Related Posts Plugin for WordPress
WORDPRESS
PLUGIN
free
Related entries scored from the categories and tags a post already has, cached so the query never runs on every view.
Related Posts finds the entries that genuinely belong together. Every shared term is one point and every shared category is two, so an entry in the same category beats one that merely shares an obscure tag. The shortlist is then passed through WordPress itself, which means drafts, private entries and anything the current visitor may not read never appear in the list.
The answer is cached in a transient named after the entry, its last edit time and the settings that change it - so editing the entry produces a different key and a reader never sees a stale list. There is no third-party service: the matching is one query against your own tables, which also means it works on private and intranet sites.
The answer is cached in a transient named after the entry, its last edit time and the settings that change it - so editing the entry produces a different key and a reader never sees a stale list. There is no third-party service: the matching is one query against your own tables, which also means it works on private and intranet sites.
Preview
1 / 1
"Read next" placed with the shortcode, showing the two best matches for that entry⤢ Tap image for full size
What's included
- Scoring that prefers a shared category over a shared tag
- Drafts, private entries and anything the visitor cannot read are filtered out by WordPress itself
- Cached per entry for up to a week, invalidated automatically when the entry is edited
- Automatic placement below the content, or exactly where you put [df_related_posts]
- Optional thumbnails and dates, per shortcode too: [df_related_posts count="4" heading="Keep reading"]
- Fallback to the newest entries of the same type when an entry has no categories or tags
- No external service, no tracking and no database table
At a glance
| Platform | WordPress plugin |
|---|---|
| Latest version | v1.0.2 |
| Download size | 17.7 KB |
| Released | 25 Oct 2026 |
| Downloads | 0 |
| Access | Free — sign in to download |
| Platform | WordPress 6.2 or newer (tested on 7.1.3) |
| PHP | 7.4 or newer (tested on 8.4) |
| Files | 8 - bootstrap, three classes, CSS, readme, licence, uninstall |
| Database | one option row plus expiring transients, all removed on uninstall |
| Settings | Settings > Related Posts |
| Shortcodes | [df_related_posts count="" heading="" thumb=""] |
| Licence | GPL-2.0-or-later |
Requirements
- WordPress 6.2 or newer (tested on 7.1.3)
- PHP 7.4 or newer (tested on 8.4)
- Entries with at least one category or tag for best results
- No external service and no account
Checksum
Verify your download before you upload it to your board.
6bea247392bf44d8a40ef44abed10b5d51aadff6585f3c248c54c0329327131bInstall it
1. Plugins > Add New > Upload Plugin, choose df-related-posts-1.0.2-d3393495.zip, Install Now, then Activate.
2. Open Settings > DF Related Posts: heading, how many entries, thumbnails, dates.
3. Turn on "Add the list below the content automatically", or leave it off and place [df_related_posts] yourself.
4. Tick the post types that should get the list. Changing any setting flushes the cached lists.
2. Open Settings > DF Related Posts: heading, how many entries, thumbnails, dates.
3. Turn on "Add the list below the content automatically", or leave it off and place [df_related_posts] yourself.
4. Tick the post types that should get the list. Changing any setting flushes the cached lists.
Questions people ask
Does it use a third-party service?
No. The matching is a single SQL query against your own tables. Nothing is sent anywhere, which is also why it works on private or intranet sites.
Will it slow the site down?
The query runs once and the result is cached. On the bench the cached call returned in 0.09 ms; on a cached hit the cost is one option lookup.
What happens on a brand new site?
If an entry has no categories and no tags, the plugin falls back to the newest entries of the same post type rather than showing an empty block.
Can a draft or a private post appear?
No. Candidates are passed through get_posts() with the current visitor's capabilities, so drafts and private entries are excluded - verified on the bench with a draft that shared the same category and both tags, and never appeared.
Can I show more than three?
Yes - between 1 and 10 in the settings, or per shortcode with the count attribute.
All releases
| Version | Released | Size | Downloads | Changelog |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| v1.0.2 latest | 25 Oct 2026 | 17.7 KB | 0 | 1.0.2 - Re-verified on WordPress 7.1.3 with PHP 8.4: installed, activated and exercised on a clean bench (front end, settings screen, the plugin's own behaviour) with WP_DEBUG on. No notices, warnings, deprecations or errors. readme.txt now declares Tested up to 7.1.3. |
| v1.0.1 | 25 Oct 2026 | 18.8 KB | 0 | Removed the `Update URI` header. WordPress.org's automated scan reads that header as a third-party updater (plugin_updater_detected); updates are served by WordPress.org, so the header has no place in a hosted plugin. No change to how the plugin works. |
| v1.0.0 | 25 Oct 2026 | 18.0 KB | 2 | - First public release. |
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