by Jeff Starr 5 (735 reviews)

Disable Gutenberg

Name: Disable Gutenberg
Rating: 5.0 (735 reviews)
Author: Jeff Starr

Disable Gutenberg Block Editor and restore the Classic Editor and original Edit Post screen (TinyMCE, meta boxes, etc.).

Disable Gutenberg ranks #117 among WordPress.org plugins with 500,000+ active installations, is #13 of 1,143 in the Editor & Writing category, a 5/5 rating from 735 reviews, and was last updated Jul 18, 2026. Data from WordPress.org, refreshed twice daily — see methodology.

Compatible with WP 7.1

v3.3.2 Current Version v3.3.2

Updated 1 month ago Last Update on 18 Jul, 2026

Refreshed 7 hours ago Last Refreshed on

#13 of 1,143 in Editor & Writing Top 1% by installs Downloads -27.9% this week

View on WordPress.org

Rank

#117

— No change

Active Installs

500K+

-15.1%

KW Avg Position

6.5

0.2 worse

Downloads

10.7M

+1,633 today

Support Resolved

100%

— No change

Rating

100%

Review 5 out of 5

5 (735 reviews)

Next Milestone 600K

Total Progress 88.2%

500K+ 600K+

Ranks to Climb

Growth Needed

8,000,000

Active Installs

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Need 11,765 more installs to reach 600K+

Rank Changes

Current #117

Change

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Active Installs Growth

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Active Installs 0,000,000+

Growth +0.0%

Peak 0,000,000

Downloads Growth

Downloads

Growth

Peak

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Reviews & Ratings

5.0

735 reviews

Overall 100%

727 (99%)

0 (0%)

3 (0%)

1 (0%)

4 (1%)

Support Threads Overview

Resolved

Unresolved

Total Threads

Resolved

Unresolved

100%

Resolution Rate

Security History

Source: WPVulnerability

No known vulnerabilities on record for Disable Gutenberg. Checked 1 week ago.

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Plugin Details

Version: 3.3.2
Last Updated: Jul 18, 2026
Requires WP: 4.9+
Tested Up To: 7.1
PHP Version: 5.6.20 or higher
Author: Jeff Starr

Support & Rating

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 5
Reviews: 735
Support Threads: 1
Resolved: 100%

Keywords

block-editor classic editor editor gutenberg

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TL;DR

AI summary of the plugin's readme

This plugin is for WordPress site owners and administrators who prefer the Classic Editor over the Gutenberg Block Editor. It disables Gutenberg selectively or completely and restores the original Classic Editor and Edit Post screen, including TinyMCE and meta boxes.

Disable Gutenberg for post types
Disable Gutenberg for user roles
Disable Gutenberg for theme templates
Disable Gutenberg for specific post/page IDs
Restore Classic Widgets
Hide Gutenberg admin notice
Choose editor per post
Enable Custom Fields Meta Box for ACF

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about Disable Gutenberg

Yes. When Gutenberg is active, the plugin disables it (depending on your selected options) and replaces with the Classic Editor. Otherwise, if Gutenberg is not active (like with older versions of WordPress), the plugin does nothing. So it is safe to activate on any WordPress site.

Classic Editor plugin enables you to disable Gutenberg across the board, and replace it with the Classic Editor. The Disable Gutenberg plugin does the exact same thing, in the exact same way, BUT it also provides more granular control over when and where Gutenberg is replaced with the Classic Editor. Disable Gutenberg plugin makes it easy to replace Gutenberg everywhere, OR you can choose to replace only for specific post types, user roles, post IDs, theme template, and more. Check out the list of features and compare them to the alternatives. It's not even close! ;) Bottom line: both Disable Gutenberg and Classic Editor plugins are lightweight and enable you to replace Gutenberg with the Classic Editor for the entire site. The difference is that Disable Gutenberg also gives you advanced configuration options such as restoring Classic Widgets, controlling block styles, and allowing block editor on certain pages, post types, and so forth.

Yes, if both plugins are active at the same time, Disable Gutenberg gives priority to Classic Editor plugin. So if you want to use Disable Gutenberg, deactivate the Classic Editor plugin (you do not have to remove it, just deactivate via the WP Plugins screen).

I can't make any promises, but I intend to develop with WordPress for the long-haul. Who knows what the future holds, but the plan is to keep Disable Gutenberg going for many years to come. Why? Because the original RTE/Visual Editor is awesome. I strongly feel it's one of the many reasons why WordPress has enjoyed its great success. I've been using the original/classic editor for over 10 years now and it's always been 100% smooth experience. I've tried Gutenberg, and yes it is much better now than in previous versions, but for me it's just not as comfortable or streamlined as the classic editor. So yeah, will do everything possible to keep Disable Gutenberg (and the Classic Editor) going well beyond 2022.

Because it is being promoted by the Gutenberg developers and the "official" plugin for replacing Gutenberg. That's fine, but understand that Disable Gutenberg functions the same way AND provides way more features and settings. FWIW, I use Disable Gutenberg on my own sites Perishable Press, DigWP.com, Plugin Planet, and many others. 100% solid.

In order for template exclusions to work, the template must be registered with the page itself. The only way to do this is via the "Edit Page" screen, in the "Page Attributes" meta box. There you will find an option to set the page template. Remember to save your changes. After assigning some templates, they will be recognized by Disable Gutenberg. So to disable Gutenberg on any registered template, you can add them via the plugin setting, "Disable for Templates". Examples: Template name is page-custom.php, located in the root theme directory: enter page-custom.php in the Template Exclusion setting Template name is page-custom.php, located in a subdirectory named templates: enter templates/page-custom.php

The default Gutenberg/Block styles are disabled by default when DG plugin is active. To enable/disable the styles, visit the plugin setting, "Enable Frontend".

No, because block themes rely on blocks. See Block themes article for more information.

On Post, Page, and Custom Post Type menus (in the sidebar), a link is displayed that says "Add New (Classic)". Clicking the link takes the user to the "Add New" screen with the Classic Editor enabled. On Posts, Pages, and Custom Post Types screens (where lists of posts are displayed), two links are added beneath each post. The first link says "Classic Edit" and takes the user to the "Edit" screen with the Classic Editor enabled. The second link says "Block Edit" and takes the user to the Edit screen with the Block Editor enabled. Note that these links display only on pages where the Block Editor is enabled. So for example, if Gutenberg is disabled sitewide, none of the links will display anywhere. If disabled only on Pages, then the links will not display on the Pages menu or on the Pages screen.

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