Better Recent Comments is a WordPress app, with a 4.6 average rating from 17 reviews, as of July 9, 2026.
Better Recent Comments is a WordPress Plugin Directory app by Kestrel. With a rating of 4.6★ from 17 reviews.
AppRanks data: Better Recent Comments ranks #0 in Avatar on WordPress Plugin Directory, placing it in the top 1% of that category.
AppRanks verdict
Generated from live marketplace data — refreshed daily
Better Recent Comments is a highly rated WordPress app with a limited review volume. It is listed in the Shortcode category on WordPress Plugin Directory, which AppRanks treats as the canonical taxonomy node for ranking and competitor comparison. 17 reviews put it in the early-traction tier — useful for early-stage stores willing to be on the leading edge. Early-traction review counts are sensitive to single launch periods or feature events, so a 30-day re-check before bigger commitments often resolves whether the trend is sustained. Paid-only pricing means evaluating fit on the marketplace listing or via the developer's documentation before installing. AppRanks tracks rating, review count, pricing tier, and category position daily — the figures on this page reflect the most recent scrape from the canonical WordPress Plugin Directory listing.
Pros
- +High average rating (4.6★) signals consistent merchant satisfaction
- +Published by Kestrel — established developer track record
Cons
- −Limited review base (17) — ratings can shift significantly with new feedback
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How Better Recent Comments works
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The default Recent Comments widget is somewhat limited. Better Recent Comments improves on this by providing a more flexible widget with options to show the user’s actual comment, as well as show avatars and the ability to show or hide the comment date.
As well as the widget, there’s a handy shortcode you can use to display your recent comments. This is useful if you need to display comments somewhere other than your sidebar or footer, such as on your homepage. Simply add the shortcode [better_recent_comments].
That’s not all! The plugin is also WPML compatible, which means that the comments will be restricted to those in the current language. The default WordPress widget will list all recent comments, regardless of language, so you might end up with comments for German-language posts in the sidebar of your English site. Better Recent Comments solves this and makes sure the comments are for the current language only.
Translations currently provided in Spanish, French and Italian.
View the full plugin documentation in our Knowledge Base.
Options available with the shortcode:
format – the format of each recent comment. This option uses ‘placeholders’ which are substituted with the actual data when the comments are displayed. See the FAQs for details.
number – the number of comments to display. Default: 5 comments
date_format – the date and time format to use. Like WordPress, this uses a PHP date format. It defaults to ‘M j, H:i’. See this cheat sheet for a full list of date and time options.
avatar_size – the size of the avatar in pixels. Only used if you have included {avatar} in your comment format (see ‘format’ option). Default: 50
post_status – the status of posts to retrieve comments for. Defaults to ‘publish’. Can be a single status or a comma-separated list, or ‘any’ to show comments for all post statuses.
post_type – the post type to retrieve comments for. Accepts a single or multiple post types (e.g. ‘post’ or ‘post, dlp_document’) or ‘any’ to show comments for all post types. Default: ‘any’
excerpts – set to ‘true’ to show an excerpt of the comment (limited to 20 words), or ‘false’ to show the full comment. Default: true
replies – set to ‘true’ to also show responses to comments, or ‘false’ to only see the top level comments. Default: true
Category rankings
As of Jul 9, 2026- Avatar#0of 14Top 1%
- Comments#0of 217Top 1%
- Shortcode#0of 237Top 1%
- Wpml#0of 10Top 1%
- Widget#99of 701Top 15%
See 90-day rank history for each category
Track daily rank changes, category shifts, and position volatility.
Keyword rankings
Better Recent Comments ranks for 1 keywords across WordPress Plugin Directory. Here are the top 1:
- 1.faqRank #935
Competitors & alternatives
Better Recent Commentsdoesn't have curated competitor matchups yet. Other tracked shortcode apps on WordPress:
Where Better Recent Comments stands in the Shortcode category
Better Recent Comments ranks #0 of 237 apps in the Shortcode category, placing it in the top 1% of the listing.
Frequently asked questions
What is Better Recent Comments?
Better Recent Comments is an app for WordPress. It currently holds a 4.6-star rating from 17 merchant reviews, and AppRanks has been tracking its public marketplace data on a daily refresh cycle. It is listed under the Shortcode category on AppRanks, where you can see its current category position, review-velocity trend, and how it compares against the top alternatives in the same space. Developed by Kestrel.
Who uses Better Recent Comments?
Currently around 2,000 active stores have installed Better Recent Comments. Its review base is still building, which usually maps to early-stage merchants and stores piloting a new workflow. It is part of the Shortcode category on WordPress.