Classic Editor
by WordPress.org
Restores the pre-block editing screen for teams and clients who work faster in the classic writing view.
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What Classic Editor does
Restores the pre-block editing screen for teams and clients who work faster in the classic writing view.
It sits in the editing part of a WordPress stack and is sold by WordPress.org on a free basis. We recommend it in our editing guides because it does that one job well without asking you to rebuild the rest of the site around it.
Every plugin adds work to a page request, so treat this as a decision with a cost. Record a speed test before you install it and run the same test afterwards, on the same page, so you know exactly what it charged you.
What Classic Editor looks like
Official screenshots from the WordPress.org plugin directory, as published by the plugin authors.
Try Classic Editor live
Press play to start a private, throwaway WordPress site in your browser with Classic Editor version 1.7.0 already installed. Nothing is saved and nothing touches your own site: close the page and it disappears.
Real user ratings
Score
4.9/5
Reviews
1,249
Active installs
8,000,000+
Downloads
93.9M
Latest version
1.7.0
Last updated
2026-05-28
These figures come straight from the public WordPress.org plugin directory API for version 1.7.0, not from us. Check them yourself on the WordPress.org listing. Our own editorial score is 4.9/5.
Where Classic Editor ranks elsewhere
Classic Editor does not appear in the published "best of" lists we track from WPBeginner, TechRadar, Kinsta, Themeisle and similar sites. That is not a mark against it - those roundups are short and skew towards the biggest names.
What changed in the latest version
- Added a hotfix for crowded elements in the publishing actions area in WordPress 7.0. See Core-65286 for more information.
- Fixed loading of script translations when post.js is replaced in WordPress 6.7.1.
- Added fix for selecting/deselecting multiple unwanted categories in WordPress 6.7.1 when clicking on a category checkbox on the old Edit Post screen.
Release notes are the developer's own words, published on WordPress.org. Read the full changelog
Pros and cons
- Zero front-end impact and near-universal compatibility
- Free with no licence to renew
- Actively maintained and used on production sites we test
- It keeps you on an editor that will not gain new features
- Support is community-led rather than guaranteed
How to use it
- 1Install on a staging copy first if the site takes money.
- 2Work through the setup wizard and connect any external accounts it needs.
- 3Configure the one feature you installed it for, and leave the rest off.
- 4Test the result as a logged-out visitor on both mobile and desktop.
- 5Re-run our speed test to confirm the plugin has not cost you load time.
How it compares
Other editing plugins we recommend, with their rating and pricing model.
| Plugin | Our rating | WordPress.org | Pricing | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Classic Editor | 4.9 | 4.9 (1,249) | Free | Zero front-end impact and near-universal compatibility |
| Yoast Duplicate Post | 4.7 | 4.7 (538) | Free | Rewrite and republish keeps the live URL untouched while you edit |