Best classic plugins for WordPress
The most popular classic plugins for WordPress in November 2026, in WordPress.org’s own popular order, which follows active installs. Classic Menu in Navigation Block leads with 2K+ active installs, ahead of Gutenbye (700+) and Classic Smilies (200+). All 9 plugins tagged “classic” are below, with figures from WordPress.org that update every day.
Installs aren’t everything: a recent release, a “Tested up to” that matches the current WordPress, and support threads that get resolved show a plugin is looked after. Open any plugin for its downloads, rank history and alternatives.
Research this niche or see all plugins.
Top 9 classic plugins
- 1.
Classic Menu in Navigation BlockThe most installed classic plugin, with 2K+ active installs. Rated 5.0 from 6 reviews, updated 10 months ago. Tested only up to WordPress 6.9.11.
- 2.
Gutenbye700+ active installs. No reviews yet, last updated 7 years ago. Tested only up to WordPress 5.0.31.
- 3.
Classic Smilies200+ active installs. Rated 4.9 from 13 reviews, last updated 10 years ago. Tested only up to WordPress 4.4.34.
- 4.
Snake Retro Game Shortcode by Eskim70+ active installs. No reviews yet, last updated 1 year ago. Tested only up to WordPress 6.8.12.
- 5.
Restore Old Admin Colors30+ active installs. Only 1 review so far, updated 3 months ago.
- 6.
wp-admin classic10+ active installs. Rated 4.8 from 32 reviews, last updated 12 years ago. Tested only up to WordPress 3.7.41.
- 7.
Disable Widgets Block10+ active installs. No reviews yet, last updated 1 year ago. Tested only up to WordPress 6.7.11.
- 8.
Best-Of Comments10+ active installs. No reviews yet, last updated 9 years ago. Tested only up to WordPress 4.7.39.
- 9.
ClassicPlus To Enable Classic FunctionsFewer than 10 active installs. No reviews yet, last updated 4 years ago. Tested only up to WordPress 5.8.19.
All 9 plugins tagged “classic”
Classic Menu in Navigation Block
Down in the last 7 days:14#4,236by WebMan Design | Oliver Juhas11 months ago
Extending WordPress Navigation block with functionality to display classic menus.
- Installs
- 2K+
- Rating
- 5.0(6)
- Downloads
- 83/day
Gutenbye
Up in the last 7 days:1#7,806by Chris Lanphear8 years ago
A very simple plugin to disable the Block Editor (formerly known as Gutenberg) and restore the classic WordPress editing experience.
- Installs
- 700+
- Rating
- –
- Downloads
- 7/day
Classic Smilies
Down in the last 7 days:41#12,531by Samuel Wood (Otto)10 years ago
Replace the smilies with the original versions from previous versions of WordPress.
- Installs
- 200+
- Rating
- 4.9(13)
- Downloads
- 6/day
Snake Retro Game Shortcode by Eskim
Down in the last 7 days:200#18,356by Maciej1 year ago
Classic retro Snake game embedded via shortcode. Built with canvas and pure JavaScript.
- Installs
- 70+
- Rating
- –
- Downloads
- 0/day
Restore Old Admin Colors
Down in the last 7 days:224#23,485by Goal Prevail4 months ago
Restore the classic pre-7.0 "Fresh" WordPress admin color scheme as the default, without overriding custom user choices.
- Installs
- 30+
- Rating
- 5.0(1)
- Downloads
- 0/day
wp-admin classic
Down in the last 7 days:76#30,171by mch0lic13 years ago
Classic WordPress Admin theme (prior 3.8 style).
- Installs
- 10+
- Rating
- 4.8(32)
- Downloads
- 0/day
Disable Widgets Block
Up in the last 7 days:4,028#37,875by yukyhendiawan1 year ago
Disable Gutenberg widget blocks and restore the classic widget interface for a simple, fast, and familiar WordPress widget management experience.
- Installs
- 10+
- Rating
- –
- Downloads
- 0/day
Best-Of Comments
Down in the last 7 days:2,208#45,754by David Miller10 years ago
Best-Of Comments allows users to tag exceptional comments and display a randomly selected list of those comments wherever they choose in their theme.
- Installs
- 10+
- Rating
- –
- Downloads
- 0/day
ClassicPlus To Enable Classic Functions
#69,993by lzw.4 years ago
A plug-in can enable all classic functions, and also contains some practical functions
- Installs
- <10
- Rating
- –
- Downloads
- 0/day