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Best Free WordPress Plugins for Exclude

12 plugins compared · Updated August 2026 · Exclude

All 12 Free only Premium only

Choosing a WordPress plugin for exclude comes down to a few things: whether it is still actively maintained, whether real users rate it well, and whether it does the specific job you need without dragging the rest of the site down.

We ranked 12 plugins using our WPScore, which weighs the user rating (adjusted for how many people actually rated it), how many sites run it, how recently it was updated, and which WordPress version it is tested against. 12 of them have enough public data to be scored; the rest are listed below the ranked block, clearly marked, rather than being given a number we cannot justify.

How this list is funded. Some links here earn us a commission if you buy. It costs you nothing extra, and it does not move anything up the list — the order comes from the WPScore, which is calculated from public ratings, install counts and update history. See the method.

At a glance

  1. 1. PE Category Filter Best overall 68/100
  2. 2. Exclude Image Thumbnails From UpdraftPlus Backups 66/100
  3. 3. Exclude Pages from Search Results 59/100
  4. 4. Exclude Pages 56/100
  5. 5. GamiPress 56/100
  6. 6. Exclude Category from Blog 55/100
  7. 7. Folder Excluder for AIO WP Migration 50/100
  8. 8. Exclude Category Widget 46/100
  9. 9. Pro Recent Post Widget 46/100
  10. 10. Simple Exclude Categories 46/100
  11. 11. Category Excluder Widget 38/100
  12. 12. Unlisted Posts 38/100
1 PE Category Filter
Best overall Free by Pavel Espinal

PE Category Filter

Modern WordPress plugin for filtering categories from home page with performance optimization and security enhancements.

5★
from 1 ratings
200+
active installs
Updated
Oct 2025
Tested to
WP 6.8.8
68

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org
4 Exclude Pages
Free by Simon Wheatley

Exclude Pages

This plugin adds a checkbox, “include this page in menus”, uncheck this to exclude pages from the page navigation that users see on your site.

4.9★
from 47 ratings
20k+
active installs
Updated
Nov 2017
Tested to
WP 3.4.2
56

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org
9 Pro Recent Post Widget
Free by Shambhu Patnaik

Pro Recent Post Widget

Pro Recent Post Widget plugin.You have choice to specific category recent post show.exclude any category,exclude any post

5★
from 2 ratings
100+
active installs
Updated
Dec 2015
Tested to
WP 4.4.34
46

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org
12 Unlisted Posts
Free by Andy Feliciotti

Unlisted Posts

Allows you to easily exclude posts from feeds, category pages, blog pages and more using one checkbox on posts.

100+
active installs
Updated
Jul 2022
Tested to
WP 5.9.16
38

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org