Same Category Posts
Show posts related to the current category or other custom post types.
Safe pick
Yes — Same Category Posts is a safe, well-maintained plugin to use in 2026. It runs on 3K+ sites, is rated 4.7/5 and was last updated 3 days ago, and scores 82/100 on our health check.
- Actively developed — last update 3 days ago
- Tested with the latest WordPress (7.1)
- Momentum — downloads up 918.6% vs the previous 30 days
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 Same Category Posts stands todayWordPress.org search rankings
Live position in the plugin search, top 100| Keyword | Position |
|---|---|
| category posts | #3 |
| custom post type | >100 |
| Posts Block | #34 |
| related posts | #18 |
| same category | #1 |
Version adoption
Share of active sites per release.
Rating breakdown
★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 from 13 reviews
About Same Category Posts
From the official readme · v1.2.1Description
Same Category Posts shows a list of related posts with a same Post Type to the current post. It comes as a classic widget and as a block, both with the same options and the same output. The list is only shown on single post pages and on archive pages. Forked from Related Posts Widget.
Tip Top Press
We’re Tip Top Press and create widgets for WordPress. If you want to know about what we’re working on and you are interested in backgrounds then you can read all newes storys on our blog.
Features
- Shows a list of related posts.
- Option which Post Type should be related to the current post.
- Custom Post Types support.
- Child category and terms support.
- Archive page support.
- Option exclude one or multi categories or terms.
- Option to filter by popular posts (by comment count).
- Option separate categories if more than one is assigned.
- Set how many posts to show (overall and by category).
- Option exclude current post, sticky posts or children.
- Option exclude categories and terms without exclude their children.
- Placeholders in title string (e.g. “There are a lot of %cat%-News.” -> “There are a lot of Tech-News.”).
- Filter hook for the post titles ‘widget_title’.
- Option to show post thumbnail and set width & height.
- Option to crop thumbnails dimensions with CSS.
- Option to put thumbnail on top.
- Option to make the widget title link to the category page.
- Option to show/hide the title.
- Option to show the post excerpt and how long (in words).
- Option change excerpt ‘more’ text.
- Option to show the post date, author and comment count.
- Block with the same options as the widget, with a live preview in the editor.
Placeholder
In text boxes %cat% will replaced with the (first assigned) category name, e.g. “There are a lot of %cat%-News.” -> “There are a lot of Tech-News.”
And %cat-all% will replaced with all assigned category name, e.g. “Special offers for %cat-all%!” -> “Special offers for houses, flats, apartments.”
Contribute
While using this plugin if you find any bug or any conflict, please submit an issue at
Github (If possible with a pull request).
Installation
Automatic installation
Automatic installation is the easiest option as WordPress handles the file transfers itself and you don’t need to leave your web browser. To do an automatic install of Related Posts Widget, log in to your WordPress dashboard, navigate to the Plugins menu and click Add New.
In the search field type “Same Category Posts” and click Search Plugins. Once you’ve found plugin, you can install it by simply clicking “Install Now”. Then, go to plugins page of WordPress admin activate the plugin. Now, goto the Widgets page of the Appearance section and configure the Related Posts widget.
Manual installation
- Download the plugin.
- Upload it to the plugins folder of your blog.
- Goto the Plugins section of the WordPress admin and activate the plugin.
- Now, goto the Widgets page of the Appearance section and configure the Related Posts widget.
Read more about installting plugins at WordPress Codex
Frequently asked questions
Post title filter example
To use the the hook add a filter ‘widget_title’ in wp-content\Themes[your-Theme]\functions.php: function cruise_shortcode_iconship( $html ) { return “prefix-” . $html . “-suffix”; } add_filter( ‘widget_title’, ‘cruise_shortcode_iconship’ );
The feature image dimention are not correctly displayed?
Enable the option “Use CSS cropping”. This option don’t care about stored setting (Settings > Media) or added image sizes. What is ‘CSS feature image cropping’?
Excerpt length filter doesn’t works
When a post has no manual excerpt WordPress generates an excerpt automatically by selecting the first 55 words of the post or the first words number setted by the excerpt filter length. This means the excerpt length filter works only with automatic excerpt. If you manually added an excerpt, you’d want it all to be shown. WordPress Codex: Excerpt, automatic excerpt, and teaser
I want the title as a link pointing to the selected Categorie page?
Enable the check box “Make widget title link”.
Exclude (-terms) text area
To multiselect or clear terms in the “exclude”-text area hold CTRL-key + mouse click. In the block, type or pick the terms in the “Excluded terms” field and remove them with the x on each entry.
Why does the block show nothing in the editor?
The list is built from the terms the post is saved with. A post that has no category yet, or one whose only category is excluded, has nothing to relate to, so the block stays empty — as it would on the front end.
Changelog
1.2.1 – September 23 2026
- Block preview on new or unsaved post pages
- Block preview hint on pages without categories
1.2.0 – September 02 2026
- Gutenberg Block support
- Bugfix Excerpt length filter stayed active, sort order, PHP 8 warnings
1.1.20 – Jan 01 2026
- Security scan by Wordfence
1.1.19 – Dec 10 2025
- Prevent widget rendering for posts without terms
1.1.18 – March 01 2023
- Cleanup for anchor title
1.1.17 – June 18 2022
- Bugfix Excerpt length overrides other filters
Screenshots
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 Same Category Posts alternatives
All category posts plugins →
FAQ
Same Category Posts: quick answers
Straight answers, pulled from live WordPress.org data.
Live data from WordPress.org · checked Sep 26, 2026
Is Same Category Posts free?
Yes. Same Category Posts is free to download and use from the official WordPress.org plugin directory.
Is Same Category Posts safe to use in 2026?
Yes — Same Category Posts is a safe, well-maintained plugin to use in 2026. It runs on 3K+ sites, is rated 4.7/5 and was last updated 3 days ago, and scores 82/100 on our health check.
How many websites use Same Category Posts?
Same Category Posts is active on 3K+ WordPress websites and has been downloaded 77,174 times since it launched in September 2015. It was downloaded 3,677 times in the last 30 days.
Does Same Category Posts work with WordPress 7.1?
Yes. The developer has tested Same Category Posts up to WordPress 7.1.2, the latest release. It requires WordPress 6.3 or newer.
What PHP version does Same Category Posts need?
Same Category Posts requires PHP 7.2 or higher. Most hosts run PHP 8.x today, so it works on any modern WordPress hosting.
When was Same Category Posts last updated?
The latest version, 1.2.1, was released on September 23, 2026 (3 days ago).
Who makes Same Category Posts?
Same Category Posts is developed and maintained by Daniel Floeter.
What are the best alternatives to Same Category Posts?
The most popular alternatives to Same Category Posts are Latest Posts (4K+ installs), Advanced Random Posts (200+ installs) and Recent Posts From Each Cate… (40+ installs).
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