens on Github at https://github.com/csalzano/recent-comments-widget-with-comment-excerpts
Contact me by posting a message in the forums or @breakfastcodes on twitter.
Installation
- Download recent-comments-widget-with-excerpts.zip
- Decompress the file contents
- Upload the recent-comments-widget-with-excerpts folder to a WordPress plugins directory (/wp-content/plugins)
- Activate the plugin from the Administration Dashboard
- Open the Widgets page under the Appearance section
- Drag the widget to an active sidebar
Frequently asked questions
Need help? Have a suggestion?
Visit this plugin’s home page
Changelog
Escapes strings before output in HTML. Changes tested up to version to 7.0.
1.0.2
- [Fixed] Escapes strings before output in HTML.
- [Changed] Changes tested up to version to 7.0.
1.0.1
- [Changed] Changes tested up to version to 6.4.1.
1.0.0
- [Added] Adds a text domain and makes all strings translatable
- [Added] Adds a setting to modify the character length of the comment excerpt
- [Added] Adds a license declaration to confirm this is GPLv2 code
- [Changed] Changes tested up to version number to 5.8.3
- [Changed] Changes the version number to use semantic versioning
- [Changed] Changes the plugin URI to point to the Github repo where I am now maintaining this plugin
- [Removed] Removes inline CSS to best play nice with users’ sites
0.121230
Wrapped the author name with an HTML span to allow CSS to target only the author name.
0.111019
Massage the comment data with strip_tags, apply_filters and mb_substr for international characters/unicode
0.110111
Stop showing ellipsis if the comment length is not long enough to be trimmed by the widget
Screenshots
For developers
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Best Recent Comments Widget with C… alternatives
All comment excerpts plugins →| Rank | Plugin | Active installs |
|---|---|---|
| 2 |
Recent Comments Widget with Excerpts
Duplicates the built-in Recent Comments widget and adds functionality to display comment…
|
40+ |
FAQ
Recent Comments Widget with Comment…: quick answers
Straight answers, pulled from live WordPress.org data.
Live data from WordPress.org · checked Oct 12, 2026
Is Recent Comments Widget with Com… free?
Yes. Recent Comments Widget with Com… is free to download and use from the official WordPress.org plugin directory.
Is Recent Comments Widget with Com… safe to use in 2026?
Recent Comments Widget with Com… is a solid plugin choice in 2026, with a few things worth checking first. It runs on 100+ sites, is rated 4.5/5 and was last updated 4 months ago, and scores 63/100 on our health check.
How many websites use Recent Comments Widget with Com…?
Recent Comments Widget with Com… is active on 100+ WordPress websites and has been downloaded 15,112 times since it launched in November 2010. It was downloaded 110 times in the last 30 days.
Does Recent Comments Widget with Com… work with WordPress 7.1?
Recent Comments Widget with Com… is officially tested up to WordPress 7.0.7, while the latest release is 7.1.3. It may still work, but try it on a staging site first.
When was Recent Comments Widget with Com… last updated?
The latest version, 1.0.2, was released on June 26, 2026 (4 months ago).
Who makes Recent Comments Widget with Com…?
Recent Comments Widget with Com… is developed and maintained by Corey Salzano.
What are the best alternatives to Recent Comments Widget with Com…?
The most popular alternatives to Recent Comments Widget with Com… are Recent Comments Widget with… (40+ installs).
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