Essential Widgets vs Front-end Categories
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
Essential Widgets ranks #1,814 on the popular list; Front-end Categories is outside the top 500 we capture daily. Essential Widgets has the largest install base, roughly 1000× the next: 10K+ active installs against 10+ for Front-end Categories. Downloads this week: Essential Widgets 422 and Front-end Categories 9. Ratings: Essential Widgets 3.5★ from 2 and Front-end Categories 5★ from 3 reviews.
| Metric | Essential Widgets | Front-end Categories |
|---|---|---|
| Popular rank today | #1,814 ▼ 5 | outside top 500 |
| Active installs | 10K+ | 10+ |
| Downloads, last 7 days | 422 | 9 |
| Rating | 3.5★ (2) | 5★ (3) |
| Last updated | Jun 18, 2026 | Aug 20, 2014 |
| Current version | 3.2.1 | 0.2.2 |
| Best rank on record | #1,767 | #31,205 |
| Days in the top 50 | 0 | 0 |
| On WordPress.org since | Nov 2017 | Jan 2013 |
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
- Essential Widgets vs Post Tags and Categories for Pages
- Essential Widgets vs Tag Pages
- Essential Widgets vs Media Library Assistant
- Essential Widgets vs Visual Term Description Editor
- Essential Widgets vs List category posts
- Front-end Categories vs FV Top Level Categories
- Front-end Categories vs List category posts
- Front-end Categories vs Post Tags and Categories for Pages
Frequently asked questions
Which is more popular, Essential Widgets or Front-end Categories?
By active installs, Essential Widgets: 10K+ sites run it against 10+ for Front-end Categories, according to WordPress.org figures captured on October 17, 2026.
Are Essential Widgets or Front-end Categories 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.