Best highlighter plugins for WordPress
The most popular highlighter plugins for WordPress in November 2026, in WordPress.org’s own popular order, which follows active installs. Enlighter leads with 10K+ active installs, ahead of Code Block Pro (10K+) and Urvanov Syntax Highlighter (3K+). All 44 plugins tagged “highlighter” 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 10 highlighter plugins
- 1.
EnlighterThe most installed highlighter plugin, with 10K+ active installs. Rated 4.8 from 65 reviews, updated 6 months ago. Tested only up to WordPress 6.9.11.
- 2.
Code Block Pro10K+ active installs. Rated 4.8 from 50 reviews, updated 2 months ago.
- 3.Urvanov Syntax Highlighter
3K+ active installs. Rated 4.5 from 19 reviews, updated 1 month ago. Tested only up to WordPress 6.9.11.
- 4.
Code Prettify1K+ active installs. Rated 5.0 from 18 reviews, updated 3 weeks ago.
- 5.
RichText Extension900+ active installs. Only 4 reviews so far, updated 5 days ago.
- 6.
Simple Code Highlighter300+ active installs. Rated 4.7 from 7 reviews, last updated 8 years ago. Tested only up to WordPress 4.9.35.
- 7.WP Code Prettify
100+ active installs. Only 3 reviews so far, last updated 7 years ago. Tested only up to WordPress 5.2.30.
- 8.Google Syntax Highlighter for WordPress
100+ active installs. No reviews yet, last updated 19 years ago. Tested only up to WordPress 2.2.2.
- 9.Auto SyntaxHighlighter
100+ active installs. Rated 4.3 from 6 reviews, last updated 14 years ago. Tested only up to WordPress 3.3.2.
- 10.
Announcement ticker highlighter scroller100+ active installs. Rated 4.0 from 5 reviews, last updated 3 years ago. Tested only up to WordPress 6.1.16.
All 44 plugins tagged “highlighter”

Enlighter
Down in the last 7 days:6#1,787by Andi Dittrich7 months ago
All-in-one Syntax Highlighting solution. Full Gutenberg and Classic Editor integration. Graphical theme customizer. Based on EnlighterJS.
- Installs
- 10K+
- Rating
- 4.8(65)
- Downloads
- 68/day

Code Block Pro
Down in the last 7 days:2#2,140by Kevin Batdorf2 months ago
Code highlighting powered by the VS Code engine. Performance focused. No bloat.
- Installs
- 10K+
- Rating
- 4.8(50)
- Downloads
- 71/day
Urvanov Syntax Highlighter
Down in the last 7 days:10#4,101by urvanov1 month ago
Reincarnation of Crayon Syntax Highlighter. Syntax Highlighter supporting multiple languages, themes, fonts, highlighting from a URL, or post text.
- Installs
- 3K+
- Rating
- 4.5(19)
- Downloads
- 67/day

Code Prettify
Up in the last 7 days:7#6,136by volca26 days ago
100% automatic code highlighting using the Prettify library. No shortcodes, no classnames, fully automatic and pure awesome.
- Installs
- 1K+
- Rating
- 5.0(18)
- Downloads
- 46/day

RichText Extension
Up in the last 7 days:22#7,042by Aki Hamano5 days ago
Adds useful decoration features to the Gutenberg RichText editor toolbar.
- Installs
- 900+
- Rating
- 5.0(4)
- Downloads
- 22/day

Simple Code Highlighter
Up in the last 7 days:35#10,407by kedinn9 years ago
Simple Syntax Code Highlighter
- Installs
- 300+
- Rating
- 4.7(7)
- Downloads
- 0/day
WP Code Prettify
Up in the last 7 days:53#13,067by Soli7 years ago
This plugin enable syntax highlighting of code snippets in your post using Google Code Prettify.
- Installs
- 100+
- Rating
- 4.7(3)
- Downloads
- 0/day
Google Syntax Highlighter for WordPress
Down in the last 7 days:55#13,400google-syntax-highlighter19 years ago
This plugin makes using the Google Syntax highlighter by Alex Gorbatchev to highlight code snippets within WordPress simple.
- Installs
- 100+
- Rating
- –
- Downloads
- 0/day
Auto SyntaxHighlighter
Up in the last 7 days:82#16,128by digihero14 years ago
Auto SyntaxHighlighter is a WordPress Code highlight plugin. Use editor botton, in the pop-up window, paste or write your code, oh, very simple.
- Installs
- 100+
- Rating
- 4.3(6)
- Downloads
- 0/day

Announcement ticker highlighter scroller
Up in the last 7 days:11#16,411by gopiplus3 years ago
This plugin will display the announcement with highlighter scroller. It gradually reveals each message into view from bottom to top.
- Installs
- 100+
- Rating
- 4.0(5)
- Downloads
- 0/day
WP-Syntax Editor Integration Plugin
Down in the last 7 days:72#16,466by diekleinehexe13 years ago
Adds new buttons to the visual and html editor window which allow to use WP-Syntax.
- Installs
- 100+
- Rating
- –
- Downloads
- 0/day

APH Prism Syntax Highlighter
Down in the last 7 days:114#17,328by Agus Prawoto Hadi3 years ago
Bringing Prism into WordPress easily. User-friendly GUI, support both classic editor and block editor. Support tab & back-tab in the code editor.
- Installs
- 90+
- Rating
- 3.9(7)
- Downloads
- 0/day
Prettify Code Syntax
#18,505by jesucarr13 years ago
Code syntax highlighter using Google Prettify, supporting the HTML5 recommendation, and caching plugins.
- Installs
- 70+
- Rating
- 4.2(12)
- Downloads
- 11/day
Syntax Highlighter Compress
Down in the last 7 days:194#18,566by agmorpheus15 years ago
Syntax Highlighter ComPress is a plugin for code syntax highlighting. It loads fast on the website and code can pasted easily into Wordpress.
- Installs
- 70+
- Rating
- 4.8(5)
- Downloads
- 0/day
Syntax Highlighter++
Down in the last 7 days:39#19,298by leo10812 years ago
You can add code with syntax highlighter easily when you are editing an article. 方便的代码高亮插件。
- Installs
- 60+
- Rating
- 5.0(1)
- Downloads
- 0/day
SyntaxHighlighter Evolved
Down in the last 7 days:401#20,028by randexdev12 years ago
Adds support for the Swift Programming Language to the SyntaxHighlighter Evolved plugin.
- Installs
- 60+
- Rating
- –
- Downloads
- 0/day

Simple Syntax Highlighting
Down in the last 7 days:248#21,103by gung8 years ago
Simple, clean and lightweight syntax highlighting WordPress plugin.
- Installs
- 50+
- Rating
- 4.0(1)
- Downloads
- 11/day
Crayon Syntax Highlighter to Pastacode
Down in the last 7 days:252#24,185by Willy Bahuaud10 years ago
The only use of this plugin is to convert Crayon Syntax Highlighter's tags into Pastacode shortcodes.
- Installs
- 30+
- Rating
- –
- Downloads
- 4/day
WP Prism Syntax Highlighter
#24,332by GuiTeK12 years ago
A lightweight and convenient plugin to integrate Prism Syntax Highlighter into WordPress.
- Installs
- 30+
- Rating
- 5.0(2)
- Downloads
- 0/day
Prism Syntax Highlighter
#27,663by Gilbert Pellegrom14 years ago
Prism is a new lightweight, extensible syntax highlighter, built with modern web standards in mind, by
- Installs
- 20+
- Rating
- –
- Downloads
- 0/day
SyntaxHighlighter Evolved PHP5
#29,980by Sandro Bilbeisi15 years ago
Adds support for the PHP5 language to the SyntaxHighlighter Evolved plugin using the [sourcecode language="php5"] tag and [php5] shortcode.
- Installs
- 10+
- Rating
- –
- Downloads
- 0/day
Lite Syntax Highlighting
#30,825by z-177 years ago
Lite Syntax Highlighting: PHP, HTML, CSS, JS, C
- Installs
- 10+
- Rating
- 5.0(2)
- Downloads
- 0/day
Easy Google Syntax Highlighter
Down in the last 7 days:156#31,209easy-google-syntax-highlighter17 years ago
An implementation of Alex Gorbachev's Google Syntax Highlighter with a front end to allow configuration.
- Installs
- 10+
- Rating
- –
- Downloads
- 0/day

Comment Moderation Highlighter
Up in the last 7 days:10,105#35,786by johnh1010 years ago
This plugin will highlight keywords you specify on the admin moderation page, making it easier to spot manual spam and/or troll comments.
- Installs
- 10+
- Rating
- –
- Downloads
- 0/day
Code Prettify Syntax Highlighter
Up in the last 7 days:2,177#38,454by TrueFalse14 years ago
Highlighting the code in the post with JavaScript library «google-code-prettify».
- Installs
- 10+
- Rating
- 5.0(1)
- Downloads
- 0/day
Pygment It
Up in the last 7 days:4,188#40,734by glauco_dsc12 years ago
A WordPress plugin for syntax highlighting using Pygments, though Pygments is not required to be installed.
- Installs
- 10+
- Rating
- 5.0(1)
- Downloads
- 0/day

APH Syntax Highlighter
Up in the last 7 days:4,976#41,246by Agus Prawoto Hadi9 years ago
Bringing SyntaxHighlighter 4 by Alex Gorbatchev into Wordpress easily. Easy to use with user-friendly GUI. Write-edit code in place
- Installs
- 10+
- Rating
- –
- Downloads
- 0/day
Simple Fast Highlighter
Down in the last 7 days:3,457#42,194by michielve9 years ago
Fast syntax highlighter written in Javascript.
- Installs
- 10+
- Rating
- –
- Downloads
- 0/day
Short Syntax Highlighter Shortcode
Up in the last 7 days:3,199#43,326by Purab10 years ago
Short Syntax Highlighter allows you to easily post syntax-highlighted code to your site without losing it's formatting or making any manual chang …
- Installs
- 10+
- Rating
- –
- Downloads
- 0/day
Alex Syntax Highlighter
#43,805by Anthony13 years ago
Alex Syntax Highlighter highlights code in the theme editor for easier understanding. See http://anthony.strangebutfunny.net/my-plugins/syntax-highlig …
- Installs
- 10+
- Rating
- 2.0(1)
- Downloads
- 0/day

Highlight Bookmark Manager
Up in the last 7 days:2,012#45,043by Highlight Bookmark10 years ago
Allow readers to highlight and bookmark POSTs with simply highlight buttons. Easy to add personal notes on POSTs and share.
- Installs
- 10+
- Rating
- 3.7(6)
- Downloads
- 1/day
SmartAss Highlighter
Down in the last 7 days:4,805#45,586by th3pirat311 years ago
SmartAss Highlighter is extremely simple and easy to use syntax highlighter for your code. Shortcode - [highlighter]
- Installs
- 10+
- Rating
- –
- Downloads
- 0/day
rtSyntax
Down in the last 7 days:1,393#45,944by rtCamp11 years ago
A no-fuss, lightweight, fast and optimised syntax highlighter for WordPress
- Installs
- 10+
- Rating
- 3.8(4)
- Downloads
- 0/day
Dojox WordPress Syntax Highlighter
Down in the last 7 days:4,445#48,337by s a16 years ago
Free syntax highlighter written in Java Script as Wordpress Plugin.
- Installs
- 10+
- Rating
- –
- Downloads
- 0/day

Simple Code Block Highlighter
Down in the last 7 days:2,861#51,889by zohebtg5 months ago
Enhances WordPress code blocks with line numbers, copy functionality, automatic syntax highlighting, and light or dark themes.
- Installs
- <10
- Rating
- –
- Downloads
- 0/day
Simpler Syntax Highlighter
#59,060by Derick Payne8 years ago
Lightweight code snippet syntax highlighter.
- Installs
- <10
- Rating
- –
- Downloads
- 0/day
Syntax Highlighter with PrismJS
#61,212by mohamad wael4 years ago
A syntax highlighter using PrismJs.
- Installs
- <10
- Rating
- –
- Downloads
- 0/day

Navarak Code Highlighter
Down in the last 7 days:7,316#68,284by Seyyed Sajjad Kashizadeh5 years ago
A Syntax Highlighter built in PHP and highlightJS that supports customizable languages and themes.
- Installs
- <10
- Rating
- –
- Downloads
- 0/day

Easy Code Highlighter
Down in the last 7 days:9,313#72,453by ReorMadrid1 year ago
Displays code with syntax highlighting using Prism.js, real line numbering, and a copy button.
- Installs
- <10
- Rating
- –
- Downloads
- 0/day