Ventus – Weather Map Widget & Shortcode

by David Matthew

View on WordPress.org

59 Quality Score

Active Installs

16/30

With around 3,000 active installs, Ventus has a modest user base that signals niche but real adoption.

Update Freshness

10/25

The plugin was updated on 2025-05-03 and is tested against WordPress 6.8.5, indicating active maintenance, though release frequency is hard to gauge from a single data point.

User Rating

15/15

A 98/100 rating across 13 reviews is excellent, but the small sample size means the score should be taken with a grain of salt.

Support Health

8/15

There are zero support threads and zero resolved tickets, so there is no public track record of how the author handles user issues.

WP Compatibility

11/15

Compatibility scores 75/15, reflecting solid coverage: it requires only WordPress 5.0 and PHP 7.0, and has been tested on the latest 6.8.5 release.

Scores higher than 8% of indexed plugins

About

Easily customise and embed the windy.com widget as a native WordPress widget or shortcode.

Active Installs 3k+

Rating ★★★★½ 4.9/5

Last Updated 2025-05-03 10:10pm GMT

Requires WordPress 5.0+

Tested Up To 6.8.8

Requires PHP 7.0+

✓ No known vulnerabilities

What It Does

Ventus is a lightweight WordPress plugin that lets you embed a configurable Windy.com interactive weather map into your site through a sidebar widget or a shortcode. You can adjust basic map parameters such as location, zoom, and overlay type without writing code. It acts as a thin wrapper around Windy's embeddable widget rather than a full weather data platform.

Who It's For

This plugin is a good fit for travel bloggers, outdoor recreation sites, sailing clubs, and small aviation or farming pages that want a live, interactive forecast map on a sidebar or inside a post. It suits users who already trust Windy.com as their data source and just need a quick way to drop it into WordPress. Sites needing a polished, branded weather dashboard will find it too limited.

Who Should Skip It

If you need a full weather solution with local forecasts, historical data, or alerts, this plugin is not for you, since it only embeds Windy's existing widget. Anyone wanting a traditional map (Google, OpenStreetMap, Leaflet) for locations, routes, or store finders should also look elsewhere.

The Bottom Line

Ventus does one thing: it wraps the Windy.com embeddable map for WordPress, and it does that simply and reliably. With a 62.33/100 quality score, 3,000 installs, and an impressive 98/100 user rating, it is a solid pick for hobby or niche sites that want a live weather map without extra weight. The lack of any support history and the very small install base mean larger or mission-critical projects should test it carefully or consider more established mapping plugins.

Pick WP Go Maps if you need a full-featured map plugin with markers, directions, and custom locations rather than a weather overlay.

Leaflet Map 82/100

Choose Leaflet Map when you want a lightweight, free, OpenStreetMap-based map without any weather functionality.

MapGeo - Interactive Geo Maps 82/100

MapGeo is a better option if your priority is interactive country, region, or city maps for editorial or data visualization use.

Maps Widget for Google Maps 81/100

Go with Maps Widget for Google Maps if you just need a simple sidebar map showing a business address on Google Maps.

Easy Google Maps 81/100

Easy Google Maps makes more sense if you want Google Maps integration with multiple pins and store locator features.