SyntaxHighlighter Evolved

54 Quality Score

Active Installs

19/30

With 20,000 active installs the plugin has a respectable niche audience, far smaller than mainstream snippet tools but still meaningful for a specialised display utility.

Update Freshness

7/25

The plugin was last updated on 3 March 2025, but the maintenance score of 42 reflects a long gap between earlier releases and the fact that it has historically been updated in bursts rather than continuously.

User Rating

13/15

A rating of 86 out of 100 from 86 reviews is a strong user satisfaction score for a plugin in this category.

Support Health

8/15

Only one support thread exists in the record and it was resolved, giving a perfect resolution rate but a very thin sample that limits confidence.

WP Compatibility

8/15

The plugin is tested with WordPress 6.7.5 and requires PHP 7.0, which is broad coverage, though the compatibility score of 50 suggests some signals (such as WordPress version testing depth or PHP 8.x declarations) are not fully current.

Scores higher than 5% of indexed plugins

About

Easily post syntax-highlighted code to your site without having to modify the code at all. As seen on WordPress.com.

Active Installs 20k+

Rating ★★★★ 4.3/5

Last Updated 2025-03-03 7:31pm GMT

Requires WordPress 5.7+

Tested Up To 6.7.7

Requires PHP 7.0+

Security History

3 known vulnerabilities, all patched

1 High 2 Medium

Most recent: March 27, 2025

View details ▸

What It Does

SyntaxHighlighter Evolved wraps code blocks posted in the WordPress editor with a syntax highlighter that renders languages like PHP, JavaScript, HTML, CSS, and many others in a colour-coded, line-numbered display. You paste raw code between shortcode tags and the plugin handles the styling, copy buttons, and client-side highlighting without modifying your snippets.

Who It's For

This plugin is a good fit for developers, technical bloggers, and educators who regularly publish code samples on WordPress and want a polished, readable display without manually formatting each block. It works best on sites where visitors are expected to read and study code rather than just glance at it.

Who Should Skip It

If you only post code occasionally or just want basic block formatting, the native WordPress code block or a lighter plugin will do the job without the extra scripts and styles this plugin loads. Site owners focused purely on snippet insertion for execution (rather than display) should look at WPCode or Code Snippets instead.

The Bottom Line

SyntaxHighlighter Evolved does one thing well: rendering code samples in posts with clean, familiar syntax highlighting, and its 86/100 user rating backs that up. The 57.69 overall score, modest 20,000 installs, and sparse support history mean it is a capable niche tool rather than a must-install. Use it if displaying code is central to your site; otherwise the higher-scoring snippet managers above will serve broader needs.

Choose WPCode when your goal is to insert and execute code snippets site-wide, not to display syntax-highlighted code to readers.

Code Snippets 88/100

Pick Code Snippets if you want to manage reusable PHP snippets with safe execution, error handling, and a GUI for active code.

Head & Footer Code 85/100

Head and Footer Code is the right choice when you only need to drop scripts into your header, footer, or body without a snippet manager.

Shortcoder — Create Shortcodes for Anything 85/100

Shortcoder fits when you want to embed HTML, JavaScript, or other content as reusable shortcodes across posts and pages.

Woody Code Snippets – Insert PHP, CSS, JS, and Header/Footer Scripts 82/100

Woody Code Snippets is worth considering if you want to insert PHP directly into posts and pages with conditional logic, rather than just highlight code.