Actively maintained Tested with WP 7.1 #10 in embed

Disable Embeds

Don’t like the enhanced embeds in WordPress 4.4? Easily disable the feature using this plugin.

By Pascal Birchler · v1.5.0 · Updated 1 month ago

View on WordPress.org Download Compare alternatives →

Active installs10K+10K+ tier

Downloads · 30d6.5K▲ +2.4% vs prev. 30d

Rating4.3/520 reviews

Health score83/100Excellent

All-time downloads308.7KSince Oct 2015

Support resolved—No recent threads

RequiresWP 4.4PHP any

Downloads · 7d1.7K▼ -5.9% week over week

Our verdict

Safe pick

Yes — Disable Embeds is a safe, well-maintained plugin to use in 2026. It runs on 10K+ sites, is rated 4.3/5 and was last updated 1 month ago, and scores 83/100 on our health check.

Proven at scale on 10K+ active sites
Tested with the latest WordPress (7.1)

How does it stack up?

Side-by-side on installs, updates, ratings & support

EmbedPress

iframe

Advanced iFrame

Daily downloads

Yesterday226

Daily average (1y)147

Peak day837Jul 21, 2026

Last 12 months53.7K

Download spikes usually follow a new release — each site that auto-updates counts as a download.

Rankings

Where Disable Embeds stands today

Embed #10 of 471 plugins → Embeds #2 of 30 plugins → Oembed #2 of 101 plugins →

WordPress.org search rankings

Live position in the plugin search, top 100

Keyword	Position	Competing plugins	Category
embed	#19	6,138	Best embed plugins →
Embeds	#1	6,145	Best Embeds plugins →
oembed	#14	554	Best oembed plugins →

Version adoption

Share of active sites per release.

1.591.4%
1.45.7%
Other3.0%

Rating breakdown

★★★★★★★★★★ 4.3 from 20 reviews

5★80.0%
4★0.00%
3★5.0%
2★0.00%
1★15.0%

About Disable Embeds

From the official readme · v1.5.0

Description

What this plugin does:

Prevents others from embedding your site.
Prevents you from embedding other non-whitelisted sites.
Disables all JavaScript related to the feature.
Removes support for the WordPress embed block in the new block editor.

Just activate the plugin and you’re good to go.

Want embeds back again? Simply deactivate the plugin.

Installation

Manual Installation

Upload the entire /disable-embeds directory to the /wp-content/plugins/ directory.
Activate Disable Embeds through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress.

Frequently asked questions

Is it really that easy?

Yes.

What about previous embeds?

Since WordPress caches all embed codes, previous embeds from other sites will still work. However, your own site’s embeds won’t work at all when using this plugin.

Changelog

Tested up to WordPress 7.1.

1.6.0

Tested up to WordPress 7.1.
Added an end-to-end test suite.

1.5.0

Updated against WordPress 5.7

1.4.0

Updated against WordPress 5.0

1.3.0

Updated against WordPress 4.6 Beta 2
Removes a new embeds filter introduced in WordPress 4.5.3

1.2.0

Updated against WordPress 4.4 Beta 3.
Removes all embeds rewrite rules on plugin activation.

1.1.0

Updated against WordPress 4.4 Beta 2.

1.0.0

Initial release.

Full changelog on WordPress.org →

For developers

Is this your plugin? Show off the numbers.

Add a live badge to your site, docs or GitHub README. It updates on its own — no account needed.

HTML

<a href="https://pageforge.pro/directory/plugins/disable-embeds/"><img src="https://pageforge.pro/directory/badge/plugin/disable-embeds/" alt="Disable Embeds active installs" height="22"></a>

Markdown

[![Disable Embeds active installs](https://pageforge.pro/directory/badge/plugin/disable-embeds/)](https://pageforge.pro/directory/plugins/disable-embeds/)

Health score

83Excellent

Freshness21/25
Compatibility20/20
Rating22/25
Support11/15
Adoption9/15

Scored on update freshness, WordPress compatibility, ratings, support replies and adoption. How we score →

Version: 1.5.0
Last updated: Aug 19, 2026
Added: Oct 23, 2015
Tested up to: 7.1.2
Requires PHP: —

embed Embeds oembed

DeveloperPascal Birchler

Live data from WordPress.org · checked Sep 26, 2026

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Best Disable Embeds alternatives

All embed plugins →

Alternatives
Rank	Plugin	Active installs	Rating	Updated	Health
1	EmbedPress EmbedPress lets you embed videos, pages, social feeds, embed PDF 3D flipbooks & other… by WPDeveloper	100K+	★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 (306)	2 days ago	80
2	iframe [iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/7_nAZQt9qu0" width="100%" height="500"] shortcode by webvitalii	60K+	★★★★★★★★★★ 4.4 (56)	4 months ago	62
3	Advanced iFrame Include content the way YOU like in an iframe that can hide and modify elements, does… by mdempfle	40K+	★★★★★★★★★★ 4.4 (54)	3 days ago	88
4	Insert Pages Insert Pages lets you embed any WordPress content (e.g., pages, posts, custom post types)… by Paul Ryan	30K+	★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 (71)	3 months ago	75
5	Compact WP Audio Player A Compact WP Audio Player Plugin that is compatible with all major browsers and devices… by mra13 / Team Tips and Tricks…	20K+	★★★★★★★★★★ 4.1 (69)	1 month ago	82
6	Advanced Responsive Video Embedder for Rumble, Odysee, YouT… Level up your basic video embeds! Advanced features, privacy. Use URLs, Shortcodes or… by Nicolas Jonas	20K+	★★★★★★★★★★ 4.2 (169)	2 months ago	81
7	PDF.js Viewer Embed a beautiful PDF viewer into pages. by Ben Lawson	20K+	★★★★★★★★★★ 4.4 (53)	5 months ago	61
8	Embed PDF Viewer Embed a PDF from the Media Library or elsewhere via oEmbed or as a block into an iframe tag. by Andy Fragen	20K+	★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 (19)	1 month ago	84
9	Code Embed Code Embed provides a very easy and efficient way to embed code (JavaScript, CSS and HTML)… by David Artiss	10K+	★★★★★★★★★★ 4.4 (45)	1 month ago	83
11	PDF viewer for Elementor & Gutenberg The "PDFjs Viewer for Elementor & Gutenberg" plugin is a powerful tool that allows you to… by Kaz Kadalashvili	10K+	★★★★★★★★★★ 5 (3)	3 years ago	37

FAQ

Disable Embeds: quick answers

Straight answers, pulled from live WordPress.org data.

Live data from WordPress.org · checked Sep 26, 2026

Is Disable Embeds free?

Yes. Disable Embeds is free to download and use from the official WordPress.org plugin directory.

Is Disable Embeds safe to use in 2026?

Yes — Disable Embeds is a safe, well-maintained plugin to use in 2026. It runs on 10K+ sites, is rated 4.3/5 and was last updated 1 month ago, and scores 83/100 on our health check.

How many websites use Disable Embeds?

Disable Embeds is active on 10K+ WordPress websites and has been downloaded 308,739 times since it launched in October 2015. It was downloaded 6,462 times in the last 30 days.

Does Disable Embeds work with WordPress 7.1?

Yes. The developer has tested Disable Embeds up to WordPress 7.1.2, the latest release. It requires WordPress 4.4 or newer.

When was Disable Embeds last updated?

The latest version, 1.5.0, was released on August 19, 2026 (1 month ago).

Who makes Disable Embeds?

Disable Embeds is developed and maintained by Pascal Birchler.

What are the best alternatives to Disable Embeds?

The most popular alternatives to Disable Embeds are EmbedPress (100K+ installs), iframe (60K+ installs) and Advanced iFrame (40K+ installs).

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Disable Embeds

Safe pick

How does it stack up?

Daily downloads

Rankings

WordPress.org search rankings

Version adoption

Rating breakdown