Simple Fast Highlighter
There are other good syntax highlighter plugins, but I wanted something simple and fast and be able to add the highlight classes with a select box in the TinyMCE editor.
Consider an alternative
Simple Fast Highlighter shows warning signs in 2026 — compare the alternatives below before installing. It runs on 10+ sites and was last updated 9 years ago, and scores 23/100 on our health check.
- Small user base (10+ active installs)
- Very few reviews so far
- No update in 9 years
- Only tested up to WordPress 4.7 (latest is 7.1)
How does it stack up?
Side-by-side on installs, updates, ratings & support
Daily downloads
Download spikes usually follow a new release — each site that auto-updates counts as a download.
Rankings
Where Simple Fast Highlighter stands todayWordPress.org search rankings
Live position in the plugin search, top 100| Keyword | Position |
|---|---|
| code | >100 |
| Highlight | >100 |
| highlighter | >100 |
| sourcecode | #23 |
| syntax | >100 |
Version adoption
Share of active sites per release.
About Simple Fast Highlighter
From the official readme · v1.0.5Description
There are other good syntax highlighter plugins, but I wanted something simple and fast and
be able to add the highlight classes with a select box in the TinyMCE editor.
I added some default languages: Javascript, PHP, Python, C, C#, VB.NET, SQL and CSS but you can
easily add other ones.
Changelog
1.0.5
- Tested with WordPress 4.7.3
1.0.4
- Added custom handling to Language objects, for example to highlight Javascript regular expressions
1.0.3
- Added some es6 features to Javascript language object
1.0.2
- Removed some default styles like font and padding
1.0.1
- Added a code button
- Now you can also add the language classes directly to PRE tags
0.9.3
- Added Java also to the editor select box
For developers
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FAQ
Simple Fast Highlighter: quick answers
Straight answers, pulled from live WordPress.org data.
Live data from WordPress.org · checked Oct 4, 2026
Is Simple Fast Highlighter free?
Yes. Simple Fast Highlighter is free to download and use from the official WordPress.org plugin directory.
Is Simple Fast Highlighter safe to use in 2026?
Simple Fast Highlighter shows warning signs in 2026 — compare the alternatives below before installing. It runs on 10+ sites and was last updated 9 years ago, and scores 23/100 on our health check.
How many websites use Simple Fast Highlighter?
Simple Fast Highlighter is active on 10+ WordPress websites and has been downloaded 2,515 times since it launched in August 2013. It was downloaded 74 times in the last 30 days.
Does Simple Fast Highlighter work with WordPress 7.1?
Simple Fast Highlighter is officially tested up to WordPress 4.7.37, while the latest release is 7.1.2. It may still work, but try it on a staging site first.
When was Simple Fast Highlighter last updated?
The latest version, 1.0.5, was released on April 8, 2017 (9 years ago).
Who makes Simple Fast Highlighter?
Simple Fast Highlighter is developed and maintained by michielve.
What are the best alternatives to Simple Fast Highlighter?
The most popular alternatives to Simple Fast Highlighter are WPCode (3M+ installs), Code Snippets (1M+ installs) and Head & Footer Code (100K+ installs).
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