Content Aware Sidebars vs Recent Posts Widget With Thumbnails
Two WordPress plugins head to head: ranking, active installs, downloads and ratings, from our daily tracking of the WordPress.org directory.
These aren’t all alternatives to each other — they do different jobs — so this page compares popularity only, not features.
At a glance
Recent Posts Widget With Thumbnails leads the WordPress.org popular list today at #352, ahead of Content Aware Sidebars at #998. Over the last 7 days Recent Posts Widget With Thumbnails slipped 1 place and Content Aware Sidebars climbed 2 places. Recent Posts Widget With Thumbnails has the largest install base, roughly 3.3× the next: 100K+ active installs against 30K+ for Content Aware Sidebars. Downloads this week: Content Aware Sidebars 16,231 and Recent Posts Widget With Thumbnails 4,928. Ratings: Content Aware Sidebars 4.9★ from 724 and Recent Posts Widget With Thumbnails 4.8★ from 215 reviews.
| Metric | Content Aware Sidebars | Recent Posts Widget With Thumbnails |
|---|---|---|
| Popular rank today | #998 ▲ 2 | #352 ▼ 1 |
| Active installs | 30K+ | 100K+ |
| Downloads, last 7 days | 16,231 | 4,928 |
| Rating | 4.9★ (724) | 4.8★ (215) |
| Last updated | Oct 23, 2026 | Oct 10, 2026 |
| Current version | 3.21.4 | 7.2.0 |
| Best rank on record | #994 | #344 |
| Days in the top 50 | 0 | 0 |
| On WordPress.org since | Aug 2011 | Jun 2014 |
| Sites detected by our detector | 0 | 5 |
Highlighted cells mark the strongest figure in each row. Rank and installs are from the latest WordPress.org capture; downloads are the last seven captured days.
Ranking history Lower is better
Active installs
Downloads per day
More comparisons
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- Recent Posts Widget With Thumbnails vs Multiple Post Thumbnails
- Recent Posts Widget With Thumbnails vs Auto Featured Image - Auto Post Thumbnail
- Recent Posts Widget With Thumbnails vs SMK Sidebar Generator
Frequently asked questions
Which is more popular, Content Aware Sidebars or Recent Posts Widget With Thumbnails?
By active installs, Recent Posts Widget With Thumbnails: 100K+ sites run it against 30K+ for Content Aware Sidebars, according to WordPress.org figures captured on October 30, 2026.
Which ranks higher on WordPress.org, Content Aware Sidebars or Recent Posts Widget With Thumbnails?
Recent Posts Widget With Thumbnails, at #352 on the WordPress.org popular plugins list today, with Content Aware Sidebars at #998. The ranking reflects recent installs and moves daily, which is why this page shows the history rather than one snapshot.
Are Content Aware Sidebars or Recent Posts Widget With Thumbnails alternatives to each other?
Not all of them. Some of these plugins do different jobs and many sites run more than one. This page compares their popularity, not their features.
Where do these numbers come from?
WordPress.org publishes each plugin’s active install count and its position on the popular list. This site records both every day, along with per-day downloads and ratings, so the charts above show how the plugins have moved over time rather than a single day.