In short, when done right, custom post types help grab your visitors’ attention, and improve their overall reading experience.
What are custom post types and how to create them?
Let’s start with posts and pages. They are the two most commonly used content types in WordPress.
In that manner, a custom post type is the kind of content that you can create and customize yourself.
- For example, a musician might need a page for their music albums or playlists. Custom post types are perfect for that.
- A website for a restaurant, on the other hand, might need a page that showcases the menu. Again, custom post types. The possible scenarios are plenty…
There are two main ways to create custom post types:
You can either do it by code, or with plugins.
If you are a developer and know how to add your custom posts by hand, good for you! But it won’t be an issue if you’re not into the technical stuff all that much. There are lots of WordPress plugins that can do this for you.
Without further ado, let’s look into the top 5 custom post types plugins for WordPress:
Best custom post types plugins for WordPress
1. Custom Post Type UI
- Lets you create and configure your custom post types and custom taxonomies.
- Lets you attach built-in and custom taxonomies to post types.
- Comes with advanced labeling for post types.
- Does not handle the display of your new post types and taxonomies. This, you have to do yourself.
One of the most popular plugins for custom posts and taxonomies in the official plugin directory, Custom Post Type UI brings a series of great options and features for free.
This plugin is very easy to use. After installing it, you get a nice dashboard to work with, where all of the plugin’s options and features are easily available.
The plugin lets you create new post types, new corresponding taxonomies, and then edit the post types you already have on your site.
Another nice thing about this plugin is that you can import a custom post that you already have on another site. Plus, exporting yours is an option too.
The only downside of the plugin is that it will NOT handle display of registered post types or taxonomies in your current theme. It will only register them for you.
2. WCK Custom Post Types and Custom Fields Creator
- Includes custom post types, taxonomies, and fields for free.
- Provides the following field types: WYSIWYG editor, upload, text, textarea, select, checkbox, radio, number, HTML, time-picker, phone, currency select, color picker, heading.
- Allows you to use Repeater Fields and Repeater Groups.
- Lets you connect the post types with the custom taxonomies.
A free WordPress plugin that works plainly and provides an intuitive interface. It’s nice that you can upgrade to the premium version if you need extended features in regards to custom post types.
To add a new post type is easy. Go to WCK in your dashboard menu and click on Post Type Creator. There, you need to only go through a few settings to have your custom content ready. Once you create a new entry, it will appear as a separate menu item in your dashboard, from where you can customize it further.
With the free version of WCK plugin you can also create custom taxonomies, fields, and meta boxes, which you can beautifully link with the custom post types.
For more functionality like option pages and extra custom field types, you must upgrade to the premium version, which starts at $49.
3. Pods
- Lets you create and configure your custom post types and custom taxonomies.
- Lets you create custom settings pages, and advanced content types.
- You can extend existing content types.
- You can use various field types, plus create your own.
- User-friendly and modern interface.
- Offers integration with other plugins such as Polylang, WPML, Tabify Edit Screen, Codepress Admin Columns, Gravity Forms, and etc.
Pods is another user-friendly free plugin for custom post types, taxonomies, and fields.
It stands out due to its original user interface, and the whole process you go through when using the plugin. The experience is more of a wizard-like process, instead of a dashboard-like environment.
Pods uses something called “pods” (surprise, surprise) to organize all the custom post types and taxonomies you create with the plugin.
The plugin also lets you create custom settings pages, and even advanced content types (ones that don’t use the default WordPress tables in the database, but instead create their own). You can also extend the existing content types, taxonomies, media, users, and even comments.
4. Toolset Types
- Has a modern and friendly interface.
- Brings front-end post type display, which lets you create your own templates and forms.
- Comes with built-in input validation.
- You can set up repeating field groups.
- Lets you connect between different post types (parent-child-like structures).
This is the premium counterpart of the above options. Apart from fast support, you’ll also get front-end posting – a feature that will make it easy for you to display custom content on the front-end. You will be able to design templates, lists, and archives so that your custom post types will look appealing to your visitors.
Another feature that Toolset comes with is built-in input validation. When someone fills out a field, they will see a warning if the text is incorrect or incomplete. People won’t be able to move forward without filling the answer properly.
Moreover, you can set repeating field groups and connect all the post types you want together.
5. Custom Post Type Maker
- Lets you create and configure your custom post types and custom taxonomies.
- User-friendly interface.
- Gives you access to all registered custom post types and taxonomies.
- Does not handle the display of your new post types and taxonomies. This, you have to do yourself.
This plugin is much simpler than the others on this list. But it does provide you with all the mandatory custom post types functionality you’d need in most situations. There are two main sections in this plugin: Post Types and Taxonomies.
You’re not required to have any coding skills to use this plugin, and everything is available through a handy interface. It will also show you all the other custom post types you already have registered on your site (even the ones not created via this plugin).
Overall, a user-friendly and functional solution for what it does.
Did you try any of these plugins? What was your experience with them?
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Thank you Adelina for this information.But what if I want to create a listings like a real estate, products etc. With many properties or products…it has to be done one by one? I know there are themes or plugins that can do that but if I want to develop the listings myself it will take forever to load like 500 properties, Is there a way or a CPT that can csv import /export to mKe things easy and that can manage custom fieleds of the post?
Thanks
Thank you very much for this compilation and keeping it updated through to Apr 2018! Good start to help me find the perfect plugin for my needs
thanks for your article, helpful in finding the information on different post types.
We need a custom page template with filter. Which is the best? I think Toolset has it, but they have yearly renewal, small clients wont like to pay every year for website maintenance!. Any suggestions?