Z Theme Switcher Reviews, Downloads & Maintenance

When we are developing themes, we quite often like to switch between the old (active) and the new (to develop) version of a theme. Sometimes without other people noticing.
This plugin does exactly that.

What does it do?

It lets users with certain roles see another (than the currently active) theme, by
* Selecting a theme from the list of installed themes
* Selecting which user roles are permitted to switch themes and
* Optionally, selecting user roles that can use a ‘switch theme/back’ button on the front-end

This plugin is under active development. Any feature requests are welcome at [email protected]!

Installation

Install the Theme Switcher from within WordPress

Visit the plugins page within your dashboard and select ‘Add New’;
Search for ‘Z Theme Switcher’;
Activate the plugin from your Plugins page;
Go to ‘after activation’ below.

Install manually

Unzip the Theme Switcher zip file
Upload the unzipped folder to the /wp-content/plugins/ directory;
Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress;
Go to ‘after activation’ below.

After activation

On the Plugins page in WordPress you will see a ‘settings’ link below the plugin name;
On the Theme Switcher settings page:
** Select the theme you want to be able to switch to
** Select the roles with the permission to switch
Save your settings and you’re done!

Frequently Asked Questions

Does it work in a multisite environment?

Yep. It does.

The Switch theme button on the front-end is not showing, can you help?

Hm. It could be that you are using a theme that does not call wp_footer() (which is the hook it is linked to).
In that case, you can use the custom hook/action for this.
Just add the following php code (make sure it is somehow called on every page):

Do you have plans to improve the plugin?

We currently have on our roadmap:
* Adding translations
* Adding a custom capability (to be used next to roles, for those who want to add a custom role)
* Set the preference per user

If you have a feature suggestion, send us an email at [email protected].

Review feed

Daan Verbaan

6/30/2025

A simple but very useful tool for theme developers

Z Theme Switcher has quickly become one of my favourite tools when working on new WordPress themes. It solves a very specific problem in a clean and effective way: being able to preview a different theme — just for yourself or selected user roles — without changing the live site for visitors. What I really like: It’s lightweight and easy to set up You can control exactly who sees the development theme The optional front-end switch button is handy during testing It keeps everything safe and invisible to regular users I often need to develop or fine-tune a new design while a site stays online. With this plugin, I can work directly on the live server, test things in context, or share previews with clients — all without setting up a separate staging environment. It’s clear the developer understands real-world needs. The plugin is actively maintained and feels reliable. If you work with custom themes, this is definitely worth adding to your toolkit.

Screenshots

No screenshots available

Changelog

1.3

Added setting to also switch in the backend

1.2

Added JS to copy PHP code

1.1

Changed front-end JS and CSS loading method

1.0

Very first version of this plugin

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