WordPress Table of Contents Plugin: 6 Best Free Plugins

Are you scouring the web for a free WordPress table of contents plugin for your WordPress site? 🔌

A table of contents has many benefits for both readers and search engines.

First, it improves the structure of your blog posts and makes it easier for readers to jump to appropriate sections that pique their interest. Readers can also scan a post’s headings to get the gist of the article. Well-structured content helps search engines better understand the content on a page as well.

There are many ways to create a table of contents in WordPress. This post will focus on using plugins to make a table of contents, or TOC in short.

Here’s a list 📝 of six free WordPress table of contents plugins for making an appealing, functional TOC. For each plugin, we will give an overview and list its key features.

Six best WordPress table of contents plugin options

The contenders for best free WordPress table of contents plugin are listed below, in no particular order:

1. Easy Table Of Contents

Easy Table Of Contents is a popular WordPress table of contents plugin with over 300,000 active installations and an impressive 4.5 star average rating. It’s a beginner-friendly solution for adding a table of contents to your posts, pages, custom post types, and sidebars.

True to its name, it’s easy to use. So WordPress novices will navigate it effortlessly. Also, it’s lightweight and doesn’t add much weight to the webpage load.

It works perfectly with Classic Editor, Gutenberg, Divi, Elementor, WPBakery Page Builder, and Visual Composer page editors.

🎯 Key features:

• Auto-insert a headings-based table of contents on any post type.
• Customize the font size, link color, border, background, and width of your TOC.
• Hide TOC functionality that allows you to hide the table of contents on some pages.
• Choose which headings to use to generate your table of contents.
• Allow the user to toggle the visibility of the table of contents.
• Insert a table of content in your sidebar if you don’t want it in your post content.
• Pick your preferred counter bullet formats from decimal, numeric roman, or none.
• Prioritize important headings so lower priority will be nested under higher priority headings.

2. Heroic Table Of Contents

Another table of contents for WordPress plugin option is Heroic. The nifty Heroic Table of Contents block automatically detects headings (H1, H2, H3, etc.) on a page or post and uses them to create an attractive table.

It has four pre-built table styles to choose from: gray, outlined, rounded, and contrasted:

These templates make it easier to design tables that match your brand style.

Furthermore, you can create as many tables as you like. You can even make many tables on one page if it suits your fancy.

🎯 Key features:

• Insert multiple Table of Contents blocks to break up and sub-index lengthy content.
• Generate mobile-friendly pages that look superb on any device.
• Insert an index anywhere on your article: on top, after the introduction, or in the middle.
• Hide headings you don’t need and only show those that matter to you or your readers.
• Choose between bulleted, numbered, or plain lists for your table of contents style.
• Relabel your table headings without changing the original body content.
• Customize each table of contents as you see fit until it’s perfect.
• Expand and collapse the table of contents section according to your liking.

3. LuckyWP Table Of Contents

LuckyWP Table Of Contents is one more feature-rich WordPress table of contents plugin worth considering. LuckyWP auto inserts SEO-friendly table of contents in your WordPress site pages, posts, and custom post types.

Here’s an example of a neat index created using the LuckyWP plugin:

LuckyWP prides itself on making an SEO-ready table of contents. Optimized tables attract search engine robots and make your site more visible online.

🎯 Key features:

• Create an SEO-friendly table of contents designed to appear in Google featured snippets.
• Multiple table insertion methods: insert indexes anywhere on your site by shortcode, Gutenberg block, or widget.
• Customize your table appearance: colors, font size, width, float, title font size, and weight.
• Compatible with most WordPress plugins and themes and works with both the Gutenberg block editor and the classic editor.
• Set the minimum headings you want to display on your table of contents.
• Omit table headings by level or text, and set the depth of your titles.
• Catalog your table of contents items by roman or decimal numbers in order or nested.
• Choose your preferred color schemes from dark, light, white, transparent, or inherit the color from your theme and override colors if you like.

4. Table Of Contents Plus

Table Of Contents Plus is a robust, easy-to-use plugin for automatically inserting an index on your WordPress site pages. It’s modeled after Wikipedia and works across most WordPress themes. You can put a TOC on your long-form content pages and custom post types.

A standout feature of Table Of Content Plus is that, besides TOC creation, it can also generate site maps listing all pages and categories for your entire site. Moreover, it’s perfect for content-rich sites and bloggers who write many long-form posts.

🎯 Key features:

• Customize the number of headings to show, where to display the table, and more.
• Exclude specific heading levels like H3 and H4 from being displayed and disable the output of the included CSS file.
• Use shortcodes to override the default behavior, like hiding the table of contents or special exclusions on particular pages.
• Drag and drop your table of contents on your WordPress website sidebar.
• Insert a table of contents exactly where you want it anywhere on your pages.
• Use the [no_toc] shortcode to disable the table of contents for the current page, post, or custom post type.
• Index all published posts on your site by alphabetical order or the publication date.
• Present your table of contents in grey, light blue, white, black, or a custom background color.

5. Joli Table Of Contents

An alternative table of contents plugin for WordPress worth a mention is Joli.

Joli table of contents is a lightweight SEO-friendly solution. It’s a new kid on the block that lauds itself as the most customizable table of contents plugin. You can tweak everything from margins to border radius and more.

The above customization options are just the essentials. The Joli WordPress table of contents plugin is also super fast, so it won’t drag down your site speed.

🎯 Key features:

• Auto-insert a TOC in select post types and position it wherever you want in the content.
• Edit a wide range of settings, including the margin, padding, border radius, border, colors, fonts, and more.
• Pick the Text toggle setting for a vintage look, or choose an Icon toggle for a more contemporary appearance.
• Superior heading technology that picks and displays headings locked behind third-party shortcodes and blocks.
• Insert, hide, or edit specific table of contents headings using the Gutenberg WordPress editor.
• Create a custom table of contents theme from scratch to gain complete control of the output.
• Enjoy supersonic page speeds with JavaScript and minified CSS and technology.
• Customize the Table of Contents Title to your liking.

6. Simple TOC

If you want a WordPress table of contents that does the essentials well, then Simple TOC would be an excellent choice.

Simple TOC has a simple, smooth, and beginner-friendly user interface. It allows you to add a basic TOC to your WordPress posts and pages.

The setup for this open-source WordPress table of contents plugin is painless.

🎯 Key features:

• Insert and style your table of contents using the native WordPress editor (Gutenberg).
• Personalize the TOC heading text to boost your page’s SEO attributes.
• Save time and keep your tables on-brand by inheriting your theme’s style.
• Determine the maximum depth of your table of contents headings.
• Choose a listing style between a bullet HTML list, an indent list, or an ordered list.
• Customize the background and color and edit the H2 heading of the TOC block.
• Create a reusable table of contents for future posts by changing the styled group into a reusable block.
• Compatible with GeneratePress, Rank Math, and Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) plugins.

Improve user experience with a WordPress Table of contents plugin

They can get a quick overview of a post and quickly jump to sections that will address their pressing questions. And, with Google emphasizing page experience in its search algorithm, a positive user experience improves SEO. Besides, a neat TOC adds a professional look to your pages.

Choose the TOC plugin that suits your needs and start 🏁 reaping the benefits today.

👉 If you want a more actionable tutorial, you can also read our step-by-step tutorial on how to add a table of contents in WordPress.

Do you still have any questions about how to choose between these table of contents plugins? Let us know in the comments!