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PerformerJS icon
Possibly abandoned Tested up to 4.2.39

PerformerJS

PerformerJS allows you to add really cool effects and features to your website by doing some simple editing of the HTML code in your pages.

Active installs10+10+ tier
Downloads · 30d80▲ +33.3% vs prev. 30d
Rating5/51 reviews
Health score30/100At risk
All-time downloads5.5KSince Dec 2009
Support resolved—No recent threads
RequiresWP 2.7PHP any
Downloads · 7d22▲ +29.4% week over week
Our verdict

Consider an alternative

PerformerJS shows warning signs in 2026 — compare the alternatives below before installing. It runs on 10+ sites, is rated 5/5 and was last updated 11 years ago, and scores 30/100 on our health check.

  • Small user base (10+ active installs)
  • Very few reviews so far
  • No update in 11 years
  • Only tested up to WordPress 4.2 (latest is 7.1)

How does it stack up?

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

Daily downloads

246Jul 5Aug 18Oct 2
Yesterday5
Daily average (1y)2
Peak day13May 16, 2026
Last 12 months664

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

Rankings

Where PerformerJS stands today

WordPress.org search rankings

Live position in the plugin search, top 100
KeywordPositionCompeting pluginsCategory
css >100 10,000 Best css plugins →
html >100 10,000 Best html plugins →
interaction >100 2,633 Best interaction plugins →
javascript >100 10,000 Best javascript plugins →
performer #57 60 Best performer plugins →

Version adoption

Share of active sites per release.

  • 1.0100.0%

Rating breakdown

★★★★★★★★★★ 5 from 1 reviews

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

About PerformerJS

From the official readme · v1.0.5

Description

For beginners:

Ever wanted to put those really great effects on your website, but didn’t know how to start? Yeah, so have we. That’s why we wrote Performer – to take away the pain. AJAX, toggling visibility, form and password checking, tabbing, inline editing and more. We’ve got it all. Check out all the features here, or download the PerformerJS plugin to get started.

For intermediate developers:

Performer allows you to easily add JavaScript features – like AJAX stuff – to your pages using nothing but CSS classes and other standard element attributes, like rel and rev. There are a wide range of features available and Performer works with jQuery, MooTools and Prototype.

For advanced developers:

Prototype allows you to easily add JavaScript features to your pages using nothing but CSS classes and other standard element attributes. Using the power of a JavaScript library (there’s a list of libraries Performer supports below) means you have to write less JavaScript code to get things done. But even that isn’t enough. For simple effects and functions wouldn’t it be great to add the JavaScript functionality as you build the HTML of a page? See the Getting Started section for some simple examples.

To be clear; Performer works with your JavaScript library to make it easier to add simple functionality to your page. While it may be possible to write an entire complex web application interface using Performer, I don’t recommend it. Check out the Documentation for full details on all features Performer supports.

And if you don’t have one of the supported JavaScript libraries already in use on your site, PerformerJS will automatically include the latest version of jQuery from the Google AJAX API site.

Installation

Put the plugin into your /wp-content/plugins/ folder and activate using the Manage Plugins screen. The files should be at the following locations:

/wp-content/plugins/performerjs/
/wp-content/plugins/performerjs/index.php
/wp-content/plugins/performerjs/performer-min.js

Changelog

This is the first version.

1.0.5

Made plugin handle non-standard plugin directories. Tested up to 4.2.

1.0.4

Added delay parameter to Looper, allowing for slideshows. Fixed some bugs.

1.0.3

Fixed 3 bugs

1.0.1

Updated to version 1.0.1 of the library, enabled loading of customised jQuery, Prototype and MooTools version

1.0

Updated to version 1.0 of the library

0.8

Initial plugin version, numbered 0.8 to keep up with the version of the Performer JavaScript library itself.

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.

Active installs badge Rating badge Health score badge

Best PerformerJS alternatives

All css plugins →
Alternatives
Rank Plugin Active installs Rating Updated Health
1 WPCode – Insert Headers and Footers + Custom Code Snippets – WordPress Code Manager WPCode Easily add code snippets in WordPress. Insert header & footer scripts, add PHP code… by Syed Balkhi 3M+ ★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 (1.9K) 1 month ago 93
2 Code Snippets Code Snippets An easy, clean, and simple way to enhance your site with code snippets. by Code Snippets Pro 1M+ ★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 (509) 1 month ago 94
3 Simple Custom CSS Plugin Simple Custom CSS Plugin Add Custom CSS to your WordPress site without any hassles. by John Regan 100K+ ★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 (159) 2 years ago 51
4 Blocks Animation: CSS Animations for Gutenberg Blocks Blocks Animation: CSS Animations for Gutenberg Blocks Add CSS animations and scroll effects to any Gutenberg block. Choose from fade, slide, zoom… by Hardeep Asrani 90K+ ★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 (70) 3 days ago 90
5 Widget CSS Classes Widget CSS Classes Add custom classes and ids plus first, last, even, odd, and numbered classes to your… by Jory Hogeveen 80K+ ★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 (74) 2 years ago 52
6 Simple CSS Simple CSS Add CSS to your website through an admin editor, the Customizer or a metabox for page/post… by Tom 80K+ ★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 (60) 1 year ago 58
7 WP Add Custom CSS WP Add Custom CSS Add custom css to the whole website and to specific posts and pages. by Daniele De Santis 60K+ ★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 (89) 1 year ago 56
8 Clear Cache for Me Clear Cache for Me Purges cache on WPEngine, W3TC, WP Super Cache, WP Fastest Cache when widgets, menus… by webheadcoder 40K+ ★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 (29) 4 months ago 75
9 WP-SCSS WP-SCSS Compiles .scss files to .css and enqueues them. by Connect Think 40K+ ★★★★★★★★★★ 4.3 (61) 7 months ago 60
10 Visual CSS Style Editor Visual CSS Style Editor Style your WordPress site visually. Discover the most popular front-end design plugin! Try… by YellowPencil 30K+ ★★★★★★★★★★ 4.1 (90) 1 month ago 83

FAQ

PerformerJS: quick answers

Straight answers, pulled from live WordPress.org data.

Live data from WordPress.org · checked Oct 3, 2026

Is PerformerJS free?

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

Is PerformerJS safe to use in 2026?

PerformerJS shows warning signs in 2026 — compare the alternatives below before installing. It runs on 10+ sites, is rated 5/5 and was last updated 11 years ago, and scores 30/100 on our health check.

How many websites use PerformerJS?

PerformerJS is active on 10+ WordPress websites and has been downloaded 5,504 times since it launched in December 2009. It was downloaded 80 times in the last 30 days.

Does PerformerJS work with WordPress 7.1?

PerformerJS is officially tested up to WordPress 4.2.39, while the latest release is 7.1.2. It may still work, but try it on a staging site first.

When was PerformerJS last updated?

The latest version, 1.0.5, was released on April 20, 2015 (11 years ago).

Who makes PerformerJS?

PerformerJS is developed and maintained by Chris Taylor.

What are the best alternatives to PerformerJS?

The most popular alternatives to PerformerJS are WPCode (3M+ installs), Code Snippets (1M+ installs) and Simple Custom CSS Plugin (100K+ installs).

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