Top Level Categories
The Top Level Categories plugin allows you to remove the prefix before the URL to your category page. For example, instead of http://fortes.com/category/work, I use http://fortes.com/work for the address my “work”…
Consider an alternative
Top Level Categories shows warning signs in 2026 — compare the alternatives below before installing. It runs on 2K+ sites, is rated 5/5 and was last updated 9 years ago, and scores 35/100 on our health check.
- Very few reviews so far
- No update in 8 years
- Only tested up to WordPress 2.5 (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 Top Level Categories stands todayWordPress.org search rankings
Live position in the plugin search, top 100| Keyword | Position |
|---|---|
| categories | >100 |
| permalink | >100 |
Version adoption
Share of active sites per release.
Rating breakdown
★★★★★★★★★★ 5 from 4 reviews
About Top Level Categories
From the official readme · v1.0.1Description
The Top Level Categories plugin allows you to remove the prefix before the URL to your category page. For example, instead of http://fortes.com/category/work, I use http://fortes.com/work for the address my “work” category. WordPress doesn’t allow you to have a blank prefix for categories (they insert category/ before the name), this plugin works around that restriction.
Known Issues / Bugs
- This plugin will not work if you have a permalink structure like
%postnameor%category%/%postname%— there is currently no workaround
Uninstall
- Deactivate the plugin
- That’s it! 🙂
Installation
- Copy the
top-level-cats.phpfile into yourwp-content/pluginsdirectory - Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress
- That’s it! 🙂
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 Top Level Categories alternatives
All categories plugins →
FAQ
Top Level Categories: quick answers
Straight answers, pulled from live WordPress.org data.
Live data from WordPress.org · checked Sep 26, 2026
Is Top Level Categories free?
Yes. Top Level Categories is free to download and use from the official WordPress.org plugin directory.
Is Top Level Categories safe to use in 2026?
Top Level Categories shows warning signs in 2026 — compare the alternatives below before installing. It runs on 2K+ sites, is rated 5/5 and was last updated 9 years ago, and scores 35/100 on our health check.
How many websites use Top Level Categories?
Top Level Categories is active on 2K+ WordPress websites and has been downloaded 93,040 times since it launched in March 2007. It was downloaded 330 times in the last 30 days.
Does Top Level Categories work with WordPress 7.1?
Top Level Categories is officially tested up to WordPress 2.5, while the latest release is 7.1.2. It may still work, but try it on a staging site first.
When was Top Level Categories last updated?
The latest version, 1.0.1, was released on November 28, 2017 (9 years ago).
Who makes Top Level Categories?
Top Level Categories is developed and maintained by Fortes.
What are the best alternatives to Top Level Categories?
The most popular alternatives to Top Level Categories are List category posts (80K+ installs), Media Library Assistant (70K+ installs) and Tag, Category, and Taxonomy… (40K+ installs).
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