Admin Color Schemes

How well this listing is tuned to rank in WordPress.org search, on the factors an owner controls. Not popularity, optimization.

Directory rank

wp.org popularity rank over time · lower is better

How often this plugin actually ships. A steady rhythm is the maintenance signal a single "last updated" date can't show.

Share of active installs on each version of this plugin · 78% run the current release. Green is the current release; a big slice on older versions is a user base that has stopped updating.

Refined from the date this plugin crossed into its current band.

No paid tier is visible, so we don't put a figure on revenue or sale value: that would be guessing. The install base is a real asset to an acquirer, just not one public data lets us price. A small install base leaves thin data to model from.

Reviewers like how the extra schemes make it easy to tell sites apart at a glance, though a few want a color picker for custom brand colors and one wonders whether it's still maintained.

1. ★★★★★ grrog

   4.0y ago

   Excellent for quickly differentiating the different states of the site (production, experimental and under development)!

   Read on wp.org ↗
2. ★★★★★ lausianne

   6.2y ago

   My misconception, probably, but I thought this was for creating my own color scheme. Just adding a few additional presets, I don’t see the point, sorry. The only reason for me to change the color scheme would be to set it to the website brand colors. So if there were a thousand additional presets, there would still hardly be one that matches any of my clients colors …

   Read on wp.org ↗
3. ★★★★★ Knut Sparhell

   7.9y ago

   A plugin all should have. Combine with “Default Admin Color Scheme” plugin.

   Read on wp.org ↗
4. ★★★★★ morespinach

   9.5y ago

   Far simpler and cleaner than many “admin theme” plugins out there. Gorgeous, thank you!

   Read on wp.org ↗
5. ★★★★★ Randall Camacho

   9.6y ago

   i hope it is maintained 🙁 over 1 year and no updates

   Read on wp.org ↗
6. ★★★★★ klewis

   9.8y ago

   This is a future request for the possibility of adding a color picker tool, to allow admin users to create their own 5 color combination schemes. Great plugin, but would love to brand the admin with colors I want to use. Is this possible?

   Read on wp.org ↗
7. ★★★★★ Kyle Bondo

   9.9y ago

   Simple. Easy. Works! You cannot ask more from a plugin!

   Read on wp.org ↗
8. ★★★★★ Robert Noakes

   10.2y ago

   Now I’m hooked on Aubergine. 🙂

   Read on wp.org ↗

Recent releases and news for this plugin

1. — Version 3.0.0 New scheme — “Modern Evergreen” theme, inspired by the WordPress 5.9 release art. New feature — Style the editor to match the selected color scheme. Update Sass files to match core changes from 5.5 – 5.9: Buttons styled 3.0.0
2. — Version 2.3 Add new “Adderley” theme, inspired by the WordPress 5.4 release art. Add new “Kirk” theme, inspired by the WordPress 5.3 release art. Add new “Contrast Blue” theme, a light color scheme with high contrast text. Update Sa 2.3
3. — Version 2.2 Update Sass files to match 4.4 core changes: new button styles, remove jQuery UI styles, more updates to menu focus styles. 2.2
4. — Version 2.1 Update Sass files to match 4.3 core changes: touch & keyboard focus styles for admin bar, TinyMCE buttons, remove thickbox plugin styles. Update grunt tasks & packages. 2.1
5. — Version 2.0 Update Sass files to match 4.1 core changes: Adds support for new elements, and fixes publish button’s color-flash on save. Stop forcing load of colors-fresh.css 2.0
6. — Version 1.0 Initial Release 1.0

Automated install-time checks, tested on PHP 7.4.8 · WP 5.9

Translated into 10 languages, 10 at 90% or more

Growth timeline

Install-tier crossings we have observed, and how long each tier took to outgrow

1. 2025-05-01 5K+ → 4K+ down after 2 days in tier
2. 2025-04-29 4K+ → 5K+ up after 1 days in tier
3. 2025-04-28 5K+ → 4K+ down after 500 days in tier
4. 2023-12-15 6K+ → 5K+ down after 3 days in tier
5. 2023-12-12 5K+ → 6K+ up after 3 days in tier
6. 2023-12-09 6K+ → 5K+ down

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Admin Color Schemes: 4K+ active installs, 4.8★ (26 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-08-29. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/admin-color-schemes