15 plugins compared · Updated August 2026 · Excerpt
Choosing a WordPress plugin for excerpt 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
Control the appearance of WordPress post excerpts
WPScore
Create "Read More" link after post excerpt instead of ellipsis [...] Also modify excerpt length.
WPScore
Remove empty paragraph and break tags, and optionally disable WordPress automatic formatting (wpautop).
WPScore
Changes the behavior of the built-in Recent Comments widget to display comment excerpts instead of post titles
WPScore
Causes the excerpt to be required before a post can be published. Supports both editor types (classic and block aka gutenberg).
WPScore
Generate SEO optimized excerpts and keywords using AI (Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini). Multilingual support: English, Italian, Spanish.
WPScore
This plugin remove extra p and br tags from the_content and the_excerpt.
WPScore
Group recent posts by category and show them inside boxes organized to columns.
WPScore
Auto Excerpt for your posts on home, search and archive pages. Customize Read More button and thumbnail image. Easy to configure and have a lot of opt …
WPScore
Allows users to change the excerpt length from the WordPress Reading Settings page.
WPScore
Replace the default Post Excerpt meta box with a superior editing experience.
WPScore
Change the post content area on your archive pages to show the excerpt instead of the full content.
WPScore
Easily disable the default wpautop filter on a post by post basis.
WPScore
Auto-summarize content and display it at the top or bottom of the post.
WPScore
The fastest RSS feeds plugin for WordPress. Includes excerpt & thumbnail image. Use as a news aggregator, autoblog, or RSS parsing.
WPScore