Plugin Pulse
← Pulse
D

Disable Widget Block Editor

by Express Themes · Blocks

Free audit wp.org ↗

Disables the new widget block editor page of gutenberg and brings back the old widgets page.

⚠ Stale⚠ Likely abandoned⚠ Few reviews
How scoring works →
44 Health · D
Maintenance 3/100
Rating quality 73/100
Support 70/100

44 health vs 67 average across 1,682 Blocks plugins

400+

Active installs

≈450 estimated

6.6K

Total downloads

since 2020

3.92★

Rating (adjusted)

4.0★ raw · 4 reviews

+33%

88

Downloads · 30d

category median +14%

Removal-risk signals

53/100

Maintenance and integrity signals that tend to precede a WordPress.org removal. Not an official status, a heads-up to act.

  • Long abandoned. No update in 5+ years — the top precursor to removal once a vulnerability is found.
  • Falling behind WordPress. Tested up to WordPress 5.5.20.

Directory ranking optimization

How it's scored →

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

31 / 100

Under-optimized

Biggest win: Update recency

Update recency 2/100
WP compatibility 22/100
Rating quality 54/100
Listing tuning 52/100

To rank higher: Last updated 2164 days ago — ship an update; wp.org decays a listing's search weight after ~180 days.

Get the full rank-higher report →

Daily downloads

Since 2022-10-05 · 1,425 days · wp.org + Plugin Pulse archive

+33% vs prior 30d
0Downloads · Aug 26

30-day downloads

Rolling 30-day volume · peaks are release surges

88

now · peak 173

9830d downloads · Aug 26

Directory rank vs rivals

wp.org popularity rank over time · higher is better · when a rival's line climbs above yours, they've overtaken you

Disable Widget Block · #9419 you Classic Editor · #4 Classic Widgets · #24 Advanced Editor Tool · #30

Rating trend

Star average over time · dips mark rough releases

4Stars · Aug 26

Update activity

How busy the existing users are, measured as downloads in the last 30 days for every 1,000 active sites. A spike means a new release everyone's pulling; a long, slow decline means an aging user base that updates less.

245per 1k installs · Aug 26

What its installed base runs

via wordpress.org

Share of active installs on each version of this plugin · 100% run the current release. Green is the current release; a big slice on older versions is a user base that has stopped updating.

v1.0 100%

Estimated active installs

The public count shows “400+”. Our estimate pins where the real number sits.

tracked estimate
400–500 ≈450

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

Install history · since 2021-06-25 · 1,419 observations

400Installs · Aug 26

Estimated value

What this plugin might earn a year, and what it might sell for. Modeled from public signals; we don't see anyone's books.

Est. annual revenue

N/A

Est. acquisition value

N/A

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.

Ratings · 4 reviews

Read on wp.org ↗
5★
3 4★
0 3★
0 2★
0 1★
1

Details

Version
1.0.0
Last updated
5.9y ago
Added
2020-09-25 · 5 yrs old
Requires WP
4.9
Tested up to
5.5.20
Requires PHP
—
Changelog ↗Support forum ↗Reviews ↗Advanced stats ↗

Recent review vibe

read from the latest 4 reviews to 2022-05-04
Mixed PraiseCompatibility

Some reviewers call it handy for switching off the block widget editor, while others say it didn't work for them or that the classic widgets it restores feel limited.

Recent reviews

All reviews on wp.org ↗
  1. ★★★★★ Anonymous User 11986954
    4.3y ago

    How the new block widget mess can be so slow and buggy and still shipped in production, is embarassing.

    Read on wp.org ↗
  2. ★★★★★ samy9980
    5.0y ago

    I don’t like the way it shows the older widget, not full featured, there are better ones out their This topic was modified 4 years, 10 months ago by samy9980.

    Read on wp.org ↗
  3. ★★★★★ earth_human
    5.0y ago

    This didn’t work for me but the plugin named “Restore Classic Widgets” did work.

    Read on wp.org ↗
  4. ★★★★★ strarsis
    5.7y ago

    This plugin is very handy. Because of a bug, I had the need to disable the Widget Block Editor while still using the Gutenberg plugin.

    Read on wp.org ↗

Behavioral tests

via WP Hive

Automated install-time checks, tested on PHP 7.4.8 · WP 5.6

✓ Low memory footprint
✓ Low page-speed impact
✓ Runs on latest PHP + WP
✓ No PHP errors
✓ No JS errors
✓ Activates cleanly
✓ No resource errors
✓ No external HTTP errors
✓ Optimized database use
✕ Frequently updated

Growth timeline

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

  1. 2026-04-23 500+ → 400+ down after 305 days in tier
  2. 2025-06-22 600+ → 500+ down after 1 days in tier
  3. 2025-06-21 500+ → 600+ up after 3 days in tier
  4. 2025-06-18 600+ → 500+ down after 1 days in tier
  5. 2025-06-17 500+ → 600+ up after 3 days in tier
  6. 2025-06-14 600+ → 500+ down after 217 days in tier
  7. 2024-11-09 700+ → 600+ down after 1 days in tier
  8. 2024-11-08 600+ → 700+ up after 3 days in tier

Competes with

The plugins that solve the same job, ranked by shared tags then reach, closest match first. The letter on the right is each plugin's health grade (A best, F worst).

Compare head to head →

Embed this report card

Drop a live Pulse card for Disable Widget Block Editor into a readme, a review or a deck. It updates itself.

<iframe src="https://plugins.wpmayor.com/embed/disable-widget-block-editor" width="480" height="300" style="border:0" loading="lazy" title="Disable Widget Block Editor — Plugin Pulse"></iframe>
Preview card ↗

Disable Widget Block Editor: 400+ active installs, 4.0★ (4 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-08-29. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/disable-widget-block-editor