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Best WordPress Plugins for Debug Bar

13 plugins compared · Updated August 2026 · Debug Bar

All Free only 13 Premium only

Choosing a WordPress plugin for debug bar 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 13 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. 13 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. Query Monitor Best overall 87/100
  2. 2. Debug Bar 81/100
  3. 3. ElasticPress Debugging Add-On 78/100
  4. 4. Black Bar 78/100
  5. 5. Debug Bar Console 77/100
  6. 6. Debug Bar Rewrite Rules 55/100
  7. 7. Debug Bar Cron 53/100
  8. 8. Debug Bar 53/100
  9. 9. BugFu Console Debugger 49/100
  10. 10. Debug Bar Actions and Filters Addon 48/100
  11. 11. Debug Bar Slow Actions 48/100
  12. 12. BlackBox Debug Bar 46/100
  13. 13. Timber Debug Bar 41/100
1 Query Monitor
Best overall Free by John Blackbourn

Query Monitor

Query Monitor is the developer tools panel for WordPress and WooCommerce.

4.9★
from 469 ratings
200k+
active installs
Updated
Jun 2026
Tested to
WP 7.0.4
87

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org
2 Debug Bar
Free by WordPress.org

Debug Bar

Adds a debug menu to the admin bar that shows query, cache, and other helpful debugging information.

4.1★
from 69 ratings
20k+
active installs
Updated
Mar 2026
Tested to
WP 7.0.4
81

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org
4 Black Bar
Free by Gemini Labs

Black Bar

Black Bar is an unobtrusive Debug Bar for WordPress developers that attaches itself to the bottom of the browser window.

5★
from 9 ratings
500+
active installs
Updated
May 2026
Tested to
WP 7.0.4
78

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org
6 Debug Bar Rewrite Rules
Free by Oleg Butuzov

Debug Bar Rewrite Rules

Debug Bar Rewrite Rules adds a new panel to Debug Bar that displays information about WordPress Rewrites Rules (if used).

5★
from 5 ratings
700+
active installs
Updated
Jul 2024
Tested to
WP 6.5.10
55

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org
7 Debug Bar Cron
Free by Zack Tollman

Debug Bar Cron

Debug Bar Cron adds a new panel to Debug Bar that displays information about WP scheduled events.

5★
from 3 ratings
400+
active installs
Updated
Dec 2013
53

WPScore

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8 Debug Bar
Free by Puvox Software

Debug Bar

[ ✅ 𝐒𝐄𝐂𝐔𝐑𝐄 𝐏𝐋𝐔𝐆𝐈𝐍𝐒 b𝓎 𝒫𝓊𝓋𝑜𝓍] You can easily enable WP_DEBUG using a toolbar button. READ DESCRIPTION!

1.8★
from 5 ratings
100+
active installs
Updated
Oct 2024
Tested to
WP 6.5.10
53

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org
12 BlackBox Debug Bar
Free by Greg Winiarski

BlackBox Debug Bar

BlackBox is a plugin for plugin and theme developers. It collects and displays useful debug information (errors, executed queries, globals, profiler).

4.6★
from 15 ratings
90+
active installs
Updated
Mar 2013
Tested to
WP 3.5.2
46

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org