Theme Test Drive
Theme Test Drive WordPress plugin allows you to safely test drive any theme on your blog as administrator, while visitors still use the default one.
Consider an alternative
Theme Test Drive shows warning signs in 2026 — compare the alternatives below before installing. It runs on 7K+ sites, is rated 3.9/5 and was last updated 9 years ago, and scores 41/100 on our health check.
- Momentum — downloads up 19.1% vs the previous 30 days
- No update in 8 years
- Only tested up to WordPress 4.3 (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 Theme Test Drive stands todayWordPress.org search rankings
Live position in the plugin search, top 100| Keyword | Position |
|---|---|
| admin | >100 |
| test | >100 |
| theme | >100 |
| themes | >100 |
Version adoption
Share of active sites per release.
Rating breakdown
★★★★★★★★★★ 3.9 from 50 reviews
About Theme Test Drive
From the official readme · v2.9.1Description
Theme Test Drive WordPress plugin allows you to safely test drive any theme on your blog as administrator, while visitors still use the default one.
It happens completely transparent and they will not even notice you run a different theme for yourself.
Best part is you can even set the testing theme options (if it has them) in the Admin panel while you are testing the theme.
You can also preview any theme by adding “?theme=xxx” to your blog URL. For example http://www.myblog.com/?theme=Default
Plugin by Vladimir Prelovac. Managing more than one WordPress sites? Check out ManageWP.
Credits
Some of the functions of Theme Test Drive plugin came from other plugins. So I can at least thank these people:
- Ryan Boren for his Theme Switcher plugin
- Andres Santos for his wp-websnapr plugin
- Oliver for his cforms II plugin
- Scott for his excellent readme.txt file
- WebSnapr folks for their service
Thanks.
License
This file is part of Theme Test Drive.
Theme Test Drive is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
Theme Test Drive is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with Theme Test Drive. If not, see http://www.gnu.org/licenses/.
Installation
-
Upload the whole plugin folder to your /wp-content/plugins/ folder.
-
Go to the Plugins page and activate the plugin.
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Use the Options page to set the theme you want to test drive.
The selected theme will be visible only to blog administrator.
Other visitors of the blog will always see the default theme.
Note: if you use WP-Cache plugin, you might need to disable it (or setup to exclude pages)
Changelog
2.9.1
- Fixed security issue
2.9
- WordPress 4.1 refresh and compatibility
2.8.4
- Removed the versionc hecking code
- WP 3.5.1 compatible
2.8.3
- Update for compatibility to WordPress 3.4.1 by replacing deprecated calls (thanks Lance Willett!)
- Use new WP_Theme API for loading themes and getting theme information
- Fix PHP warnings
2.8.2
- WordPress 3.2 compatibility
2.8.1
- Reverted the admin capabilities so the user can see the options panel for theme being previewed
Screenshots
For developers
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Best Theme Test Drive alternatives
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FAQ
Theme Test Drive: quick answers
Straight answers, pulled from live WordPress.org data.
Live data from WordPress.org · checked Sep 26, 2026
Is Theme Test Drive free?
Yes. Theme Test Drive is free to download and use from the official WordPress.org plugin directory.
Is Theme Test Drive safe to use in 2026?
Theme Test Drive shows warning signs in 2026 — compare the alternatives below before installing. It runs on 7K+ sites, is rated 3.9/5 and was last updated 9 years ago, and scores 41/100 on our health check.
How many websites use Theme Test Drive?
Theme Test Drive is active on 7K+ WordPress websites and has been downloaded 523,211 times since it launched in February 2008. It was downloaded 862 times in the last 30 days.
Does Theme Test Drive work with WordPress 7.1?
Theme Test Drive is officially tested up to WordPress 4.3.34, while the latest release is 7.1.2. It may still work, but try it on a staging site first.
When was Theme Test Drive last updated?
The latest version, 2.9.1, was released on November 28, 2017 (9 years ago).
Who makes Theme Test Drive?
Theme Test Drive is developed and maintained by Vladimir Prelovac.
What are the best alternatives to Theme Test Drive?
The most popular alternatives to Theme Test Drive are Loginizer (1M+ installs), Redux Framework (900K+ installs) and Admin Menu Editor (300K+ installs).
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