WPThumbs
Themes Plugins By purpose By industry Best-of lists Fix it guides
Free Plugin by Webの相談所 v1.3.1

Really Simple CSV Importer

Alternative CSV Importer plugin. Simple and powerful, best for geeks.

Really Simple CSV Importer

The facts

Rating
4.9★ from 107
Active installs
40k+
Price
Free
Last updated
16 Jul 2026
Added
Sep 2013
Requires WP
3.6
Tested up to
WP 7.0.4
Downloads
323,762

Our analysis

AI-assisted

Really Simple CSV Importer is a WordPress plugin designed to facilitate the import of CSV files into WordPress. It supports various custom fields, taxonomies, and post types, making it suitable for users who need to manage large amounts of content efficiently. This plugin is particularly beneficial for developers or advanced users who are comfortable working with CSV files and custom data structures.

The plugin allows for the import of posts, pages, and custom post types, with options to specify authors, publish dates, and post statuses. It also includes features for updating existing posts and supports integration with Advanced Custom Fields and other custom field plugins.

Best for: This plugin is best for developers or advanced users looking to import large datasets into WordPress.

What it does well

  • Supports custom fields and post types
  • Integrates with Advanced Custom Fields
  • Allows for dry-run testing with filter hooks
  • Facilitates bulk content management

Where it falls short

  • Requires familiarity with CSV file formats
  • Limited documentation on usage

Verdict

Really Simple CSV Importer is a practical tool for those needing to manage content imports, though it may not be user-friendly for beginners.

From the developer

Webの相談所's own description of Really Simple CSV Importer, lightly tidied.

Alternative CSV Importer plugin. Simple and powerful, best for geeks.

You can get example CSV files in /wp-content/plugins/really-simple-csv-importer/sample directory.

Available column names and values:

  • ID or post_id: (int) post id.
    This value is not required. The post ID is already exists in your blog, importer will update that post data. If the ID is not exists, importer will trying to create a new post with suggested ID.
  • post_author: (login or ID) The user name or user ID number of the author.
  • post_author_login: The user name of the author.
  • post_date: (string) The time of publish date.
  • post_content: (string) The full text of the post.
  • post_title: (string) The title of the post.
  • post_excerpt: (string) For all your post excerpt needs.
  • post_status: (‘draft’ or ‘publish’ or ‘pending’ or ‘future’ or ‘private’ or custom registered status) The status of the post. ‘draft’ is default.
  • post_password: (string) The password to protect the post. The password is limited to 20 characters.
  • post_name: (string) The slug of the post.
  • post_parent: (int) The post parent id. Used for page or hierarchical post type.
  • menu_order: (int)
  • post_type: (‘post’ or ‘page’ or any other post type name) (required) The post type slug, not labels.
  • post_thumbnail: (string) The uri or path of the post thumbnail.
    E.g. http://example.com/example.jpg or /path/to/example.jpg
  • post_category: (string, comma separated) slug of post categories
  • post_tags: (string, comma separated) name of post tags
  • tax_{taxonomy}: (string, comma separated) Any field prefixed with tax_ will be used as a custom taxonomy. Taxonomy must already exist. Entries are names or slugs of terms.
  • {custom_field_key}: (string) Any other column labels used as custom field
  • cfs_{field_name}: (string) If you would like to import data to custom fields set by Custom Field Suite, please add prefix cfs_ to column header name.
  • scf_{field_name}: (string) If you would like to import data to custom fields set by Smart Custom Fields, please add prefix scf_ to column header name.
  • comment_status: (‘closed’ or ‘open’) Default is the option ‘default_comment_status’, or ‘closed’.

Note: Empty cells in the csv file means “keep it”, not “delete it”.
Note: To set the page template of a page, use custom field key of _wp_page_template.
Note: If providing a post_status of ‘future’ you must specify the post_date in order for WordPress to know when to publish your post.
Note: If the post_type value is attachment, you can use post_thumbnail field to define media URL or path.

Advanced Custom Fields plugin integrate

If advanced custom field key is exists, importer will trying to use update_field function instead of built-in add_post_meta function.
How to find advanced custom field key: Finding the field key

Official public repository

This plugin is now maintained by websoudan, taking over from the original author Takuro Hishikawa (@hissy). Thank you hissy for all the years of work!
Add star and read future issues about rs-csv-importer on GitHub!

Thanks

Cover banner designed by @luchino__

How to debug import data

Really Simple CSV Importer Debugger add-on enables you to dry-run-testing and show more detailed post, meta, taxonomy data of each csv row.
Download from gist.

How to customize import post data

There are three filters available in the importer.

Read the full description on the official page →

Tagged as

Alternatives

Other plugins for custom content structures.

Ad Inserter

Manage Google AdSense ads, banners, ad rotation, sticky widgets, AMP ads, ads.txt, tracking, header and footer...

Free 300k+ installs 4.9★ (2,428)
Advanced Custom Fields

ACF helps customize WordPress with powerful, professional and intuitive fields. Proudly powering over 2 millio...

Free 2M+ installs 4.5★ (1,438)
Simple Custom Post Order

Easily reorder posts, pages, custom post types, and taxonomies with intuitive drag-and-drop sorting in the Wor...

Free 300k+ installs 4.8★ (569)
WP Activity Log

The #1 user-rated activity log plugin for event logging, activity monitoring and change tracking.

Free 300k+ installs 4.7★ (488)
Custom Post Type UI

Admin UI for creating custom content types like post types and taxonomies

Free 1M+ installs 4.6★ (276)