Simple Popular Posts
Simple Popular Posts is a plugin that creates a widget for you to put on your sidebar. The widget shows the most popular posts on your blog, based on the number of comments.
Consider an alternative
Simple Popular Posts shows warning signs in 2026 — compare the alternatives below before installing. It runs on 10+ sites and was last updated 16 years ago, and scores 23/100 on our health check.
- Small user base (10+ active installs)
- Very few reviews so far
- No update in 16 years
- Only tested up to WordPress 2.9 (latest is 7.1)
How does it stack up?
Side-by-side on installs, updates, ratings & support
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Daily downloads
Download spikes usually follow a new release — each site that auto-updates counts as a download.
Rankings
Where Simple Popular Posts stands todayWordPress.org search rankings
Live position in the plugin search, top 100| Keyword | Position |
|---|---|
| comments | >100 |
| most popular | >100 |
| most popular posts | >100 |
| popular posts | >100 |
| widget | >100 |
Version adoption
Share of active sites per release.
About Simple Popular Posts
From the official readme · v1.0Description
Simple Popular Posts is a plugin that creates a widget for you to put on your sidebar. The widget shows the most popular posts on your blog, based on the number of comments.
It is a very simple and basic plugin. It only has 3 options:
– the widget title
– the number of posts you want to show
– whether you want to show the number of comments or not
Based on the Most Popular Posts plugin by Wes Goodhoofd (http://www.wesg.ca/2008/08/wordpress-widget-most-popular/)
Installation
- Upload the folder simple-popular-posts to your WordPress plugin directory.
- Activate the plugin from the plugin panel.
- Go to your widget setting page.
- Drag the Simple Popular Posts widget to your sidebar.
- You can customize the widget.
Usually, a wordpress theme uses the
<
h3> tag to display the widget title, but to match your theme’s design you can edit the tag on line 32 in the plugin’s php file
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 Simple Popular Posts alternatives
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FAQ
Simple Popular Posts: quick answers
Straight answers, pulled from live WordPress.org data.
Live data from WordPress.org · checked Oct 11, 2026
Is Simple Popular Posts free?
Yes. Simple Popular Posts is free to download and use from the official WordPress.org plugin directory.
Is Simple Popular Posts safe to use in 2026?
Simple Popular Posts shows warning signs in 2026 — compare the alternatives below before installing. It runs on 10+ sites and was last updated 16 years ago, and scores 23/100 on our health check.
How many websites use Simple Popular Posts?
Simple Popular Posts is active on 10+ WordPress websites and has been downloaded 3,487 times since it launched in May 2010. It was downloaded 71 times in the last 30 days.
Does Simple Popular Posts work with WordPress 7.1?
Simple Popular Posts is officially tested up to WordPress 2.9.2, while the latest release is 7.1.3. It may still work, but try it on a staging site first.
When was Simple Popular Posts last updated?
The latest version, 1.0, was released on May 16, 2010 (16 years ago).
Who makes Simple Popular Posts?
Simple Popular Posts is developed and maintained by jimmysun.
What are the best alternatives to Simple Popular Posts?
The most popular alternatives to Simple Popular Posts are Akismet Anti-spam: Spam Pro… (5M+ installs), Disable Comments (1M+ installs) and Antispam Bee (700K+ installs).
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