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The block editor (Gutenberg) has been the default WordPress editor since version 5.0 back in 2018 — but if you or your team are faster in the classic editing screen, or you rely on plugins built for it, turning the block editor off is still fully supported. Here are the three ways that work today, re-shot in August 2026 on WordPress 7.0.
- Easiest: the official Classic Editor plugin — install, activate, done.
- Most control: the Disable Gutenberg plugin — disable by role, post type, or everywhere.
- No plugin: one
add_filterline in your child theme or a snippets plugin. - You can keep both editors available per post — often the best setup for teams.
Option 1: the Classic Editor plugin (recommended)
The Classic Editor plugin is free, maintained by the WordPress core team itself, and restores the original editing screen. Install and activate it from Plugins → Add Plugin (our plugin installation tutorial walks through this).
Activation alone switches your site to the classic editor. To fine-tune it, go to Settings → Writing, where the plugin adds two options:
- Default editor for all users — Classic editor or Block editor.
- Allow users to switch editors — with Yes, each person (and each post) can use whichever editor fits.
With switching allowed, the Posts list shows which editor each post uses, and hovering a title reveals both Edit (block editor) and Edit (classic editor) links:
Opening a post in the classic editor gets you the familiar two-tab (Visual/Text) screen:
Option 2: the Disable Gutenberg plugin
If you want the block editor gone more thoroughly — or only for some content — install Disable Gutenberg instead (don't run it together with Classic Editor; pick one). Its settings live at Settings → Disable Gutenberg.
Out of the box, Complete Disable is checked: the block editor is off everywhere and the classic editor takes over, including a Classic Widgets option for your widget screens.
Untick Complete Disable and the page reveals granular controls: disable the block editor only for specific user roles, post types, theme templates, or post IDs. That's the tool to reach for when, say, editors should use the classic screen but landing pages stay in blocks.
Option 3: disable it with code
One filter turns the block editor off for posts and pages:
add_filter( 'use_block_editor_for_post', '__return_false' );
Put it in a child theme's functions.php or — safer if you're not used to
editing theme files — in a snippets plugin such as
Code Snippets, so a typo can't
take your site down and theme updates can't erase it. There's a matching
use_block_editor_for_post_type filter if you only want it off for one post
type.
A syntax error in functions.php white-screens the site until it's fixed over
FTP or your host's file manager. If that sentence sounded stressful, use
Option 1 or a snippets plugin instead.
Should you disable it at all in 2026?
An honest note before you commit: the block editor is no longer the rough 2018 newcomer — it now powers full site editing, patterns, and most new theme and plugin features, and it's genuinely good. Disabling it is completely legitimate for team consistency or legacy workflows, but if you're only avoiding it because it felt confusing once, consider our WordPress video courses — an afternoon of guided practice is usually enough to switch comfortably.
Keep learning
- Installing a WordPress plugin
- How to edit text in WordPress (block editor & classic)
- The WordPress block editor — is it time to switch?
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