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Free Plugin by keesiemeijer v2.7.10

Related Posts by Taxonomy

Display a list of related posts on your site based on the most terms in common. Supports thumbnails, shortcodes, a widget and more.

Related Posts by Taxonomy

The facts

Rating
4.8★ from 77
Active installs
10k+
Price
Free
Last updated
21 Aug 2026
Added
May 2013
Requires WP
5.9
Tested up to
WP 7.1
Downloads
328,570

Our analysis

AI-assisted

Related Posts by Taxonomy is a WordPress plugin that helps you display related posts in your sidebar or after your post content using a widget or shortcode. It identifies related posts based on shared taxonomy terms and allows for customisation of how these posts are presented, including options for thumbnails, links, and excerpts.

The plugin supports multiple taxonomies and post types, enabling you to include or exclude specific terms from the search. It offers features such as automatic display, persistent caching, and the ability to load related posts via Ajax, making it suitable for users who want to enhance reader engagement on their WordPress sites.

Best for: This plugin is best for WordPress site owners looking to increase reader engagement through related content display.

What it does well

  • Supports multiple taxonomies and post types
  • Customisable display options including thumbnails and excerpts
  • Automatic display of related posts after content
  • Extensive documentation available
  • Follows WordPress coding standards

Where it falls short

  • Requires familiarity with WordPress hooks for some features
  • No specific information on limitations or known issues

Verdict

Related Posts by Taxonomy provides a flexible solution for displaying related posts, but may require some technical knowledge to fully utilise its features.

From the developer

keesiemeijer's own description of Related Posts by Taxonomy, lightly tidied.

Quickly increase your readers’ engagement by adding related posts in the sidebar or after post content with a widget or shortcode.

Posts with the most terms in common will display at the top!

This plugin is capable of finding related posts in multiple taxonomies and post types. Include or exclude terms from the search for related posts. Change the look and feel by using your own templates in a (child) theme.

plugin documentation

Plugin features:

  • Widget and Shortcode.
  • Display related posts as post thumbnails, links, excerpts or full posts.
  • Small Footprint. Doesn’t slow down your site!
  • Automatic display of related posts after the post content.
  • Exclude or include terms and posts.
  • Search for related posts in single or multiple taxonomies and post types.
  • Limit the search for related posts by date, number or post meta.
  • Use your own HTML templates for display of the related posts.
  • Extensive plugin documentation.
  • Follows WordPress coding standards and plugin best practices.
  • Highly Adjustable!

For the following features you need to be somewhat familiar with WordPress hooks. The plugin documentation has many examples to help you along.

Extended features:

  • Use a persistent cache for the related posts query. (opt-in feature)
  • Use the WordPress REST API to get related posts. (opt-in feature)
  • Load related posts after the whole page has loaded (with Ajax). (opt-in feature)
  • Use plugin functions in your theme templates to display related posts yourself.
  • Use Filters to change the default behavior of the plugin.

Follow this plugin on GitHub.
Search the code reference

See the FAQ to have related posts automatically display after the post content without using the shortcode or widget.

Default usage for the shortcode is:

[related_posts_by_tax]

Attributes for the shortcode are:

  • post_id
  • taxonomies
  • post_types
  • posts_per_page
  • order
  • orderby
  • before_shortcode
  • after_shortcode
  • title
  • show_date
  • before_title
  • after_title
  • include_terms
  • include_parents
  • include_children
  • exclude_terms
  • exclude_posts
  • format
  • gallery_format
  • image_size
  • columns
  • caption
  • link_caption
  • limit_posts
  • limit_month
  • meta_key
  • meta_value
  • meta_compare
  • meta_type
  • public_only
  • include_self
  • post_class

Example to show 10 related posts instead of the default 5.

Read the full description on the official page →

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