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Best Free WordPress Plugins for Sidebars

15 plugins compared · Updated August 2026 · Sidebars

All 15 Free only Premium only

Choosing a WordPress plugin for sidebars 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. Custom Sidebars Best overall 88/100
  2. 2. Lightweight Sidebar Manager 86/100
  3. 3. WP Sticky Sidebar 86/100
  4. 4. Ocean Custom Sidebar 85/100
  5. 5. Widget Disable 84/100
  6. 6. Fuse Social Floating Sidebar 84/100
  7. 7. Iptanus File Upload 83/100
  8. 8. Genesis Simple Sidebars 83/100
  9. 9. WPB Accordion Menu 83/100
  10. 10. Advanced Sidebar Menu 83/100
  11. 11. Content Aware Sidebars 82/100
  12. 12. Easy Social Like Box 82/100
  13. 13. Categories Metabox Enhanced 81/100
  14. 14. F4 Post Tree 79/100
  15. 15. Shortcodes in Sidebar 79/100
1 Custom Sidebars
Best overall Free by WebFactory

Custom Sidebars

Flexible sidebars for custom classic widget configurations on any page or post. Create custom sidebars with ease!

4.7★
from 1,028 ratings
100k+
active installs
Updated
Aug 2026
Tested to
WP 7.1
88

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org
3 WP Sticky Sidebar
Free by Premio

WP Sticky Sidebar

WP Sticky Sidebar plugin will make your menu or header stick to the side of page, after desired number of pixels when scrolled 📌

4.9★
from 152 ratings
10k+
active installs
Updated
Aug 2026
Tested to
WP 7.1
86

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org
4 Ocean Custom Sidebar
Free by oceanwp

Ocean Custom Sidebar

Generates an unlimited number of sidebars and place them on any page you wish. Go to Theme Panel > Sidebars to create your custom sidebars.

5★
from 8 ratings
20k+
active installs
Updated
Aug 2026
Tested to
WP 7.1
85

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org
7 Iptanus File Upload
Free by nickboss

Iptanus File Upload

THIS IS FORMER WORDPRESS FILE UPLOAD PLUGIN. Simple yet powerful plugin to allow users to upload files from any page, post or sidebar and manage them.

4.4★
from 117 ratings
10k+
active installs
Updated
Aug 2026
Tested to
WP 7.0.4
83

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org
8 Genesis Simple Sidebars
Free by StudioPress

Genesis Simple Sidebars

This plugin allows you to create multiple, dynamic widget areas, and assign those widget areas to sidebar locations within the Genesis Framework on a …

4.4★
from 27 ratings
10k+
active installs
Updated
Jun 2026
Tested to
WP 7.0.4
83

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org
9 WPB Accordion Menu
Free by WPBean

WPB Accordion Menu

WPB Accordion Menu: Responsive accordion, vertical sidebar and mobile menu for WooCommerce categories, navigation menus & Elementor.

4.4★
from 54 ratings
10k+
active installs
Updated
Aug 2026
Tested to
WP 7.1
83

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org
11 Content Aware Sidebars
Free by Joachim Jensen

Content Aware Sidebars

Display new sidebars on any post, page, category etc. Works with Classic Widgets, Block Widgets, and all themes!

4.9★
from 724 ratings
30k+
active installs
Updated
Dec 2025
Tested to
WP 6.9.7
82

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org
12 Easy Social Like Box
Free by johnnash1975

Easy Social Like Box

WP Facebook Like Box Plugin enables you to display the facebook page likes in sidebar widget or popup. Display like button for the posts.

4.4★
from 18 ratings
7k+
active installs
Updated
Jul 2026
Tested to
WP 7.0.4
82

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org
13 Categories Metabox Enhanced
Free by Yoren Chang

Categories Metabox Enhanced

Replace the checkboxes with radio buttons or a select drop-down in the built-in Categories metabox and the Block Editor sidebar panel.

4.9★
from 16 ratings
1k+
active installs
Updated
Jun 2026
Tested to
WP 7.0.4
81

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org
14 F4 Post Tree
Free by FAKTOR VIER

F4 Post Tree

This plugin adds a neat and easy to use sidebar tree view to your posts and pages backend.

5★
from 4 ratings
500+
active installs
Updated
Jun 2026
Tested to
WP 7.0.4
79

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org
15 Shortcodes in Sidebar
Free by Pankaj Anupam

Shortcodes in Sidebar

Runs shortcodes in the Custom HTML widget, the one sidebar widget WordPress still renders without executing them.

5★
from 2 ratings
400+
active installs
Updated
Aug 2026
Tested to
WP 7.0.4
79

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org