This plugin processes your posts and comments using the Parsedown library. It is a direct replacement for PHP Markdown Extra by Michel Fortin.
As of April 2026, Parsedown for WordPress is a WordPress markup plugin with 60 active installations and a 5/5 rating from 2 reviews. It has been downloaded 2.7K+ times in total. Requires WordPress false+ and PHP false+. Available on WordPress.org since 2015. Last updated 10 years ago — may have compatibility concerns. Top alternative: Preserved HTML Editor Markup Plus.
Got a bug report or want to contribute? Please do so on the GitHub issue tracker or submit a pull request.
Parsedown is an efficient, modern PHP implementation of the Markdown syntax originally developed by John Gruber. This plugin runs your posts and comments through the Parsedown Extra version, which has additional features that are part of the Markdown Extra extension by Michel Fortin.
Michel wrote the original Markdown plugin for WordPress, and this aims to be a 100% compatible drop-in replacement for that. Michel’s original plugin is no longer supported as of February 1, 2014.
So why Parsedown? It’s faster, more consistent and is being actively developed.
Development of this WordPress plugin takes place over on GitHub. If you have any support requests, I do monitor the su…
| WordPress | false+ requiredTested up to 4.2.39 |
| PHP | false+ required |
Plugin data sourced from WordPress.org. Analysis and metrics by PluginSift.