WPThumbs
Themes Plugins By purpose By industry Best-of lists Fix it guides
Free Plugin by andreyberestov v1.0.25

Lightweight Sitemap Generator

XML sitemap generator for WordPress with file or dynamic mode. Supports all public post types and taxonomies. Optional Google News sitemap.

Lightweight Sitemap Generator

The facts

Active installs
100+
Price
Free
Last updated
20 Aug 2026
Added
Sep 2025
Requires WP
4.8
Tested up to
WP 7.1
Requires PHP
7.0
Downloads
2,317

Our analysis

AI-assisted

Lightweight Sitemap Generator is a WordPress plugin that creates a valid XML sitemap for search engines, ensuring compliance with sitemaps.org. It offers two modes: a static sitemap that minimizes server load and a dynamic sitemap that is always up to date. The plugin supports various content types, including posts, pages, and WooCommerce products, and allows for customization of which elements to include in the sitemap.

This plugin is suitable for users who need a straightforward solution for generating sitemaps to improve their site's search engine visibility. It is particularly useful for those running news, magazine, or e-commerce sites that require frequent updates to their sitemaps.

Best for: This plugin suits website owners looking to enhance their search engine optimisation through effective sitemap management.

What it does well

  • Generates valid XML sitemaps compliant with sitemaps.org
  • Offers static and dynamic sitemap generation modes
  • Supports multiple content types including WooCommerce products
  • Includes options for excluding specific elements from the sitemap
  • Prevents duplicate entries across all sources

Where it falls short

  • Limited information on user ratings and feedback
  • No details on specific performance benchmarks or comparisons

Verdict

Lightweight Sitemap Generator provides a functional and efficient way to create sitemaps for WordPress sites, though further user feedback could enhance its appeal.

From the developer

andreyberestov's own description of Lightweight Sitemap Generator, lightly tidied.

Lightweight Sitemap Generator is a minimal WordPress plugin that creates a valid XML sitemap for search engines (Google, Yandex and others), fully compliant with sitemaps.org.

Main features:

  • Generates a valid sitemap.xml (or wp-sitemap.xml) with proper <loc> and <lastmod> tags (ISO-8601 UTC format)
  • Unified structure for posts, pages, products, built-in taxonomies, and detected public third-party taxonomies
  • Global chronological order (newer → older)
  • Automatic duplicate prevention across all sources
  • Two modes:
    • File mode — creates a static sitemap in the site root (minimal server load)
    • Dynamic mode — builds sitemap on-the-fly (always up to date, cached with TTL)
    • Enable or disable posts, pages, categories, tags, authors, archives
    • Supports WooCommerce products, DW Q&A, and all detected custom post types/taxonomies
    • Smart — based on the most recently updated content
    • Conservative — static front-page date
    • Fast — current time on each generation
    • Sends correct Content-Type, Last-Modified, Cache-Control, and ETag headers
    • Optional X-Robots-Tag: noindex, follow header for sitemap requests
    • Capability checks and nonce validation
    • Strict sanitization and option whitelisting
    • File operations via WP_Filesystem (with safe fallback)
    • No external requests

    Credits

    Created by Andrey Berestov

    Read the full description on the official page →

Tagged as

Alternatives

Other plugins for indexing control.

Yoast SEO

Real-time SEO guidance, schema, and AI built in. Help search engines and AI systems understand your content. A...

Free 10M+ installs 4.8★ (27,819)
Rank Math SEO

Grow your organic traffic and AI visibility with powerful SEO tools, XML sitemaps, Schema automation, and buil...

Free 4M+ installs 4.8★ (7,496)
All in One SEO

AIOSEO is the WordPress SEO plugin. Boost SEO rankings with AI SEO tools, schema, meta descriptions, XML sitem...

Free 2M+ installs 4.7★ (5,201)
SEOPress

WordPress SEO plugin with AI SEO metadata, schema, XML sitemap, redirections &amp; Search Console. Privacy-fir...

Free 300k+ installs 4.8★ (1,246)
SureRank SEO

Lightweight SEO assistant for meta tags, schema and structured data, XML sitemaps, Open Graph previews, robots...

Free 400k+ installs 4.8★ (41)