6 Best Debug Bar Console Alternatives in 2026
Updated September 7, 2026 · Ranked by how closely each plugin matches, from WordPress.org data · How this works
Debug Bar Console has 1,000+ active installs on WordPress.org. These 6 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 6 closest alternatives to Debug Bar Console
- 1
Freesoul Deactivate Plugins – Disable plugins on individual WordPress pages
4.8 (104) 8,000+ active installsLoad plugins only where you need them. No bloat, no conflicts, more speed. Deactivate plugins where they don't add anything useful.
Shares the debugging tag on WordPress.org. About 8 times the installs, last updated 13 days ago.
- 2
5.0 (22) 3,000+ active installsRead, search, and clear WordPress debug logs from wp-admin. Toggle WP_DEBUG and inspect errors without FTP.
Shares the debugging tag on WordPress.org. About 3 times the installs, last updated June 23, 2026.
- 3
4.9 (24) 10,000+ active installsDisplay a maintenance mode page and allow invited visitors to bypass the functionality to preview the site.
Shares the developer tag on WordPress.org. About 10 times the installs, last updated May 21, 2026.
- 4
4.9 (205) 10,000+ active installsFakerPress is a clean way to generate fake and dummy content to your WordPress, great for developers who need testing
Shares the developer tag on WordPress.org. About 10 times the installs, last updated July 24, 2026.
- 5
5.0 (63) 1,000+ active installsSimply Show Hooks helps theme and plugin developers to quickly see where all the action and filter hooks are on any WordPress page.
Shares the developer tag on WordPress.org. A similar number of installs, last updated July 2, 2026.
- 6
Debug Log Manager – Conveniently Monitor and Inspect Errors
5.0 (25) 10,000+ active installsLog PHP, database and JavaScript errors via WP_DEBUG with one click. Conveniently create, view, filter and clear the debug.log file.
Shares the developer tag on WordPress.org. About 10 times the installs, last updated June 26, 2026.
Switching from Debug Bar Console: common questions
What is the best alternative to Debug Bar Console?
Freesoul Deactivate Plugins is the closest match: it shares the same WordPress.org tags and has 8,000+ active installs with a 4.8 out of 5 rating.
Which Debug Bar Console alternative has the most users?
Maintenance Redirect, with 10,000+ active installs reported by WordPress.org.
Which Debug Bar Console alternative is rated highest?
Simply Show Hooks, rated 5.0 out of 5 by 63 reviewers. Only plugins with at least 50 reviews are counted.
Are these Debug Bar Console 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 Debug Bar Console 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 Debug Bar Console 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
Freesoul Deactivate Plugins is the closest match to Debug Bar Console by the data we track, and Maintenance Redirect has the widest reach with 10,000+ active installs. Freesoul Deactivate Plugins shipped the most recent release, on August 25, 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.