Best highlighting plugins for WordPress
The most popular highlighting 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 Custom HTML Block Extension (7K+) and Urvanov Syntax Highlighter (3K+). All 19 plugins tagged “highlighting” 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 highlighting plugins
- 1.
EnlighterThe most installed highlighting plugin, with 10K+ active installs. Rated 4.8 from 65 reviews, updated 6 months ago. Tested only up to WordPress 6.9.11.
- 2.
Custom HTML Block Extension7K+ active installs. Rated 5.0 from 14 reviews, updated 5 days ago.
- 3.
Urvanov Syntax Highlighter3K+ 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 4 weeks ago.
- 5.
CodeColorer1K+ active installs. Rated 4.9 from 11 reviews, updated 2 months ago.
- 6.
Better WordPress Syntax Highlighter60+ active installs. Only 1 review so far, last updated 13 years ago. Tested only up to WordPress 3.7.41.
- 7.
Sticky CPT40+ active installs. Only 2 reviews so far, updated 1 month ago.
- 8.
Lite Syntax Highlighting10+ active installs. Only 2 reviews so far, last updated 7 years ago. Tested only up to WordPress 5.1.28.
- 9.
Pygment It10+ active installs. Only 1 review so far, last updated 12 years ago. Tested only up to WordPress 3.4.2.
- 10.
rtSyntax10+ active installs. Only 4 reviews so far, last updated 11 years ago. Tested only up to WordPress 4.1.42.
All 19 plugins tagged “highlighting”
Enlighter
Down in the last 7 days:5#1,786by 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
Custom HTML Block Extension
Up in the last 7 days:5#2,511by Aki Hamano5 days ago
Turn the Custom HTML block into an advanced code editor.
- Installs
- 7K+
- Rating
- 5.0(14)
- Downloads
- 53/day
Urvanov Syntax Highlighter
Down in the last 7 days:5#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
- 58/day
Code Prettify
Up in the last 7 days:1#6,141by volca28 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
CodeColorer
Down in the last 7 days:20#6,496by Dmytro Shteflyuk2 months ago
Syntax highlighting for code snippets in posts, comments, and RSS, with inline code, themes, and line numbers.
- Installs
- 1K+
- Rating
- 4.9(11)
- Downloads
- 22/day
Better WordPress Syntax Highlighter
Up in the last 7 days:97#19,057by Khang Minh13 years ago
This plugin allows you to highlight code syntax in your posts. There are plenty of options to choose.
- Installs
- 60+
- Rating
- 5.0(1)
- Downloads
- 0/day
Sticky CPT
Down in the last 7 days:30#21,595by Kantari Samy1 month ago
Add the possibility of "sticky" CPT. (Gutenberg compatibility)
- Installs
- 40+
- Rating
- 5.0(2)
- Downloads
- 0/day
Lite Syntax Highlighting
Up in the last 7 days:231#30,530by z-177 years ago
Lite Syntax Highlighting: PHP, HTML, CSS, JS, C
- Installs
- 10+
- Rating
- 5.0(2)
- Downloads
- 0/day
Pygment It
Up in the last 7 days:3,767#43,744by 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
rtSyntax
Down in the last 7 days:747#45,256by rtCamp11 years ago
A no-fuss, lightweight, fast and optimised syntax highlighter for WordPress
- Installs
- 10+
- Rating
- 3.8(4)
- Downloads
- 0/day
Snippet Highlight
Down in the last 7 days:4,772#47,674by Roland Rust19 years ago
Highlights your code snippets. With line numbering.
- Installs
- 10+
- Rating
- –
- Downloads
- 0/day
WP-code-button
Down in the last 7 days:848#47,975by a45421372211 years ago
This plugin code prettify plugin using google code prettify. the code higlighting effect will be seen directly in the tinymce editor.
- Installs
- 10+
- Rating
- –
- Downloads
- 0/day
CodeColorer comaptiblity with “Markdown for WordPress and bbPress”
Down in the last 7 days:7,813#48,019by x3ro14 years ago
Enables CodeColorer for any code block created by the markdown-for-wordpress-and-bbpress plugin.
- Installs
- 10+
- Rating
- –
- Downloads
- 0/day
Annytab Code Prettify
Down in the last 7 days:2,568#58,864by Fredrik Stigsson6 years ago
A lightweight plugin that automatically prettifies code in [pre] tags, with linenumbers and without line-breaks.
- Installs
- <10
- Rating
- –
- Downloads
- 0/day
LINER In-Site
Up in the last 7 days:1,483#67,601by liner9 years ago
LINER helps you highlight sentences on the web. Highlight your favorite texts.
- Installs
- <10
- Rating
- –
- Downloads
- 0/day
Syntax Highlighting
Down in the last 7 days:5,426#68,642by webstartup9 years ago
HighLight Code allows you to add syntax highlighting to the snippets contained in your articles. NOTE (beta): This plugin is very felt, it is still in …
- Installs
- <10
- Rating
- 5.0(1)
- Downloads
- 0/day
Findit Post Search and Filter
#74,339by Xiangxu1 year ago
A clean, responsive AJAX-powered search plugin for WordPress posts with keyword highlighting, category/tag filtering, and load more pagination.
- Installs
- <10
- Rating
- –
- Downloads
- 0/day