Syntax-highlighting Code Block (with Server-side Rendering)

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

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 · 91% run the current release. Green is the current release; a big slice on older versions is a user base that has stopped updating.

Modeled within the band wp.org reports; tightens as we track daily.

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.

1. ★★★★★ audioscavenger

   2.4y ago

   no one wants to conduct a real study to see how many of use hate the code block.

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2. ★★★★★ Salvatore Noschese

   3.2y ago

   missed just a download and/or copy button. also for theme, maybe is best to update “usage instruction”! only after some search I understood can be changed via customized menu. anyway, looks so good. ty.

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3. ★★★★★ OllieJones

   3.3y ago

   Thanks for this. It’s really nice.

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4. ★★★★★ Marie Comet

   3.8y ago

   Works great, thanks !

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5. ★★★★★ Gwyneth Llewelyn

   4.1y ago

   I confess, I’ve been a happy user of Code Syntax Block for quite a while — a plugin which the author, Weston Router, clearly states that Syntax Highlighting (Code Block) is based upon. Alas, however, all the pages I had with the older plugin would suffer from an inevitable rendering slowdown — there is so much Javascript on web pages these days that such a slowdown is inevitable, and this is especially true to those scripts that attempt to recognise the language automatically — something that will consume plenty of CPU cycles on the browser. Parsing the language is also no mean feature by itself (I know, I’ve been doing some experiments for some code editors, and, believe me, it’s tough!). So why force the end-user to bear the burden of all that work? It makes much more sense to pre-render everything on the server, and then let the web server send the already-parsed HTML from its cache. That way, the end-user will already have everything on their browser, no need to wait for parsing! Also, if you ‘forget’ to set the language that your code is in (it happens…), the auto-detecting feature will only run on the server, and just once, when you save the post you’re writing. Even if it takes a fraction of a second more to save, think of how much time all those users will save when they get the already-rendered page! So, this plugin is definitely recommended. As a bonus: if you are already using some sort of code block on your WP setup, once you turn off whatever plugin you were using, Syntax Highlighting (Code Block) will immediately pick it up and start its magic (you might need to open and save all the pages you’ve got code on, though — I’m not quite sure if that’s really the case). That means zero effort (beyond saving) — what you already had will continue to work. And, naturally enough, when you disable this plugin, your code block will just revert to the internal WP code block instead — nothing will be ‘lost’ that way! If you’re still hesitant and reading this to the end… while you wasted your time here, think of how many of your users would have saved their time if you already had this plugin installed 🙂

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6. ★★★★★ diegoamorin

   4.4y ago

   No agrega bloques nuevos a WordPress, ya que potencia el bloque de código existente. Soporta gran cantidad de Lenguajes, puedes mostrar líneas y marcar ciertas partes del código. ¡Vaya todo lo que necesito! Y no hay que configurar nada!

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7. ★★★★★ bradvin

   4.6y ago

   Just found this gem of a plugin when looking for code syntax highlighting plugins. No hassle at all to get working, just install and activate and it formats and styles existing code blocks in posts. Could not be happier with this plugin. Wlldone!

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8. ★★★★★ Sven Woltmann

   4.8y ago

   I’ve switched to “Syntax-highlighting Code Block” from a similar plugin, mainly because the old one didn’t recognize the new Java Text Blocks. This one does, and GTMetrix also reports a heavily reduced DOM size for almost all my pages, for example: from 2,363 elements down to 1,654 elements from 1,842 elements down to 1,442 elements That’s an amazing and surprising improvement! I do have one feature request, though: It would be great if one could select a subset of the available languages for the dropdown, so you don’t always have to scroll through all 185 languages.

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

Translated into 13 languages, 10 at 90% or more

Growth timeline

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

No tier crossings observed yet.

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).

• Advance Custom HTML – Show Off Code Snippets with Live Preview 10K+ installs · 3.5★ · 2 shared tags B
• Code Block Pro – Beautiful Syntax Highlighting 10K+ installs · 4.6★ · 2 shared tags A
• WPCode – Insert Headers and Footers + Custom Code Snippets – WordPress Code Manager 3M+ installs · 4.9★ · 1 shared tag A
• Code Snippets 1M+ installs · 4.7★ · 1 shared tag B
• Spectra Legacy – Gutenberg Blocks 1M+ installs · 4.7★ · 1 shared tag A
• Breadcrumb NavXT 800K+ installs · 4.5★ · 1 shared tag A

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Syntax-highlighting Code Block (with Server-side Rendering): 1K+ active installs, 5.0★ (26 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-08-29. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/syntax-highlighting-code-block