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Best Free WordPress Plugins for Recent

15 plugins compared · Updated August 2026 · Recent

All 15 Free only Premium only

Choosing a WordPress plugin for recent 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 15 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. 15 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. Recent Posts Widget With Thumbnails Best overall 89/100
  2. 2. Notivo Notification for WooCommerce 81/100
  3. 3. Nudgify Social Proof 79/100
  4. 4. Post List Designer 78/100
  5. 5. Recent Products Block 78/100
  6. 6. Recent Category Posts Widget 78/100
  7. 7. Search Meter 77/100
  8. 8. Recently 77/100
  9. 9. Recent Comments Widget with Comment Excerpts 76/100
  10. 10. Front Page Custom Post Type 75/100
  11. 11. Post slider elementor addons 73/100
  12. 12. Random Post Plugin 70/100
  13. 13. Recent Posts Widget Advanced 69/100
  14. 14. Superb Recent Posts With Thumbnail Images 68/100
  15. 15. Gutena Recent Post Custom Tag 65/100
3 Nudgify Social Proof
Free by Nudgify

Nudgify Social Proof

Increase your sign-ups and sales by up to 15% with real-time Social Proof and FOMO messages. Show customer reviews and recent activity in real-time.

5★
from 5 ratings
500+
active installs
Updated
Aug 2026
Tested to
WP 7.1
79

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org
4 Post List Designer
Free by InfornWeb

Post List Designer

Display WordPress Post on your website in a List or Archive list view. Display category post, archive post, recent post and post list with category.

4.5★
from 8 ratings
1k+
active installs
Updated
Apr 2026
Tested to
WP 7.0.4
78

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org
5 Recent Products Block
Free by bPlugins

Recent Products Block

Showcase recently added WooCommerce products anywhere with a Gutenberg block. Flexible queries, responsive columns, and element visibility controls.

3.7★
from 3 ratings
600+
active installs
Updated
Aug 2026
Tested to
WP 7.1
78

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org
7 Search Meter
Free by bennettmcelwee

Search Meter

Search Meter tracks what your readers are searching for on your site. View full details of recent searches or stats for the last day, week or month.

4.3★
from 29 ratings
20k+
active installs
Updated
Dec 2025
Tested to
WP 6.9.7
77

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org
8 Recently
Free by Hector Cabrera

Recently

A highly customizable, feature-packed Recent Posts widget!

5★
from 9 ratings
300+
active installs
Updated
May 2026
Tested to
WP 7.0.4
77

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org
10 Front Page Custom Post Type
Free by Nick Halsey

Front Page Custom Post Type

If you use custom post types, you may wish to display recent posts of a custom type in place of recent posts on your front page.

3.4★
from 5 ratings
100+
active installs
Updated
Jul 2026
Tested to
WP 7.0.4
75

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org
15 Gutena Recent Post Custom Tag
Free by Saad Iqbal

Gutena Recent Post Custom Tag

A WordPress Plugin that adds a custom tag to your recent post like Must Read, Featured, Hot, Top News, Popular etc. It helps you to attract the visito …

800+
active installs
Updated
Dec 2025
Tested to
WP 6.9.7
65

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org