Enlighter – Customizable Syntax Highlighter

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

Directory searches this plugin turns up in, and which way each one is moving. WordPress.org publishes no history of search positions, so this starts the day we first tracked a keyword and never backfills.

wp.org is where the directory puts the plugin for that search. On merit is where it would sit if results were ranked on rating, support and updates, without the install boost. The last column is how far the wp.org position moved, from our first reading in the last 90 days to the latest.

91 searches this plugin appeared in over the last 90 days, 20 listed. 66 left out as unrelated or noise (years, numbers, stray words). 1 of its tags isn't in the top 24 for their own search.

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

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 · 43% run the current release. Green is the current release; a big slice on older versions is a user base that has stopped updating.

Crossed into this band 24 months ago; the previous band took 4.3 years to cross, which places it about 55% of the way through.

1. ★★★★★ techarohaaisolution

   3.1y ago

   I have been using the “Enlighter – Customizable Syntax Highlighter” plugin for an extended period, and it has consistently impressed me with its functionality and user-friendliness. Moreover, the real game-changer for us was the ability to develop an extension of the plugin called “Enlighter – Extension With Run Button.” This extension added a unique and invaluable feature to our code blocks – a “Run” button. Now, not only can we showcase our code snippets beautifully, but we can also execute them directly on our website, making it an incredibly powerful tool for educational purposes and demonstrations. I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to the developers and maintainers of the Enlighter plugin for their dedication to providing such a fantastic tool to the coding community. This plugin has not only improved the overall aesthetics of our website but has also enhanced the user experience for our visitors.

   Read on wp.org ↗
2. ★★★★★ Abu Zar Mishwani

   3.8y ago

   Enlighter is an amazing plugin that makes it easy to add beautiful, customizable syntax highlighting to your WordPress site. It’s incredibly simple to use, and the results are stunning. The plugin has a wide range of options for customizing the look and feel of code blocks, from the language highlighting to the font and color settings. It also has an intuitive user interface that makes it easy to make changes quickly. I’ve been using Enlighter for a year, and it’s been a great addition to my WordPress site. Highly recommended!

   Read on wp.org ↗
3. ★★★★★ Anonymous User 13836360

   4.1y ago

   Good

   Read on wp.org ↗
4. ★★★★★ fredpan

   5.5y ago

   AMAZING! Can’t say anymore… Make my tech blog possible!

   Read on wp.org ↗
5. ★★★★★ gwrowe

   5.5y ago

   This is an excellent code highlighter, which allows full blocks of code or inline code snippets to be highlighted. It works well with the WordPress Ennova theme up to PHP 7.4. My only minor complaint is that there doesn’t seem to be any way of setting the default language (e.g. Python) to be highlighted, so that every time some code is inserted or an inline snippet is selected, the language must be selected again from a drop-down menu. Since I’d imagine most users would work in the same language for a while, a default setting would be very useful. Other than that, I would recommend it highly.

   Read on wp.org ↗
6. ★★★★★ Marcus

   5.5y ago

   Works very well with bbPress and looks to be an excellent highlighter in general. I’m a longtime user of syntaxhighlighter evolved (which doesn’t work with bbPress from what I’ve seen), and am pleasantly surprised by the versatility of this plugin, I’m a convert now! Thanks for the great plugin!

   Read on wp.org ↗
7. ★★★★★ xukyo

   6.0y ago

   I’ve been looking for a good snippet plugin for some time. thanks a lot. It just misses the ability to limit the number of lines displayed. This is my workaround. In Appearance > Customize > Additional CSS Add those lines .enlighter-default{ max-height: 600px; overflow: auto; }

   Read on wp.org ↗
8. ★★★★★ foxbeefly

   6.0y ago

   Crayon seems to no longer work so I switched to this plugin. Super-easy to use and fully featured – no problems so far. Will have to get my a-into-g at some stage and have a look at creating a “theme”? for Visual Basic for Applications (using VB for now).

   Read on wp.org ↗

Recent releases and news for this plugin

1. — Version 4.7.0 Bugfix: WordPress v6.7.0 compatibility regarding text domain transltions calls Changed: PHP 8.4 compatibility Changed: updated Repository URLs to new Codeberg.org repository Changed: wp-skltn library updated to 0.31.0 – 4.7.0
2. — Version 4.6.1 Bugfix: pre wrapper introduced in v4.6.0 caused wpautop to handle inline code as block element which breaks the layout. Affects inline codeblocks of markdown codeblocks and shortcodes. Gutenberg/TinyMCE editors were not 4.6.1
3. — Version 4.6.0 Added: EnlighterJS v3.6.0 Added: css tooltips to the toolbar Added: copy-to-clipboard success/error message via tooltip Added: language identifier as css class to the outer wrapper enlighter-l- Added: htaccess language a 4.6.0
4. — Version 4.5.0 Added: EnlighterJS v3.5.0 Added: EnlighterJS Gutenberg editor plugin v1.2.0 Added: Gutenberg left-align-indentation formatting button Added: block transformation from SyntaxHighlighter Evolved Added: selected language as 4.5.0
5. — Version 4.4.2 Bugfix: Gutenberg escapeEditableHTML throws an error in case the block is empty (attributes.content returns null ) 4.4.2
6. — Version 4.4.1 Bugfix: a comma caused the plugin/wordpress to crash in legacy php 7.2 (lint checks of php 7.3 worked without any issues) 4.4.1

Automated install-time checks, tested on PHP 8.1.12 · WP 7.0.1

Translated into 11 languages, 1 at 90% or more

Whether ChatGPT and Claude name this plugin when asked the category question, and whether the readme gives them something to quote.

Not measured yet for this plugin’s topics. Its tracked searches are not among the measured topics. See the topics measured so far.

Growth timeline

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

1. 2024-11-22 20K+ → 10K+ down after 1561 days in tier
2. 2020-08-14 10K+ → 20K+ up after 638 days in tier
3. 2018-11-15 6K+ → 10K+ up after 493 days in tier
4. 2017-07-10 4K+ → 6K+ up after 233 days in tier
5. 2016-11-19 3K+ → 4K+ up after 292 days in tier
6. 2016-02-01 2K+ → 3K+ up after 144 days in tier
7. 2015-09-10 1K+ → 2K+ up

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).

Embed this report card

Drop a live Pulse card for Enlighter – Customizable Syntax Highlighter into a readme, a review or a deck. It updates itself.

Enlighter – Customizable Syntax Highlighter: 10K+ active installs, 4.8★ (65 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-10-31. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/enlighter