For better organization of your WordPress posts, the CMS (Content Management System) allows you to use categories (as well as tags) to add to your posts. This helps you better organize your content and also helps your users to find specific content. However, WordPress default category is quite plain and basic. If you want to create an attrative category for your site, WordPress category plugin is the best option. In this article, we are going to explore the best category plugins in WordPress plugin repository.
Why do you need a WordPress category plugin?
WordPress does a mediocre job when it comes to arranging these categories or even showcasing users your post/content organized by category. However, it is a very simple problem that can be easily resolved by using a WordPress category plugin.
In fact, the CMS has tons of plugins that you can use to tweak your categories and better display your content to your users. The plugins can help you arrange your posts based on categories and display them with lists, widgets, or even a featured slider. Also, if you want to hide certain categories, these plugins can even help you exclude them from your website.
Basically, if you want complete manipulation over your WordPress categories, then these are plugins for the job. So without keeping you waiting any longer, here are the five best WordPress category plugins.
Top 5 free WordPress category plugins
1. List category posts
Starting off, we have the List Category Posts WordPress category plugin. Using shortcodes, the plugin allows you to list all your posts from a particular category within a page or post. The shortcode is flexible enough and gives you parameters to control how many posts you want to show, and even the listing order.
The plugin also gives you access to CSS customization options to help you tweak how the category will look. Not only that, but you can also use Text Widgets where you can insert the shortcode, giving you more flexibility.
Key features worth mentioning:
- Gives you shortcodes to help you display a list of posts by category.
- Tons of parameters to let you control listing order, how many posts to display, and so on.
- Custom CSS support giving you rich customization options.
- Option to use the Text Widget and insert the shortcode into your widget areas.
And much more.
2. Display Posts – Easy lists, grids, navigation, and more
Next up, we have Display Posts, another WordPress category plugin that can help you gather and showcase a list of content from anywhere on your website.
Here, too, you will get to use shortcodes to help you showcase a list of your posts filtered by category, popularity, and so on.
There are also parameters to help you specify how you want to display the posts – in grids, including thumbnails and excerpts, and much more. Not only that, but the plugin also supports tons of extensions which helps you include additional options and functionalities.
Key features worth mentioning:
- Use shortcodes to display a list of your posts.
- Supports various parameters giving you filtering options, sorting options, display options, and so on.
- It can also be used to list your upcoming events and is not limited to default post types.
- Tons of extensions are available to help include additional features.
And much more.
3. Category Posts Widget
Unlike the other plugins on the list, Category Posts Widget gives you a dedicated widget to help display your posts filtered by a certain category. Since it doesn’t use shortcodes, you won’t be able to embed the list anywhere on your site and will be only limited to the widget areas like sidebar, header, footer, and so on.
The plugin is available in free and paid options. The free version gives you only the basic features to help you set-up the category post lists, whereas the paid version comes packed with many more advanced options.
Key features worth mentioning:
- Gives you a widget to showcase your list of posts filtered by category.
- Comprehensive list of options to let you choose how the widget looks and feels.
- Dedicated image slider. (premium)
- Support for masonry, grid and column layouts. (premium)
- Multiple add-ons to help extend its feature. (premium)
- You can make alterations to the post list. (premium)
And much more.
4. Ultimate Category Excluder
This is pretty much the opposite of what the rest of our WordPress category plugins are designed to do. With Ultimate Category Excluder, as the name suggests, you will be able to remove particular categories from your front page, archives, feeds, and searches.
Once you have installed the plugin, just select the categories you wish to remove from your website and it will handle the rest.
Key features worth mentioning:
- Helps you remove categories from your website’s main page, feed, archive, and search page.
- Simple and easy to use interface.
5. Product Slider and Carousel with Category for WooCommerce
And now for the final entry in our list, we have Product Slider and Carousel with Category for WooCommerce WordPress category plugin. As you can imagine, this is an add-on plugin for WooCommerce and can be used to display a category of products using a slider or carousel.
You will get access to shortcodes to help you embed the slider anywhere on your website. The shortcode also supports various parameters to help you control what category of products to display and how to display them on your website.
Key features worth mentioning:
- Gives you a featured Slider & Carousel to showcase a category of products.
- Uses shortcodes to embed the slider/carousel almost anywhere on your website.
- Tons of parameters to control which products are displayed and how they look.
- Option to add your own custom design to each slider.
And much more.
Conclusion
So these were our picks for the best WordPress category plugins in the market. Do let us know if you found the read to be useful and whether it helped you to better organize and manage your categories.
As you can see, we have included a whole variety of plugins that can help you display posts filtered by category, showcase them through lists, on your sidebar, and even through sliders.
However, if you still think we missed out on some awesome WordPress category plugins then do mention them down in the comments below. We would love to hear about your recommendations and it might even help out one of your fellow readers.
I hope this article helped you choose the perfect WordPress category plugin. You may also want to see our list of best real estate plugins for WordPress.
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