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Best Free WordPress Plugins for Disable

15 plugins compared · Updated August 2026 · Disable

All 15 Free only Premium only

Choosing a WordPress plugin for disable comes down to a few things: whether it is still actively maintained, whether real users rate it well, and whether it does the specific job you need without dragging the rest of the site down.

We ranked 15 plugins using our WPScore, which weighs the user rating (adjusted for how many people actually rated it), how many sites run it, how recently it was updated, and which WordPress version it is tested against. 15 of them have enough public data to be scored; the rest are listed below the ranked block, clearly marked, rather than being given a number we cannot justify.

How this list is funded. Some links here earn us a commission if you buy. It costs you nothing extra, and it does not move anything up the list — the order comes from the WPScore, which is calculated from public ratings, install counts and update history. See the method.

At a glance

  1. 1. Disable Gutenberg Best overall 93/100
  2. 2. Disable Comments 92/100
  3. 3. Disable Emojis 89/100
  4. 4. Classic Widgets 88/100
  5. 5. Disable Admin Notices 88/100
  6. 6. Disable WP REST API 86/100
  7. 7. Disable Everything 86/100
  8. 8. Disabled Source, Disabled Right Click and Content Protection 86/100
  9. 9. Disable XML-RPC 85/100
  10. 10. Classic Editor and Classic Widgets 85/100
  11. 11. WP Comment Cleaner 85/100
  12. 12. Disable All WordPress Updates 85/100
  13. 13. Disable Media Sizes 85/100
  14. 14. Disable Comments & Delete All Comments 85/100
  15. 15. Widget Disable 84/100
1 Disable Gutenberg
Best overall Free by Jeff Starr

Disable Gutenberg

Disable Gutenberg Block Editor and restore the Classic Editor and original Edit Post screen (TinyMCE, meta boxes, etc.).

5★
from 733 ratings
500k+
active installs
Updated
Jul 2026
Tested to
WP 7.1
93

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org
2 Disable Comments
Free by WPDeveloper

Disable Comments

Allows administrators to globally disable comments on their site. Comments can be disabled according to post type. Multisite friendly.

4.7★
from 280 ratings
1M+
active installs
Updated
Jul 2026
Tested to
WP 7.0.4
92

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org
3 Disable Emojis
Free by Ryan Hellyer

Disable Emojis

Disable the WordPress emoji functionality to improve performance and privacy.

5★
from 108 ratings
60k+
active installs
Updated
Jun 2026
Tested to
WP 7.0.4
89

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org
4 Classic Widgets
Free by Tonya Mork

Classic Widgets

Enables the previous "classic" widgets settings screens in Appearance - Widgets and the Customizer. Disables the block editor from managing widgets.

4.9★
from 272 ratings
2M+
active installs
Updated
Dec 2025
Tested to
WP 6.9.7
88

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org
5 Disable Admin Notices
Free by Themeisle

Disable Admin Notices

Disable admin notices and hide dashboard notifications from plugins, themes and core. Hide all notices, selected ones, or show them in a single line.

4.7★
from 364 ratings
100k+
active installs
Updated
Aug 2026
Tested to
WP 7.1
88

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org
11 WP Comment Cleaner
Free by royalnavneet

WP Comment Cleaner

Delete, disable, and clean all comments in one click. Easily manage, bulk delete, or completely disable comments across your entire WordPress site.

4.7★
from 58 ratings
20k+
active installs
Updated
Jun 2026
Tested to
WP 7.0.4
85

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org