Front-end Editor
Front-end Editor is a plugin that lets you make changes to your content directly from your site. No need to load the admin backend just to correct a typo.
Consider an alternative
Front-end Editor shows warning signs in 2026 — compare the alternatives below before installing. It runs on 500+ sites, is rated 4/5 and was last updated 13 years ago, and scores 39/100 on our health check.
- Small user base (500+ active installs)
- No update in 13 years
- Only tested up to WordPress 3.6 (latest is 7.1)
How does it stack up?
Side-by-side on installs, updates, ratings & supportDaily downloads
Download spikes usually follow a new release — each site that auto-updates counts as a download.
Rankings
Where Front-end Editor stands todayWordPress.org search rankings
Live position in the plugin search, top 100| Keyword | Position |
|---|---|
| edit-in-place | >100 |
| editor | >100 |
| inline | >100 |
| visual | >100 |
| wysiwyg | >100 |
Version adoption
Share of active sites per release.
Rating breakdown
★★★★★★★★★★ 4 from 23 reviews
About Front-end Editor
From the official readme · v2.3.1Description
Front-end Editor is a plugin that lets you make changes to your content directly from your site. No need to load the admin backend just to correct a typo.
It makes the same capability checks, so that if a user isn’t allowed to edit something in wp-admin, they aren’t allowed to edit it in the front-end either.
You can edit posts, pages, custom post types, comments, widgets and many more elements.
Goals:
- save as many trips to the backend as possible
- compatible with any theme, out of the box
- light and fast
Support and development:
Support is handled by the lovely designsimply.
I am not developing the plugin anymore; only applying the patches that other people send via Github.
Credits:
- Aloha Editor for the fantastic WYSIWYG editing component
Links: Documentation | Plugin News | Author’s Site
Installation
See https://codex.wordpress.org/Managing_Plugins#Installing_Plugins
Changelog
2.3.1
- update to Aloha 0.23.12
- add placeholder for post thumbnails
- fix changing thumbnails to a newly uploaded image. props adrichey
- update translations: Polish (props toszcze) and Estonian (props petskratt).
- added Simplified Chinese translation (props 倡萌)
2.3
- make Save/Cancel buttons hover in place of the Edit button
- allow editing multiple elements simultaneously again
- enhanced JavaScript API
- switch from Coco to CoffeeScript
- fix security exploit caused by Aloha demo file and update to Aloha 0.20.16
- more info
2.2.1
- update to Aloha 0.20.6
- enable align buttons in Aloha
- enable highlighting of elements editable by Aloha
- add
'fee_rich_clean'filter - fix ‘type’ parameter for
editable_option()
2.2
- introduce groups of editable elements
- introduced
fee_insert_dummy_post()for creating posts - prevent warnings caused by faulty widgets
- update to Aloha 0.20.0
- switch to Coco
- more info
2.1.3
- fix widget warning
- update translations
2.1.2
- show Aloha toolbar immediately after clicking ‘Edit’
- properly handle hierarchical taxonomies edited via text input
- text widgets: edit title and content individually again
- fix bug that prevented saving empty content via Aloha
- fix bug where wpautop wasn’t applied to ‘rich’ custom fields
Screenshots
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.
Best Front-end Editor alternatives
All edit-in-place plugins →| Rank | Plugin | Active installs |
|---|---|---|
| 2 |
DirectEdit
Edit your website directly in the frontend.
|
10+ |
FAQ
Front-end Editor: quick answers
Straight answers, pulled from live WordPress.org data.
Live data from WordPress.org · checked Sep 29, 2026
Is Front-end Editor free?
Yes. Front-end Editor is free to download and use from the official WordPress.org plugin directory.
Is Front-end Editor safe to use in 2026?
Front-end Editor shows warning signs in 2026 — compare the alternatives below before installing. It runs on 500+ sites, is rated 4/5 and was last updated 13 years ago, and scores 39/100 on our health check.
How many websites use Front-end Editor?
Front-end Editor is active on 500+ WordPress websites and has been downloaded 273,914 times since it launched in March 2009. It was downloaded 157 times in the last 30 days.
Does Front-end Editor work with WordPress 7.1?
Front-end Editor is officially tested up to WordPress 3.6.1, while the latest release is 7.1.2. It may still work, but try it on a staging site first.
When was Front-end Editor last updated?
The latest version, 2.3.1, was released on July 23, 2013 (13 years ago).
Who makes Front-end Editor?
Front-end Editor is developed and maintained by scribu.
What are the best alternatives to Front-end Editor?
The most popular alternatives to Front-end Editor are DirectEdit (10+ installs).
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