There are thousands of WordPress plugins, it can be a challenge to find the best ones. To help you in your hunt for the best WordPress plugins we’ve compiled a list of essential plugins that are recommended based on functionality. Find out how these fundamental tools can assist in constructing and development of a WordPress based website that will meet your needs.
What are WordPress Plugins?
WordPress plugins are additional application modules that add features to your WordPress website. These plugins may contain anything from minor modifications on to full nascent features to which the user can add onto their site without even required to code.
When installing plugins you expand what your blog is able to do and this can include contact forms, Seo enhancements, security factors, performance enhancements, and almost anything that is in existence.
WordPress has more than 50,000 plugins, available in the WordPress Plugin Directory, which means that there must be a plugin for every conceivable function you may need for your website, allowing you to create a very specific site since you can choose the functionalities that perfectly suit your desired objectives.
As an extension and addition to this fact, you should know that plugins are primarily the tools for additional features and options that can literally change your site from bad to better level of performance, security, and even add more features to your site.
Checklist on how to choose the best WordPress plugins?
When it comes to online presence choosing the right wordpress plugin characteristics can make lots of variation in your intended website performance, security and user-interface. Here are key criteria to consider when choosing the best WordPress plugins for your site:
Compatibility
Check that the current version of WordPress as well as the theme you are using supports the plugin. This is a plugin that conflicts and can actually mess up your site.
Regular Updates
Make sure that the plugins that you wish to use are developed constantly and supported by their creators. More frequent, it translates to the fact that the plugin is well maintained and supported to work well and securely with the latest updates of WordPress.
User Reviews and Ratings
Look for the reviews and rating of the users in the official WordPress Plugin Directory. The usually high ratings as well as positive remarks of other users offer a clue on the veracity of the plugin.
Support and Documentation
The plugins to be used must be those that are well backed and well documented. Sometimes good support can address problems faster and comprehensive documentation can easily lead the person through installation and configuration processes.
Performance Impact
Make sure that the plugin would not slow down the page of your site or have a heavy impact on the existing site speed. It is also good to monitor some of the plugins that they may slow down your site so that you need to check on them to see the time it as taken to load your site.
Security
Choose the plugins which are related with security issues more importantly than other things. Make sure the plugin has not been hacked before and if it was, how fast the developers work on a solution to such problems.
Functionality and Features
Compare the benefits & features of the plugin as provided by the developer and see if they will suit your requirements. Do not use several plugins that have the same set of activities since it may cause issues with the plugin and repetition of tasks.
Active Installations
Another thing that can be taken into account is the number of installations that are actively used by people. Extensions used by many people are generally more stable and frequently updated.
Top Recommended WordPress Plugins
Plugins have become an indispensable element of any website that is created using the WordPress platform and their amount impresses even the most fastidious user. As you can see, WordPress has multiple free plugins that can enhance your website in different ways, so, to guide you through the plethora of options, below, you will find the most useful WordPress plugins necessary for diverse aspects of website management.
Given here are the most used plugins which has been selected based on function, simplicity, and efficiency. Mentioned plugins can be of great value if you want to work with search engine optimization, website security, or performance improvement – all these tools will help you become successful when developing a WordPress website.
ACF
ACF is an excellent plugin, that lets you add custom fields to the edit screens of your WordPress based project. It is recommended to adjust these fields in order to gather and display extra information about your posts, pages, and any other CPTs. ACF appears to be very flexible, and it serves it purpose for developers, who need more customization options than the basic WP ones.
Wordfence
Wordfence is an all-in-one security plugin, where you will get a number of features to protect your WordPress site. This is divided into Firewall, Malware Scanner and Real time Threat Defense feed. From Wordfence, you will be able to view the live traffic, block the IP addresses, and protect the website against brute force attack.
Yoast SEO
Yoast SEO is widely used SEO plugin for WordPress, and it has some of the best features that help in SEO. Most of the functions found under this option are involved with helping you to optimize your website for the search engines, with features for keyword analysis and optimization, readability analysis, and meta tag generation and editing, among others. It creates XML sitemaps as well and offers connectivity with Google Search Console.
All-in-One WP Migration
All-in-One WP Migration helps to transfer your WordPress site with very minimal hassle. It lets you backup your database, media files, plugins, and themes with ease and in just a few clicks. It is easy to import and export with a drag and drop function and is compatible with the most hosting services.
Bricks
Bricks is the best page builder plugin out there which allows you to build remarkable websites in relatively less time. It has an easy to use drag and drop, templates and a host of other fields that make the designing of the site easy. Bricks is said to be flexible and they have features that are aimed at improving the performance of the site.
Rank Math SEO
Rank Math SEO is a sturdy SEO plugin aimed to provide you an optimized content for your website. Some of the features include keyword rank tracking, rich snippets, and 404 monitor among others. Rank Math also uses the simple setup wizard and has essential SEO analysis options.
Classic Editor
Classic Editor is an official WordPress plugin that returns the pre-2017 WordPress editor, or the Edit Post screen. For you to be able to use plugins that work with the extension of the old editor, incorporate old style meta boxes and in general any feature that relies on the former editor, you will need to install this plugin.
Duplicate Page
Duplicate Page is one of the simplistic and effective plugins designed to make a copy of any post or page within a click of a button. It’s especially valuable when creating many new items from the layouts and templates created in a shorter amount of time.
Elementor
Elementor is one of the best page builder plugins which provide a drag and drop feature to build any layout for the page. Currently, it offers an abundance of design elements, templates, and widgets which can help create truly stunning, professional looking websites without any programming skills on the user’s part.
LiteSpeed Cache
LiteSpeed Cache is fast caching plugin that will act as the caching layer for WordPress websites. It smoothly works with the LiteSpeed Web Server and, in addition, it has image optimization, database cleaning, and page caching.
Security Plugins
It is very important to secure your WP website against things like malware, hackers and other shortcomings. Here are some of the top security plugins that can help safeguard your site:Here are some of the top security plugins that can help safeguard your site:
Wordfence
Wordfence is a word press security plugin which has the feature of a number of powerful tools to protect the word press site. There are a web application firewall, a malware scanner and a real time threat defense feed. Wordfence too has capability of analysing live traffic and inform the user of attacks in the process and option of blocking IPs and also protecting the site from brute forcers.
iThemes Security
iThemes Security, also previously identified as Better WP Security, comprises a vast array of features to for the protection of your WordPress website against the prevailing evils. It encompasses the protection based on force, as well as tracking of file changes and copying of databases. It also has features such as a security status where the program tells you the general security level of the particular website and some of the recommended steps for enhancing security.
Sophisticated attackers can easily exploit the standard WordPress install, which is why implementing these security plugins can improve the security features of your WordPress website. Reporting is also necessary for a website, and activity monitoring helps to keep data safe, including your data and data of the website’s visitors.
SEO Plugins
WordPress SEO plays an important role of enhancing the ranking of your site on search engines so that it can be easily identified. This is because through SEO plugins you will be able to work on and change your sites content, structure as well as performance in order to get better rankings in the search engines. Here are some of the top SEO plugins to consider:Here are some of the top SEO plugins to consider:
Yoast SEO
Yoast SEO is perhaps the most popular SEO plugin for WordPress because of the rich functionality joined with the ease of use. Other features provided by it on page optimization tools include; keyword optimization, write quality checks, and meta tags. Another feature of Yoast SEO is Site Maps that includes XML sitemaps also it conveniently connects with Google Search Console for easy tracking of the site’s SEO.
Rank Math SEO
Rank Math SEO is the professional tool which will assist in the promotion of any website and its content. It has extensions like keywords ranking, Rich snippets, and 404 monitor which are more advanced. There is also the quick installation wizard as well as advanced SEO analysis tools that assist in the process of proper SEO content optimization.
SEOPress
SEOPress is a general seizure SEO plugin that can function in enhancing key internet site components. It has content analysis, and meta descriptions and title optimization. It has other features like structured data types (or schema), Google Analytics and social sharing that are incorporated into SEOPress. Due to its easy to use interface and detailed documentation this plugin is preferred by WordPress users.
Backup and Migration Plugins
The other essential dimension that I have considered important while using WordPress is the need to have a regular backup service and the capability to seamlessly move the WordPress site. Here are some top plugins that simplify the process of backing up and migrating your WordPress website:
All-in-One WP Migration
All-in-One WP Migration is a WordPress plugin which is easy to use designed to help users migrate a WordPress site without stress. It enables the copying of the whole site, the database, the media files, the plugins, and the themes with just a drag and drop operation. The plugin works with nearly all hosting services and allows performing find & replace operations on the database at the export step.
UpdraftPlus
UpdraftPlus is another reliable and powerful plugin that has a great reputation for being the best backup plugin for WordPress. It lets you make full copies of your site and store the copies either on the cloud or on your computer. Another feature is back up that can be scheduled so that the user does not have the need of frequently initiating it. Available features of UpdraftPlus are copy, backup, restore, and migrate with only one click.
Duplicator
Duplicator is one of the most popular plugins that enables the easier migration and cloning of WordPress sites. It enables you to customize packages with the whole site from the database files and all the settings to be easily relocated to another place. To cut the long story short, Duplicator is suitable when you as a developer want to create a staging area or migrate the sites from one host to another.
Performance Optimization Plugins
Optimizing the performance of one’s WordPress site is very important to ensure that users are able to experience smooth navigation on the website. Here are some top performance optimization plugins that can help improve your site’s speed and efficiency:
WP Rocket
WP Rocket is a paid caching plugin for WordPress web sites optimized to improve the performance of the web site. Some of the features it comes with are the page caching, cache preloading, and the GZIP compression to enhance on the loading time of the page and make it more user friendly. In its usage, WP Rocket depends much on the users; hence, it is incredibly easy to use even for the new WordPress users much as it also needs little configuration from the advanced WordPress users as well.
LiteSpeed Cache
LiteSpeed Cache – this is a generous caching plugin that has the greatest set of features for WordPress site enhancement. It also supports the LiteSpeed Web Server and has features to enhance server caching, image, and database.
Autoptimize
Autoptimize is one of the famous plugins that specifically work on optimizing the front end of a website. It reduces the size of scripts and styles, and stores them locally, inserts styles in the head section and moves and delays scripts into the footer. It also deals with image, google fonts and async javascript optimization to load the webpage very fast and provide smooth experience.
Perfmatters
Perfmatters that is a light weight yet effective performance enhancement tool that works to eliminate all the services on Site and even enhance scripts. It lets you turn off selectively options in WordPress that are not helpful for your site’s performance such as emojis, embeds, and XML-RPC. This also incorporates a script manager enabling specification at page level of which scripts should run, and which should not.
Page Builder Plugins
Page builder plugins help the users develop and style the WP site design without having the technical know-how of a web developer. The hosted site gives you set of plugins which are based on drag and drop and hence you can create highly professional look pages with them. Here are some of the top page builder plugins for WordPress:
Elementor
Elementor is one of the most popular page builder plugin that is easy to use with a drag and drop functionality and of course offers lots of design options. It mostly comes with many design aspects, layout choices, and widgets to let users create good and mobile-friendly pages. It is a plugin that allows site owners to manage every conceivable aspect of the website’s template by headers, footers, and content blocks.
Bricks
Bricks is a performance-oriented and unbelievably beautiful page builder plugin with which people can build their website. It is easy to use with available and easily customizable templates and different design tools. It is fast in rendering the website pages and makes sure that no matter how many layout structures are applied to the site, page loading shall not be a problem.
Oxygen
Oxygen is one of the most easy to use and flexibly setup the builder page plugins that I have come across. It makes it possible for you to arrange the page with a mouse and has other features such as the Data Insertion tool, CSS styles, and controls that responds to the font size. It can be noted that oxygen is most famous among developers and designers who have to have precise control over the appearance of their website.
Form Plugins
You really cannot do without form as it is used to capture information from users, create leads and also as a communication tool on your WordPress site. Here are some top form plugins that can help you create and manage forms easily:
Gravity Forms
Gravity Forms is an efficient and functional plugin that provides the user with an ability to create a complex form on a Word Press site. It has the ability to drag and drop yours form builder that allows the creation of diverse fields such as text, email, drop down among others. Another feature that has been made available to users is the conditional logic, the capability of including files in the form, and featured multi-page forms. Also, it is compatible with most of the third party features like Paypal, Stripe, and Mailchimp.
WPForms
WPForms is a user-friendly form creation plugin for WordPress that is simple to use even for beginners and will help design professional forms. It has a drag and drop feature and ready to use templates to help you create contact forms, survey forms, orders forms and many others. Some of the features that are available for use include; Smart conditional logic to allow users to build complex forms easily, form notifications for notifying the form users, and spam protection whereby users’ forms are secured from spam access. It also works well with most of the used email marketing services, and payment systems.
Other Essential Plugins
Other crucial plugins which are not in the earlier categories include; Security, SEO, performance optimization, paginated builders, and form plugins. Here are some top recommendations:Here are some top recommendations:
WordPress Classic Editor
WordPress Classic Editor is WordPress’s official plugin that enables users to get back the earlier version of WordPress editor and the Edit Post page. This plugin is kind of useful for users who like to stay with the old editor and use lots of plugins that have not been migrated to the new interface yet.
Duplicate Page
Duplicate Page is relatively basic but functional; it helps in creating a copy of any post, page, or a custom post type with the simple click of a button. This is beneficial in terms of easily involving the creation of new content frequently out of old and already designed formats and layouts.
Redirection
Redirection is an all-round plugin for handling 301 re-directs and for tracking 404 errors. It makes it simple for you to create and manage your redirect and see to it that users and search engines are taken to the right page. This plugin is vital for keeping up with search engine rankings and enhancing the visitors’ experience.
Better Search Replace
Better Search Replace is a simple plugin to use for copying and editing of the database of your WordPress website. Maybe it’s especially helpful in updating the URLs when transferring the site and changing mass amounts of content.
EWWW Image Optimizer
EWWW Image Optimizer is a WordPress plugin that can assist in optimizing images on your website by making their size smaller thus the quality being affected. This enhances simplicity and productivity of the website, which is paramount in satisfying its customers and search engine ranking.
GeneratePress
GeneratePress is an ultraal minimalist theme that is compatible with the Gutenberg editor and allows for so much customization. It has got an array of features and is recognized by fast running and neat code quality.
Google Site Kit
Another official WordPress plugin is Google Site Kit that connects your sites with data from different Google tools right at your WordPress dashboard. It connects to Google Analytics, Search Console, AdSense and many more, making available detailed information about efficiency of your site.
Imsanity
When it comes to images that are uploaded in the Web site, Imsanity makes it even resize these large images to size that is much more reasonable, thus preserving the space in the server and the performance of the Site. This is quite handy for such sites that have numerous authors, who occasionally publish images in their original and larger sizes.
ShortPixel Image Optimizer
ShortPixel Image Optimizer reduces the file size of the images that are used in websites to boost performance. There is lossy as well as lossless compression that guarantees the user to obtain high-quality images at reduced file sizes.
SVG Support
SVG Support was designed to also enable users to upload and use SVG files securely in their WordPress site. Inline SVG rendering is also supported which makes your images and icons more flexible and easy to manage.
WooCommerce
WooCommerce is the most used eCommerce plugin for your WordPress in this respect because it enables you to set and run an online shop. It has features as product catalog and display, payment processing, and delivery methods which make it an all-in-one solution for eCommerce.
WP Forms
WP Forms is best considered as a form builder tool that has extremely easy to use for newbies or beginners and is know to offer professional WP Forms. The program has a GUI and provided schemas to create contact forms, survey forms, order forms, and other forms.
Starting from the search engine optimization by Yoast SEO plugin and security by Wordfence to the powerful page creators like Elementor or the performance boosters such as WP Rocket, all of them are created to make your website as effective as possible. Some of the common plugins to integrate include the form plugins like Gravity Forms and WPForms for facilitating the interaction of users and generating leads and for the back up of data, UpdraftPlus.
Applying all these plugins in your WordPress site requires that you choose and incorporate them properly for you to have a responsive, secure, and high performance website that helps you meet your audience needs as well as helping it be ranked highly by the search engine. This knowledge will help avoid difficulties and keep the site efficient and secure updating the plugins and knowing the new tendencies.
As you embark on enhancing your WordPress site with these plugins, remember to use the latest version of the plugins and ensure that they are updated regularly to avoid the threats.
Check the performance of your site and be able to change the number of plugins you are using based on the result of check.
Seek help and advice from the WordPress community in using plugins and how they can be of better help.
Thus, while utilizing these plugins, you can stay on the right path: creating exceptional content, interacting with people, and expanding your presence. Adopt these tools and you will see your WordPress site evolve from a simple tool into a rich and functional interface.
In case you have any other questions or haven’t found what you are looking for in the article, you are welcome to contact us or use other resources in the WP sphere. Cheers to creating a more efficient and mightier WordPress blog!
