5 Best Urvanov Syntax Highlighter Alternatives in 2026
Updated September 7, 2026 · Ranked by how closely each plugin matches, from WordPress.org data · How this works
Urvanov Syntax Highlighter has 3,000+ active installs on WordPress.org. These 5 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 5 closest alternatives to Urvanov Syntax Highlighter
- 1
Enlighter
Closest matchEnlighter – Customizable Syntax Highlighter
4.8 (65) 10,000+ active installsAll-in-one Syntax Highlighting solution. Full Gutenberg and Classic Editor integration. Graphical theme customizer. Based on EnlighterJS.
Shares the highlighter, highlighting, syntax highlighter tags on WordPress.org. About 3.3 times the installs, last updated April 13, 2026.
- 2
4.5 (28) 400+ active installsAllows Markdown to be enabled in posts, comments and bbPress forums.
Shares the code, syntax highlighter tags on WordPress.org. 400+ installs against 3,000+, no update since December 27, 2017.
- 3
Code Block Pro – Beautiful Syntax Highlighting
4.8 (50) 10,000+ active installsCode highlighting powered by the VS Code engine. Performance focused. No bloat.
Shares the code, highlighter tags on WordPress.org. About 3.3 times the installs, last updated 23 days ago.
- 4
4.4 (110) 50,000+ active installsAdd syntax highlighting to WordPress code editors using CodeMirror.js
Shares the code highlighter, syntax highlighter tags on WordPress.org. About 17 times the installs, no update since March 16, 2024.
- 5
5.0 (41) 1,000+ active installsCodeMirror Blocks is useful for tutorial site where display formatted (highlighted) code block. With support of 100+ Language/Mode and 56 Themes.
Shares the syntax highlighter tag on WordPress.org. About a third of the installs, no update since April 9, 2024.
Switching from Urvanov Syntax Highlighter: common questions
What is the best alternative to Urvanov Syntax Highlighter?
Enlighter is the closest match: it shares the same WordPress.org tags and has 10,000+ active installs with a 4.8 out of 5 rating.
Which Urvanov Syntax Highlighter alternative has the most users?
HTML Editor Syntax Highlighter, with 50,000+ active installs reported by WordPress.org.
Which Urvanov Syntax Highlighter alternative is rated highest?
Enlighter, rated 4.8 out of 5 by 65 reviewers. Only plugins with at least 50 reviews are counted.
Are these Urvanov Syntax Highlighter 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 Urvanov Syntax Highlighter 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 Urvanov Syntax Highlighter 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
Enlighter is the closest match to Urvanov Syntax Highlighter by the data we track, and HTML Editor Syntax Highlighter has the widest reach with 50,000+ active installs. Code Block Pro shipped the most recent release, on August 15, 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.