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Best WordPress Plugins for Highlighter

15 plugins compared · Updated August 2026 · Highlighter

All Free only 15 Premium only

Choosing a WordPress plugin for highlighter 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. Code Block Pro Best overall 85/100
  2. 2. Enlighter 82/100
  3. 3. RichText Extension 80/100
  4. 4. Urvanov Syntax Highlighter 78/100
  5. 5. Code Prettify 51/100
  6. 6. Simple Code Highlighter 48/100
  7. 7. WP Code Prettify 47/100
  8. 8. Auto SyntaxHighlighter 46/100
  9. 9. Syntax Highlighter Compress 46/100
  10. 10. Announcement ticker highlighter scroller 45/100
  11. 11. APH Prism Syntax Highlighter 45/100
  12. 12. Prettify Code Syntax 45/100
  13. 13. Highlight Bookmark Manager 41/100
  14. 14. Syntax Highlighter MT 38/100
  15. 15. Google Syntax Highlighter for WordPress 38/100
1 Code Block Pro
Best overall Free by Kevin Batdorf

Code Block Pro

Code highlighting powered by the VS Code engine. Performance focused. No bloat.

4.8★
from 50 ratings
10k+
active installs
Updated
Aug 2026
Tested to
WP 7.1
85

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org
2 Enlighter
Free by Andi Dittrich

Enlighter

All-in-one Syntax Highlighting solution. Full Gutenberg and Classic Editor integration. Graphical theme customizer. Based on EnlighterJS.

4.8★
from 65 ratings
10k+
active installs
Updated
Apr 2026
Tested to
WP 6.9.7
82

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org
4 Urvanov Syntax Highlighter
Free by urvanov

Urvanov Syntax Highlighter

Reincarnation of Crayon Syntax Highlighter. Syntax Highlighter supporting multiple languages, themes, fonts, highlighting from a URL, or post text.

4.5★
from 19 ratings
3k+
active installs
Updated
Mar 2026
Tested to
WP 6.9.7
78

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org
5 Code Prettify
Free by volca

Code Prettify

100% automatic code highlighting using the Prettify library. No shortcodes, no classnames, fully automatic and pure awesome.

5★
from 18 ratings
1k+
active installs
Updated
Oct 2022
Tested to
WP 6.0.14
51

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org
7 WP Code Prettify
Free by Soli

WP Code Prettify

This plugin enable syntax highlighting of code snippets in your post using Google Code Prettify.

4.7★
from 3 ratings
200+
active installs
Updated
Apr 2019
Tested to
WP 5.2.26
47

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org
8 Auto SyntaxHighlighter
Free by digihero

Auto SyntaxHighlighter

Auto SyntaxHighlighter is a WordPress Code highlight plugin. Use editor botton, in the pop-up window, paste or write your code, oh, very simple.

4.3★
from 6 ratings
100+
active installs
Updated
May 2012
Tested to
WP 3.3.2
46

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org
9 Syntax Highlighter Compress
Free by agmorpheus

Syntax Highlighter Compress

Syntax Highlighter ComPress is a plugin for code syntax highlighting. It loads fast on the website and code can pasted easily into Wordpress.

4.8★
from 5 ratings
80+
active installs
Updated
Nov 2011
Tested to
WP 3.2.1
46

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org
11 APH Prism Syntax Highlighter
Free by Agus Prawoto Hadi

APH Prism Syntax Highlighter

Bringing Prism into WordPress easily. User-friendly GUI, support both classic editor and block editor. Support tab & back-tab in the code editor.

3.9★
from 7 ratings
90+
active installs
Updated
Feb 2023
Tested to
WP 6.1.12
45

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org
12 Prettify Code Syntax
Free by jesucarr

Prettify Code Syntax

Code syntax highlighter using Google Prettify, supporting the HTML5 recommendation, and caching plugins.

4.2★
from 12 ratings
80+
active installs
Updated
Mar 2013
Tested to
WP 3.5.2
45

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org
13 Highlight Bookmark Manager
Free by Highlight Bookmark

Highlight Bookmark Manager

Allow readers to highlight and bookmark POSTs with simply highlight buttons. Easy to add personal notes on POSTs and share.

3.7★
from 6 ratings
10+
active installs
Updated
Aug 2016
Tested to
WP 3.4.2
41

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org