Surplus Essentials
Surplus Essentials is a helpful as well as handy plugin that generates 17 very necessary custom widgets. It also allows you to add and manage Custom Post Type on your website. This plugin is fully compatible for…
Consider an alternative
Surplus Essentials shows warning signs in 2026 — compare the alternatives below before installing. It runs on 10+ sites and was last updated 6 years ago, and scores 23/100 on our health check.
- Small user base (10+ active installs)
- Very few reviews so far
- No update in 6 years
- Only tested up to WordPress 5.5 (latest is 7.1)
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 Surplus Essentials stands todayWordPress.org search rankings
Live position in the plugin search, top 100| Keyword | Position |
|---|---|
| custom post type | >100 |
| essentials | >100 |
| surplus | #10 |
| widgets | >100 |
Version adoption
Share of active sites per release.
About Surplus Essentials
From the official readme · v1.0.3Description
Surplus Essentials is a helpful as well as handy plugin that generates 17 very necessary custom widgets. It also allows you to add and manage Custom Post Type on your website. This plugin is fully compatible for surplusTheme’s themes but also works great with other themes.
Custom Post Type
Surplus Essentials Plugin lets you to add Custom Post Type (CPT) of your own. You can add CPT Label, Name, Slug, Icon and Taxonomy Slug as well. This is powered through a repeater that easily allows you to add or even delete Custom Post Types. While creating any new CPT of your own, We recommend you to add a unique prefix in the “Post Type Name” field to avoid conflict with other CPTS. Like we suggest you to add st_* as a prefix for surplus themes products.
To modify settings
1. Install and then Activate Surplus Essential plugin.
2. Go to Appearance -> Surplus Essentials.
3. Add Custom Post Type and Click on Save Changes button to view changes.
Category Images
Surplus Essential plugin lets you to add Category Images for Custom Category as well as default post category. This can be used via “SE: Custom Categories” widget.
Widgets included in Surplus Essentials
- SE: Advertisement Widget– This widget lets you add advertisements on your website.
- SE: Client Logo Widget– This widget lets you showcase your client information.
- SE: Contact Widget– This widget lets you add your contact information.
- SE: Call To Action– This widget lets you add call to action buttons.
- SE: Custom Categories– You can add images to the categories and also display post counts of the selected category using this widget.
- SE: Facebook Page– This widget allows you to show your Facebook page on your WordPress website.
- SE: FAQs– This widget allows you to show frequently asked questions on your WordPress website.
- SE: Featured Page Widget– This widget allows you to show featured page on your WordPress website.
- SE: Icon Text– This widget allows you to add combination of icons and text content.
- SE: Image Text– You can add your favorite image with caption and link with this widget.
- SE: Popular Post- This widget helps you show popular posts of your website.
- SE: Recent Post– This widget helps you display recent posts of your website.
- SE: Social Media– This widget allows you to add social media links on your website.
- SE: Stat Counter– This widget allows you to add counter statistics on your website.
- SE: Team Member– This widget allows you to showcase your team member information on your website.
- SE: Testimonial– This widget allows you to showcase testimonials on your website.
- SE: Twitter Feed– You can now show your twitter news feed right on your website using this widget.
Installation
From your WordPress dashboard
- Visit ‘Plugins > Add New’,
- Search for ‘Surplus Essentials’ and install the plugin.
- Activate ‘Surplus Essentials’ from your Plugins page.
Changelog
1.0.0
- Initial release
1.0.1
- Added category image upload field.
- Some css tweaks.
- Minor issue fixed.
1.0.2
- Added SE: Event widget.
- Minor issues fixed.
- Some CSS tweaks.
1.0.3
- Enabled CPT taxonomy archive.
- Added some filters.
- Some CSS tweaks.
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 Surplus Essentials alternatives
All custom post type plugins →
FAQ
Surplus Essentials: quick answers
Straight answers, pulled from live WordPress.org data.
Live data from WordPress.org · checked Oct 2, 2026
Is Surplus Essentials free?
Yes. Surplus Essentials is free to download and use from the official WordPress.org plugin directory.
Is Surplus Essentials safe to use in 2026?
Surplus Essentials shows warning signs in 2026 — compare the alternatives below before installing. It runs on 10+ sites and was last updated 6 years ago, and scores 23/100 on our health check.
How many websites use Surplus Essentials?
Surplus Essentials is active on 10+ WordPress websites and has been downloaded 2,769 times since it launched in May 2020. It was downloaded 92 times in the last 30 days.
Does Surplus Essentials work with WordPress 7.1?
Surplus Essentials is officially tested up to WordPress 5.5.22, while the latest release is 7.1.2. It may still work, but try it on a staging site first.
What PHP version does Surplus Essentials need?
Surplus Essentials requires PHP 5.6 or higher. Most hosts run PHP 8.x today, so it works on any modern WordPress hosting.
When was Surplus Essentials last updated?
The latest version, 1.0.3, was released on August 29, 2020 (6 years ago).
Who makes Surplus Essentials?
Surplus Essentials is developed and maintained by surplusthemes.
What are the best alternatives to Surplus Essentials?
The most popular alternatives to Surplus Essentials are Custom Post Type Permalinks (200K+ installs), Custom Post Type Widgets (10K+ installs) and Custom Post Types and Custo… (10K+ installs).
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