What is a Widget in WordPress?
A WordPress widget is a pre-built module of content or functionality, such as a search bar, calendar, or recent posts list, that you place in a widget area: a theme-defined region like a sidebar or footer. Widgets belong to classic themes; modern block themes build those same areas with blocks in the Site Editor instead.
More about widgets
Widgets and widget areas
Widgets add content or features to a WordPress site's widget areas without writing a line of code. A widget area is a region your theme registers, commonly the sidebar or footer, sometimes the header or the space below posts. The theme decides how many areas exist and where they sit, which is why your options change when you switch themes.
WordPress ships with default widgets including Categories, Tag Cloud, Search, Navigation Menu, Calendar, and Recent Posts. Plugins often add their own. Install a form plugin, for example, and you can drop a contact form into your sidebar or footer.
How to add widgets on a classic theme
First, check which kind of theme you're running. If Appearance in your dashboard shows a Widgets item, you're on a classic theme and widgets apply. If it shows Editor instead, you're on a block theme: there's no widgets screen, and you build those areas with blocks (see the comparison below).
On a classic theme, open Appearance > Widgets. Since WordPress 5.8 (July 2021), this screen is block-based. Click the widget area you want to edit, then use the + inserter to add a block, or a Legacy Widget block for older widgets that haven't been converted. To rearrange, drag blocks between widget areas or use the Move to option in the block toolbar. Click Update when you're finished; nothing is saved until you do. You can also edit widget areas with live preview under Appearance > Customize.
For a step-by-step walkthrough, read our guide WordPress Widgets & Sidebars: Everything You Need to Know.
Widgets vs. blocks
Widgets and blocks solve the same problem, adding features without code, from two different eras of WordPress:
- Widgets are the classic system. They fill the widget areas a classic theme registers, managed under Appearance > Widgets or the Customizer.
- Blocks are the newer content system from the Gutenberg editor. Since WordPress 5.8 (July 2021), blocks also power the widgets screen on classic themes, side by side with legacy widgets.
- Block themes skip widgets entirely. Since WordPress 5.9 (January 2022) shipped Twenty Twenty-Two, the first default block theme, those same areas are built with blocks in the Site Editor.
You don't pick between the two systems; your theme picks for you. Stay on a classic theme and widgets keep working. Move to a block theme and you'll do the same jobs with blocks and patterns instead.
Frequently Asked Questions
- First check your theme: block themes don't use widgets at all. On a classic theme, a theme switch moves widgets from unregistered areas to Inactive widgets in Appearance > Widgets; drag them back. If active widgets still don't appear, check visibility settings, clear your cache, and test for plugin conflicts.
- Most people install a plugin that bundles the widget they need from the WordPress Plugin Directory (Plugins > Add New). Developers can register widgets in code with the widgets API on classic themes, or build a custom block instead, since new WordPress development centers on blocks.
- Install the free Classic Widgets plugin to opt out of the block-based editor; it returns Appearance > Widgets and the Customizer to their original views. It only matters on classic themes, since block themes have no widgets screen either way.
- A plugin is code you install to extend WordPress; a widget is a ready-made module you place in a widget area. They're related: many plugins bundle their own widgets, which then appear in your Appearance > Widgets screen ready to place.
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