Lightweight Social Icons vs SimpleSocial
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
Lightweight Social Icons leads the WordPress.org popular list today at #1,085, ahead of SimpleSocial at #16,041. Over the last 7 days Lightweight Social Icons climbed 1 place and SimpleSocial climbed 5 places. Lightweight Social Icons has the largest install base, roughly 300× the next: 30K+ active installs against 100+ for SimpleSocial. Downloads this week: SimpleSocial 217 and Lightweight Social Icons 141. Ratings: Lightweight Social Icons 4.7★ from 63 and SimpleSocial 3★ from 2 reviews.
| Metric | Lightweight Social Icons | SimpleSocial |
|---|---|---|
| Popular rank today | #1,085 ▲ 1 | #16,041 ▲ 5 |
| Active installs | 30K+ | 100+ |
| Downloads, last 7 days | 141 | 217 |
| Rating | 4.7★ (63) | 3★ (2) |
| Last updated | Mar 18, 2020 | Aug 17, 2026 |
| Current version | 1.1 | 2026 |
| Best rank on record | #1,062 | #15,598 |
| Days in the top 50 | 0 | 0 |
| On WordPress.org since | Aug 2014 | May 2016 |
| Sites detected by our detector | 2 | 0 |
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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- Lightweight Social Icons vs Social Icons, Share Buttons & Click to Chat by WPZOOM
- SimpleSocial vs Social Media Widget
- SimpleSocial vs Nextend Social Login
- SimpleSocial vs Fuse Social Icons
Frequently asked questions
Which is more popular, Lightweight Social Icons or SimpleSocial?
By active installs, Lightweight Social Icons: 30K+ sites run it against 100+ for SimpleSocial, according to WordPress.org figures captured on October 21, 2026.
Which ranks higher on WordPress.org, Lightweight Social Icons or SimpleSocial?
Lightweight Social Icons, at #1,085 on the WordPress.org popular plugins list today, with SimpleSocial at #16,041. The ranking reflects recent installs and moves daily, which is why this page shows the history rather than one snapshot.
Are Lightweight Social Icons or SimpleSocial 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.