Best theme development plugins for WordPress
The most popular theme development plugins for WordPress in November 2026, in WordPress.org’s own popular order, which follows active installs. Monster Widget leads with 700+ active installs, ahead of Category Template Hierarchy (100+) and What Template Am I Using (80+). All 17 plugins tagged “theme development” 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 theme development plugins
- 1.
Monster WidgetThe most installed theme development plugin, with 700+ active installs. Rated 5.0 from 8 reviews, last updated 8 years ago. Tested only up to WordPress 4.9.35.
- 2.
Category Template Hierarchy100+ active installs. Only 3 reviews so far, last updated 14 years ago. Tested only up to WordPress 3.3.2.
- 3.
What Template Am I Using80+ active installs. Rated 4.8 from 13 reviews, last updated 10 years ago. Tested only up to WordPress 4.4.0.
- 4.
Block Widgets Monster30+ active installs. Only 2 reviews so far, updated 1 month ago.
- 5.
WP Fake Image Replacer10+ active installs. Only 2 reviews so far, last updated 13 years ago. Tested only up to WordPress 3.5.2.
- 6.
BuddyPress Monster Widget10+ active installs. Only 3 reviews so far, last updated 10 years ago.
- 7.
Eazy HTML5 Elements10+ active installs. No reviews yet, last updated 8 years ago. Tested only up to WordPress 4.9.35.
- 8.
bbPress Monster Widget10+ active installs. No reviews yet, last updated 10 years ago.
- 9.
Matty Theme QuickSwitch10+ active installs. Only 1 review so far, last updated 14 years ago. Tested only up to WordPress 3.4.2.
- 10.
Zodan Text UpfunkerFewer than 10 active installs. Only 1 review so far, updated 1 month ago.
All 17 plugins tagged “theme development”
Monster Widget
Down in the last 7 days:40#8,021by Automattic9 years ago
Provides a quick and easy method of adding all core widgets to a sidebar for testing purposes.
- Installs
- 700+
- Rating
- 5.0(8)
- Downloads
- 11/day
Category Template Hierarchy
Down in the last 7 days:19#16,482by Eddie Moya14 years ago
Adds parent-category.php, child-category.php, and child-category-{slug|id} templates to the hierarchy and conditional tags to match.
- Installs
- 100+
- Rating
- 5.0(3)
- Downloads
- 0/day
What Template Am I Using
Down in the last 7 days:114#17,512by webdeveric11 years ago
This plugin is intended for theme developers to use. It shows the current template being used to render the page, current post type, and much more.
- Installs
- 80+
- Rating
- 4.8(13)
- Downloads
- 0/day
Block Widgets Monster
Down in the last 7 days:69#24,154by RGB Lab1 month ago
Quick and easy testing of multiple WordPress and/or WooCommerce block/legacy widgets. Not intended for production use.
- Installs
- 30+
- Rating
- 5.0(2)
- Downloads
- 0/day
WP Fake Image Replacer
Down in the last 7 days:247#34,304by maximebj13 years ago
WP Fake Image Replacer generates fake post thumbnail images. Useful in theme development process. Now works with ACF fields.
- Installs
- 10+
- Rating
- 5.0(2)
- Downloads
- 0/day
BuddyPress Monster Widget
Up in the last 7 days:3,029#40,388by @mercime10 years ago
Provides a quick and easy method of adding all BuddyPress core widgets to a sidebar for testing purposes.
- Installs
- 10+
- Rating
- 5.0(3)
- Downloads
- 0/day
Eazy HTML5 Elements
Up in the last 7 days:4,370#41,097by Rob Scott8 years ago
Eazy HTML5 Elements displays most HTML elements using a shortcode. This allows theme developers to visualize how HTML elements will display.
- Installs
- 10+
- Rating
- –
- Downloads
- 0/day
bbPress Monster Widget
#45,117by @mercime10 years ago
Provides a quick and easy method of adding all bbPress core widgets to a sidebar for testing purposes.
- Installs
- 10+
- Rating
- –
- Downloads
- 0/day
Matty Theme QuickSwitch
#45,324by Matt Cohen14 years ago
Quickly switch between themes via a menu in the WordPress Toolbar.
- Installs
- 10+
- Rating
- 5.0(1)
- Downloads
- 0/day
Zodan Text Upfunker
Up in the last 7 days:18,388#55,006by Marten Moolenaar1 month ago
Funking up your texts by selecting html elements in your theme and assigning animation styles.
- Installs
- <10
- Rating
- 5.0(1)
- Downloads
- 6/day
Zodan Theme Switcher
Up in the last 7 days:6,254#61,503by Marten Moolenaar1 month ago
Allow (certain) users(roles) to easily switch to another theme. Non-persistent, so regular users won't be bothered.
- Installs
- <10
- Rating
- 5.0(2)
- Downloads
- 0/day
Zodan One-time Login Link
Up in the last 7 days:164#65,513by Marten Moolenaar1 month ago
Allow users to securely log in once without a password.
- Installs
- <10
- Rating
- –
- Downloads
- 0/day
ChildMaker AI
#67,929by Javier A. D. Castillo2 months ago
Create child themes quickly and easily from your WordPress admin panel — clean, simple, and safe.
- Installs
- <10
- Rating
- –
- Downloads
- 0/day
Antwork Field Code for ACF & SCF
#70,889by Antwork7 days ago
PHP code generator for ACF and SCF: escaped, ready-to-paste snippets that display the fields of a field group in your theme.
- Installs
- <10
- Rating
- –
- Downloads
- 41/day
Engipress EasyQuery
Down in the last 7 days:9,402#71,510by engipress6 months ago
Clean and fluent WP_Query helpers for developers building custom WordPress themes from scratch.
- Installs
- <10
- Rating
- –
- Downloads
- 0/day
WP My Favourites
#71,580by Neelkanth Kaushik9 years ago
Choose your favourite posts, pages, comments, media and reorder them to display anywhere on your website.
- Installs
- <10
- Rating
- 5.0(1)
- Downloads
- 0/day