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Kint PHP Debugger icon
Possibly abandoned Tested up to 5.1.26 #54 in debug

Kint PHP Debugger

Kint is a modern and powerful PHP debugging helper, which requires zero-setup and replaces var_dump(), print_r() and debug_backtrace().

Active installs90+10+ tier
Downloads · 30d127▲ +24.5% vs prev. 30d
Rating5/512 reviews
Health score37/100At risk
All-time downloads13.7KSince Jul 2015
Support resolved—No recent threads
RequiresWP 3.5PHP 5.3+
Downloads · 7d23▼ -8% week over week
Our verdict

Consider an alternative

Kint PHP Debugger shows warning signs in 2026 — compare the alternatives below before installing. It runs on 90+ sites, is rated 5/5 and was last updated 8 years ago, and scores 37/100 on our health check.

  • Small user base (90+ active installs)
  • No update in 7 years
  • Only tested up to WordPress 5.1 (latest is 7.1)

How does it stack up?

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

Daily downloads

51015Jul 1Aug 14Sep 28
Yesterday3
Daily average (1y)2
Peak day21Sep 14, 2026
Last 12 months865

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

Rankings

Where Kint PHP Debugger stands today

WordPress.org search rankings

Live position in the plugin search, top 100
KeywordPositionCompeting pluginsCategory
debug >100 4,077 Best debug plugins →
debugger #90 130 Best debugger plugins →
kint #4 7 Best kint plugins →
print_r #46 82 Best print_r plugins →
var_dump #39 81 Best var_dump plugins →

Version adoption

Share of active sites per release.

  • 2.081.3%
  • 1.118.8%

Rating breakdown

★★★★★★★★★★ 5 from 12 reviews

  • 5★100.0%
  • 4★0.00%
  • 3★0.00%
  • 2★0.00%
  • 1★0.00%

About Kint PHP Debugger

From the official readme · v2.0.2

Description

This WordPress plugin is a wrapper for the Kint PHP Debugger utility version 1.x. Now instead of using var_dump() or print_r(), you simply use d() with zero, nadda, no formatting required.

Use this tool when you are debugging your website, in place of var_dump(), print_r() and debug_backtrace().

Handy Tools

Some handy tools just for the PHP Developer:

  • d( $var ); to render a collapsible UI container which displays your variable data in “the most informative way”
  • ddd( $var ); same as d() except that it also executes die() to halt execution.

Here are some variations of d() to give you the display you want:

  • ~d( $var ); outputs in plain text format.
  • +d( $var ); disregards depth level limits and outputs everything
  • !d( $var ); shows expanded rich output
  • -d( $var ); attempts to ob_clean() the previous output (dump something inside of HTML)

Profiler

Kint even includes a naïve profiler, which can help you analyze which blocks of code take longer than others:

Kint::dump( microtime() ); // just pass microtime()
sleep( 1 );
Kint::dump( microtime(), 'after sleep(1)' );
sleep( 2 );
ddd( microtime(), 'final call, after sleep(2)' );

See screenshot 2 for what is rendered out in your browser.

Admin Bar

“KINT ACTIVE” indicator displays in the WordPress admin bar to alert you when the plugin is active.

Installation

From your WordPress dashboard

  1. Visit ‘Plugins > Add New’
  2. Search for ‘Kint PHP Debugger’
  3. Activate Kint PHP Debugger from your Plugins page.

Once Activated

Whenever you want to dump out the data within a variable, simply use d( $var ) to replace when you do pre + var_dump().

To dump and die, you use ddd( $var );.

Changelog

Version 2.0.2

  • Bump to sync versions.

Version 2.0.1

  • Removed changing the admin color palette to coffee.
  • Removed changing the admin bar background color.

Version 2.0.0

  • Updated Kint version.
  • Tested against WP 5.1

Version 1.2.1

  • Added “KINT ACTIVE” indicator to the WordPress admin bar to alert the plugin is activated.

Version 1.2.0

  • Excluded Composer files.
  • Tested with WordPress 5.1.

Version 1.1.0 to 1.1.4

  • Changed to the kint-php package
  • Upgraded Kint to v1.1

Full changelog on WordPress.org →

Screenshots

An example of what gets rendered in the browser when using 'd( $var )'.
An example of what gets rendered in the browser when using 'd( $var )'.
Profile example from Kint.
Profile example from Kint.
"KINT ACTIVE" indicator in the WordPress admin bar.
"KINT ACTIVE" indicator in the WordPress admin bar.

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.

Active installs badge Rating badge Health score badge

Best Kint PHP Debugger alternatives

All debug plugins →
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FAQ

Kint PHP Debugger: quick answers

Straight answers, pulled from live WordPress.org data.

Live data from WordPress.org · checked Sep 29, 2026

Is Kint PHP Debugger free?

Yes. Kint PHP Debugger is free to download and use from the official WordPress.org plugin directory.

Is Kint PHP Debugger safe to use in 2026?

Kint PHP Debugger shows warning signs in 2026 — compare the alternatives below before installing. It runs on 90+ sites, is rated 5/5 and was last updated 8 years ago, and scores 37/100 on our health check.

How many websites use Kint PHP Debugger?

Kint PHP Debugger is active on 90+ WordPress websites and has been downloaded 13,676 times since it launched in July 2015. It was downloaded 127 times in the last 30 days.

Does Kint PHP Debugger work with WordPress 7.1?

Kint PHP Debugger is officially tested up to WordPress 5.1.26, while the latest release is 7.1.2. It may still work, but try it on a staging site first.

What PHP version does Kint PHP Debugger need?

Kint PHP Debugger requires PHP 5.3 or higher. Most hosts run PHP 8.x today, so it works on any modern WordPress hosting.

When was Kint PHP Debugger last updated?

The latest version, 2.0.2, was released on March 11, 2019 (8 years ago).

Who makes Kint PHP Debugger?

Kint PHP Debugger is developed and maintained by Tonya Mork.

What are the best alternatives to Kint PHP Debugger?

The most popular alternatives to Kint PHP Debugger are WP Crontrol (300K+ installs), Query Monitor (200K+ installs) and Debug Bar (20K+ installs).

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