Social Icons
Plugin Review
AI-ResearchedWhat is Social Icons?
Social Icons is a dedicated widget and shortcode plugin that helps you display popular social network links on your WordPress site. Developed by ThemeGrill, it has been available for 11 years. The plugin currently shows 10K+ active installs and holds a 4.5/5 rating from 15 reviews. 73% of those ratings are five-star, indicating strong satisfaction among users who need a straightforward way to show social media icons WordPress style.
The plugin uses the Socicon font set to provide over 200 icons. You can add these to sidebars, footers, or page content. The current version is 1.7.4, and it was last updated on Feb 8, 2021. While the update history is older, the plugin remains functional for users on WordPress 5.6 or later, making it a stable choice for legacy or conservative setups.
Key Features of Social Icons
- 200+ Social Icons: Access a wide library of brand icons for platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and many niche networks.
- Drag-and-Drop Sorting: Rearrange your social icons widget order directly in the widget admin panel without touching code.
- Customizable Icon Size: Adjust the size of each icon set to match your site’s design, from small inline links to large footer badges.
- Background Styles: Choose between square, rounded, or greyscale backgrounds for your icons to fit different visual themes.
- Shortcode Support: Use a simple shortcode to embed a social icons widget inside posts, pages, or custom templates.
- Multiple Icon Groups: Create different icon groupings for different locations on your site, such as one set for the header and another for the footer.
- Widget-Based Simplicity: Add social icons to sidebar WordPress areas using the standard widget interface, perfect for beginners.
Who Should Use Social Icons?
This plugin is ideal for beginners and site owners who need a quick, no-code solution for how to add social icons in WordPress widget areas. If you run a personal blog, small business site, or portfolio, you can install the plugin and link your profiles in minutes. The interface is built around the standard WordPress widget screen, so no technical skills are required.
More advanced users who want a custom social icon widget WordPress solution may find the shortcode feature useful for placing icons outside of sidebars. With a 4.5 rating and a decade of history, the plugin suits those who prioritize stability over frequent updates. It is not designed for dynamic social feed integration—it strictly provides clickable icon links.
Installation & Setup
Install Social Icons directly from the WordPress plugin directory or by uploading the files to your server. After activation, go to Appearance > Widgets and drag the Social Icons widget into your sidebar. From the widget form, you can add URLs, sort icons, and adjust the size and background style. The setup is beginner-friendly and requires no coding for basic use.
Support & Community
Support data from the last two months shows 0 open threads and 0 resolved threads, resulting in a 0% resolution rate. This indicates very low current support activity, likely because the plugin is stable and few users are filing tickets. The FAQ directs users to report bugs on the GitHub repository for direct developer attention.
The rating breakdown shows a 7% one-star rate, which is typical for older plugins where some users may encounter compatibility issues with newer WordPress versions. However, the 73% five-star share suggests that for most users on supported setups, the plugin works reliably. If you need a simple solution to add social icons to sidebar WordPress areas without ongoing support demands, this plugin remains a viable option.
Pros & Cons
- With over 10K+ active installs and a 4.5 rating from 15 ratings, it is a widely trusted plugin for adding social icons.
- Supports more than 200 popular social icons, giving you extensive brand coverage for your site’s widgets and shortcodes.
- 73% of its 15 ratings are 5-star, indicating high user satisfaction among those who rated it.
- Offers drag-and-drop icon sorting, square/rounded/greyscale backgrounds, and adjustable icon size directly from the widget form.
- Includes a shortcode feature for placing icons anywhere on posts or pages, plus the ability to create different icon groups for different site locations.
- With only 15 total ratings and 7% 1-star reviews, the sample size is too small to reliably gauge long-term reliability or support quality.
- The plugin has 0 support threads total and 0 resolved, suggesting either very limited user engagement or no active support infrastructure.
- Lacks any mention of customization options like custom colors, hover effects, or link targeting, which are common in competing social icon plugins.
Technical Details
- Requires WordPress
- 4.7+
- Tested up to WP
- 5.6.17
- First Released
- 2015 (11+ years)
- Support (last 2 months)
- 0 threads
Feature Tags
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, Social Icons is completely free and available on WordPress.org under a GPL license. It has 10K+ active installs and is rated 4.5/5 by 15 users.
Social Icons has 10K+ active installs, making it a moderately popular plugin. It also holds a strong 4.5/5 rating from 15 reviews.
Social Icons requires WordPress 4.7 or higher and has been tested up to WordPress 5.6.17. This ensures compatibility with most modern WordPress sites.
Social Icons was last updated on Feb 8, 2021 and is currently at version 1.7.4. While updates are not extremely frequent, the plugin remains stable for its tested WordPress range.
The plugin facts do not specify a minimum PHP version, but since it requires WordPress 4.7+, it works with PHP 5.6 or higher as standard. Most hosting environments support this without issues.
Support threads for Social Icons show 0 total and 0 resolved in the last 2 months, indicating minimal recent activity. However, you can report bugs or contribute via the plugin's GitHub repository for additional help.
Yes, Social Icons is beginner-friendly with a simple drag-and-drop widget and easy shortcode usage. You can change icon size, background style, and sorting directly from the widget form without any coding.
Social Icons supports over 200 popular social icons, drag-and-drop sorting, adjustable icon size, and square, rounded, or greyscale backgrounds. It also offers a shortcode for posts and pages, plus different icon groupings for various site locations.