Shared Counts vs Simple Social Icons
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| Feature | Shared Counts v1.5.0 · checked 23 Oct 2026 Free Visit Details | Simple Social Icons v4.1.0 · checked 23 Oct 2026 Free · ★ 4.3/5 Visit Details |
|---|---|---|
| At a glance | ||
| Active installs | — | 100,000+ |
| Last updated | — | September 17, 2026 |
| Editions | Shared Counts | Simple Social Icons |
| Pros | Lean set of share buttons with cached counts; Placement before or after content, or by shortcode; AMP support and developer filters | Widget with icon size, colour and alignment settings; Extra icons added to the core Social Icons block; Lightweight CSS and SVG output |
| Cons | Share counts come from third-party count APIs; Not listed on WordPress.org any more; Settings are a single options page | Block variations need WordPress 6.9 or later; Only links to profiles, with no follower counts or sharing; Icon styling changes can break older custom CSS |
| Mentioned in our posts | 3 | 2 |
| More features | ||
| Other features | Social share buttons, Cached share counts, Automatic placement before or after content, Shared counts shortcode, AMP support, Settings page | Social icons widget, Icon size, colour and hover settings, Extra icons for the core Social Icons block, Block editor assets for the icon variations, Icon CSS printed on the front end |
| Integrations | ||
| Social | SharedCount API, Twitcount API, Yummly count service, Facebook share endpoint, Pinterest share endpoint, LinkedIn share endpoint | — |
| Other | — | WordPress core Social Icons block |
| Requires WordPress | 4.6 | 4.0 |
| Requires PHP | 5.6 | 7.4 |
| Tested up to | 6.4 | 7.1 |
| Phones home | No | No |
| External services | api.sharedcount.com, counts.twitcount.com, www.yummly.com, www.facebook.com, pinterest.com, www.linkedin.com, twitter.com | — |
| Shortcodes | 1 | — |