7 Best Classic Widgets Alternatives in 2026
Updated September 7, 2026 · Ranked by how closely each plugin matches, from WordPress.org data · How this works
Classic Widgets has 2 million+ active installs on WordPress.org. These 7 plugins share its category or its tags on WordPress.org, are actively maintained, and each has at least 100 active installs. They are ordered by how closely they match, not by our opinion.
The 7 closest alternatives to Classic Widgets
- 1
Advanced Editor Tools
Closest match4.5 (354) 1 million+ active installsExtends and enhances the block editor (Gutenberg) and the classic editor (TinyMCE).
Shares the editor, gutenberg tags on WordPress.org. About half the installs, rated 4.5 against 4.9, last updated 12 days ago.
- 2
4.9 (1,246) 8 million+ active installsEnables the previous "classic" editor and the old-style Edit Post screen with TinyMCE, Meta Boxes, etc. Supports all plugins that extend this screen.
Shares the editor, gutenberg tags on WordPress.org. About 4 times the installs, last updated May 28, 2026.
- 3
5.0 (735) 500,000+ active installsDisable Gutenberg Block Editor and restore the Classic Editor and original Edit Post screen (TinyMCE, meta boxes, etc.).
Shares the editor, gutenberg tags on WordPress.org. About a quarter of the installs, rated 5.0 against 4.9, last updated July 18, 2026.
- 4
Spectra Legacy – Gutenberg Blocks
4.7 (1,870) 1 million+ active installsGutenberg blocks for existing Spectra websites. Maintained, stable, and fully supported — no action needed on your part.
Shares the editor, gutenberg tags on WordPress.org. About half the installs, rated 4.7 against 4.9, last updated 12 days ago.
- 5
Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor
4.8 (332) 600,000+ active installs20+ Gutenberg Blocks with endless options, enabling top-notch efficiency for high-performance dynamic website creation.
Shares the editor, gutenberg tags on WordPress.org. About a third of the installs, rated 4.8 against 4.9, last updated 5 days ago.
- 6
4.9 (122) 200,000+ active installsA small collection of lightweight WordPress blocks that can accomplish nearly anything.
Shares the editor, gutenberg tags on WordPress.org. 200,000+ installs against 2 million+, last updated 20 days ago.
- 7
5.0 (22) 1,000+ active installsThis plugin will disable the visual editor for selected page/post..
Shares the disable, editor tags on WordPress.org. 1,000+ installs against 2 million+, no update since February 21, 2018.
Switching from Classic Widgets: common questions
What is the best alternative to Classic Widgets?
Advanced Editor Tools is the closest match: it shares the same WordPress.org tags and has 1 million+ active installs with a 4.5 out of 5 rating.
Which Classic Widgets alternative has the most users?
Classic Editor, with 8 million+ active installs reported by WordPress.org.
Which Classic Widgets alternative is rated highest?
Disable Gutenberg, rated 5.0 out of 5 by 735 reviewers. Only plugins with at least 50 reviews are counted.
Are these Classic Widgets alternatives free?
Every plugin listed here is free to install from WordPress.org. Where WordPress.org marks a plugin as commercial, the developer also sells a paid version or add-ons, and that is shown on each plugin.
How are alternatives chosen?
Automatically, from WordPress.org data: plugins that share a category top 10 with Classic Widgets score highest, then plugins that appear in the same WordPress.org rankings, then plugins with the same tags, weighted so rare tags count more than common ones. Plugins by the same author and plugins rated under 4.0 are left out.
How we choose these alternatives
Nothing on this page is picked by hand. Every day we walk the whole WordPress.org directory, then score every plugin against Classic Widgets on three signals: sharing a category top 10 counts most, then appearing in the same WordPress.org rankings, then carrying the same tags, with rare tags counting for more than common ones like "wordpress". Plugins by the same author are excluded, so an author's own add-ons cannot fill the list, and so is anything rated below 4.0 or with fewer than 100 active installs. The ten highest scores are what you see, in that order. Full methodology.
The bottom line
Advanced Editor Tools is the closest match to Classic Widgets by the data we track, and Classic Editor has the widest reach with 8 million+ active installs. Kadence Blocks shipped the most recent release, on September 2, 2026. The list is rebuilt every day from WordPress.org, so a plugin that stops being maintained drops out on its own.
Weekly · free
What moved this week
One email a week, built from the same daily snapshots these rankings come from: the plugins that climbed, what launched, and one ranking worth a look.