Looking for the best WordPress plugins? In this article, I will share with you 55+ best available WordPress plugins which you can install and use today. The list is compiled after careful research and testing.
One of the best things about WordPress is that you can add virtually any feature you want by using these plugins. Yes, if there is a WordPress plugin available for any specific feature you want, then you can add it to your site.
All you need to do is to install and activate it on your WordPress site.
Without the use of plugins, you would have to use code to add new features to your site. Luckily, you can find thousands of plugins to take care of this for you. There are free as well as premium plugins available.
There are plugins for almost anything you can think of. If you need a feature to be added to your site, chances are a plugin can do that for you.
But with thousands of available plugins, it’s not easy to choose the right one. To make your life easier, I have created a list of the top 55 best WordPress plugins which you should know about, as a beginner.
While going through the list of plugins below, keep in mind that I’ve added only those which I consider best and also useful to many users.
So without waiting any further, let’s dig into the list.
When you are just getting started with your WordPress blog or website, it’s critical that you manage it properly. This list of plugins can help you do that.
I have categorized these plugins based on the type of purpose they serve.
So let’s get started with the list.
WordPress SEO Plugins
I don’t have to tell you why SEO is super important for your website or blog. And you can’t ignore it if you want your site to get popular.
In simple language, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of optimizing your website or blog to rank high in SERPs (search engine results pages).
There are 200+ different factors that determine how high your website appears in the SERPs and these include:
- The amount of links that point to your site.
- The content on your site.
- The keywords you use in the content.
In short, SEO is an ongoing process. You have to keep working on it regularly in order to sustain your rankings over time.
WordPress is already optimized for SEO out of the box. But you can add more power to your WordPress with SEO plugins. These plugins can help you with optimizing your site to make it more SEO friendly, adding meta tags, including rich snippets in SERPs, noindexing unnecessary pages, and a lot more.
Here are some of the best WordPress SEO plugins:
I recommend Rankmath SEO plugin.
RankMath is one of the best SEO plugins available for WordPress. It comes with a set of tools that help you improve your website’s SEO. You can download the plugin for free. The plugin also has a premium version with added features. But, in most cases, you do not need a premium version as a newbie.
The plugin has over 1 million active installations.
It works on the latest version of WordPress with any theme. All you need to do is to install it and activate it like any other plugin.
WordPress Backup Plugins
Do I have to tell you why you need to back up your website?
This is the single most important thing you have to do as a blogger. No matter what, you need to regularly backup your website.
In simple words, backing up your data is insurance for you and your website. If anything goes wrong, there’s a high possibility you can recover your lost blog posts or pages with the help of backup files.
Fortunately, there are plenty of backup plugins for WordPress available.
Backup plugins are easy to use. They don’t require any coding. The best thing is that you get a lot of options while choosing a plugin for backup.
You can choose any one of them depending on your needs and requirements. I have listed some popular backup plugins below.
Here are the most popular WordPress backup plugins:
- UpdraftPlus
- BlogVault
- WPvivid
- BackupBuddy
- Codeguard
- Jetpack
All these plugins can be used for your WordPress site. I like BlogVault the most. But it’s a premium plugin, you can read my complete BlogVault review here.
Premium plugins are usually better than free plugins. But, not everyone likes to pay for advanced features, I know. Free options are just as good. In that case, you can use UpdraftPlus or WPvivid. Both are pretty good at their jobs.
WordPress Security Plugins
Security should be your top priority as a WordPress user. Even though WordPress is highly secure by default, you need to take your security to the next level to protect your site from hackers and other evil-minded people.
Many people don’t understand this and that’s why they are open to attacks. You should avoid being stupid like these people.
Every day thousands of websites are being hacked. You never know when you are a victim. So, be careful from day1 and keep your site safe from hackers.
If you’re a WordPress user, there’s no way you can ignore security plugins. And, you are at a bigger risk when using WordPress. There are lots of security-related things you need to do in order to secure your website.
To make your life easy, these are some popular security plugins:
All these are very good but I would recommend either WordFence or iThemes Security plugin. These two are powerful and trustful security plugins.
These days, Sucuri is also a popular choice.
However, I would recommend going for Wordfence or iThemes Security as they both have a good track record of keeping WordPress sites secure. There are free as well as premium options available for these security plugins.
I like the free version of Wordfence as it already has a lot to offer. You can always switch to a premium version if you find the free plugin limiting. Another well-known plugin is BulletProof Security. Personally, I haven’t tried this plugin yet, but I’ve heard good things about it. So, you can give it a try.
WordPress Cache Plugins
In case you don’t know, caching is a method for storing data so that future requests can be served faster. Basically, when you visit a website, the browser sends a request to the webserver and the server sends the page back.
However, this process is a bit time-consuming as it involves several processes. To make this process faster, caching saves the page as a file on your website. Then, when another user visits your site, the page is served from the cache. This way the server works less and the page loads faster for other users.
It reduces the load on your server and makes your website faster. No doubt, caching is a must for any WordPress site.
Since WordPress is a blogging platform, it’s better to use cache plugins that serve the cached files quickly. And, you need to do this so that your blog doesn’t look slow and your readers don’t get frustrated.
Here are some of the best caching plugins:
So, you can see that there are some good free WordPress cache plugins available, but my favorite cache plugin is WP Rocket. After using it on many sites, I found it very helpful for speeding up my site.
However, like most premium plugins, WP Rocket performs great. I have reviewed the plugin in detail, you can read my WP Rocket review here.
If you are looking for a free option, both W3 Total Cache and WP Super Cache are good options with some great features for free.
Read – 13 Best WordPress Cache Plugins
Image Optimization Plugins
If you want your website to load faster, using just a cache plugin is not enough in most cases. You also need to optimize images. Images are the heaviest files and often make up the bulk of a site’s page weight.
If your pages contain high-quality images, it will take time to load. They will make your site heavy and slow.
Of course, you want to have the best quality images to show up on your site, but the problem is that high-quality images are heavy.
So, what can you do?
Well, you have to optimize your images.
You can do it by making them smaller in size without sacrificing quality. This way you can keep up the image quality but also reduce the file size. Yes, a little bit of quality will be lost, of course. But, the result will be faster-loading images.
This is where image optimization plugins come in. There are plenty of good image optimization plugins available.
Here are the best image optimization plugins:
What do I recommend, you ask?
I recommend using either Imagify or ShortPixel on your site. They are the best image optimization plugins for WordPress and I have used them both. Imagify is a premium plugin and it’s made by the WP Rocket team, so you can trust it.
Form Plugins
WordPress doesn’t come with a form builder by default. But, form builders are necessary to create forms on your site. There are different types of forms you’ll be using on your WordPress site, for instance – registration forms, contact forms, lead generation forms, login forms, feedback forms, etc.
Since there is no form builder in WordPress by default, you have to use a plugin to build forms on your WordPress site. Thankfully, there are some good form plugins available in the market with great features.
These form plugins are available for free as well as for premium.
Here are some of the best form plugins for WordPress:
Contact Form 7 is a free plugin that lets you add simple contact forms. It doesn’t have many features, but it works fine if your website needs a simple contact form only. You can download it from WordPress.org repository.
WP forms and Gravity form are some of the best premium form plugins. I like Gravity forms, but WP Forms is also a pretty good option.
Page Builder Plugins
Page builders are used to designing your site’s pages in a more effective way. Using them, you can easily create eye-catching designs with a user-friendly interface and drag & drop options. Page builders are necessary for everyone who wants to design their website without touching code.
If you want to have just a simple WordPress blog, you don’t really need to use a page builder. The default WordPress editor works fine for you.
But, if you want to build a unique website, which needs some advanced designs with multiple layouts, then using a page builder plugin will be necessary.
There are some good page builders available in the market with great features. You can choose any one of them based on your needs and budget.
Here are some of the best page builder plugins available:
Divi Builder and Elementor are two of the best page builder plugins available. You can go for either one of them depending on your requirements. While Elementor has a free plugin, Divi builder by Elegant Themes is a premium plugin.
Lead Generation Plugins
Lead generation is essential if you want to grow your business.
You need leads to grow your email lists, and you can generate leads by using a lead generation plugin on your WordPress website.
A lead generation plugin lets you create forms to generate leads. For instance, you can use contact forms, popup forms, etc to collect information about your visitors, such as their email addresses, names, and other information.
Then, you can use this information to create email lists and send emails to your subscribers. That’s how you build a relationship with your readers and create trust so that they can choose you over your competitors.
Here are some of the best lead generation plugins for WordPress:
Convert Pro and OptinMonster are two of the best lead generation plugins. If you’re not planning to use a premium plugin, then opt for Sumo. Sumo is a free plugin, but it also has a premium version.
So, it depends on what you need.
If you’re looking for a simple plugin, then go with Sumo.
If you want something that comes with more features, opt for either Convert Pro or OptinMonster. I personally use the Convert Pro plugin.
Link Builder Plugins
Link Building is essential for your website. It’s the only way to drive traffic from other websites to your own site. It’s also super useful for SEO.
But, here I’m not talking about creating links from other websites. But, here I’m talking about creating links on your own website. Internal links are also important for SEO, and you can create them easily by using a plugin.
Internally linking your related pages is a smart way to make your visitors stay on the website longer which is great for building their trust. It also improves page views on your website and helps search engine crawlers find new pages easily.
Luckily, there are some WordPress plugins that help you easily create internal links and connect multiple related pages with ease.
Here are two of the best internal link building plugins:
If you’re looking for the best interlinking plugin, then go with Link Whisper. But, if you are looking for a free option, Internal Link Juicer is a good choice.
Please note that Link Whisper is a premium plugin. But, you can try it for free using their lite version. It’s a very efficient plugin to build internal links and connect every new page with relevant posts.
Affiliate/Link Redirection Plugins
These plugins help you manage your affiliate links. You can use them to create nice-looking affiliate links or insert them directly into your posts.
Affiliate links are usually ugly. You can use an affiliate plugin to create nice-looking links that redirect to your preferred affiliate links.
Some of the best affiliate plugins are:
All these plugins are free and can be used on your WordPress site. Thirsty Affiliates is one of my favorite affiliate plugins. This is free but has a premium version. It’s very easy to use, and you can create beautiful affiliate links without much effort.
Redirection is also a good choice. It’s a free plugin that you can use to create redirections for both your links and pages. Redirections is a free plugin but can be very powerful if you know how to use it.
You don’t have to use your affiliate links if you don’t want to.
But, it’s important for your website to have a good affiliate marketing strategy right from the beginning. If you are new to affiliate marketing, then I recommend you read this guide: The Complete Guide to Affiliate Marketing.
Ecommerce Plugins
Ecommerce plugins like Woocommerce help you create an online store, manage your inventory, and do tons of other things.
WordPress, by default, doesn’t offer these features.
But, if you want to create an online store for your products and sell them to the whole world, then there is no other option but to use a plugin.
There are several eCommerce plugins available for WordPress users. But, you don’t have to install them all. You should choose the one you need.
Some of the eCommerce plugins worth noting are:
Note: Post SMTP is an excellent plugin for eCommerce sites. It’s basically an easy-to-use SMTP Mailing Plugin that maximizes the deliverability of all your emails.
The most popular free plugin to create an online store is WooCommerce.
If you are looking for a premium option, then WP Shopify offers an impressive solution at a reasonable price.
Another popular plugin for selling digital products is Easy Digital Downloads. It’s a great plugin for selling digital files like ebooks, plugins, themes on your website. It’s free to use and you can get started in less than 5 minutes.
If you have a blog or website, you can sell something to your visitors. It doesn’t have to be a physical product. You can also sell digital products to your visitors.
In that case, you need a plugin for selling your products.
I recommend Easy Digital Downloads if you don’t have any experience with ecommerce. It’s a very flexible plugin for beginners, that allows you to manage several types of digital products on your WordPress website.
Woocommerce is also a great option that allows you to create an online store to sell physical as well as digital products.
Indeed, WordPress acts as the OS or operating system for your website, and it’s also the most preferred way to create a blog or website. WooCommerce is a plugin that turns this WordPress system into a fully functional eCommerce store online and even set up coupons for your customers.
While talking about Woocommerce coupons, Smart Coupons for Woocommerce deserves a mention in this list. It adds extends the functionality of default WooCommerce coupons by allowing you to create a range of coupon restrictions, activate coupon auto-apply, offer giveaways, and a lot more. Basically, the plugin helps you manage Woocommerce coupons more efficiently.
Analytics Plugins
You don’t necessarily need a plugin to track your website visitors. You can use Google analytics without a plugin. And, it is also free to use.
But, if you want more features like heatmaps and better analytics, then you should use an analytics plugin that can help you track everything right from your WordPress dashboard. You don’t have to log into Google analytics anymore.
Some of the best analytics plugins are:
Well, most users prefer using free Google analytics to get their traffic analytics. It’s also good for beginners because you don’t have to learn much to get started with Google analytics. This is also a free choice.
But, if you are looking for something that can help you track more things on your WordPress website, then you should think differently.
Social Sharing Plugins
Social sharing plugins help you bring more traffic to your website. And, that’s the main goal, right? Many beginners think that social shares are meaningless. But, the truth is you can boost your Google rankings with social shares.
And, if you have a blog, it’s a smart idea to include social sharing options on your blog posts so that your visitors can share your posts with the world.
I love using social sharing buttons because it helps me drive more traffic to my website whenever I publish a new blog post. Yes, not everyone shares your blog posts. But still, you can’t ignore this traffic source.
I have listed some of the best social share plugins here:
Usually, social sharing plugins are a free way to get more social shares. It helps you automatically share your blog posts without your involvement.
Social media traffic is a big source of traffic. And you can bring it to your WordPress website without spending a single dollar. I recommend using Social Snap or AddThis because they are completely free to use.
All these plugins also have premium options.
But, they work pretty well in their free version also. If you don’t want to limit yourself with a free plugin, then go for premium options.
Conclusion
So, you can see that there are plugins for almost any kind of purpose. You can do some cool things on your WordPress website with the help of plugins. I recommend these plugins for beginners as well as power users.
You can get started with these plugins in minutes. And, most of them are free to use. You don’t have to dig deep in your pocket to use these plugins.
So, what are you waiting for?
Try these plugins and let me know which plugin do you like the most?
I hope you have found this post useful. If you have any questions, feel free to connect with me. And, please do me a favor by sharing it on your favorite social sites. It takes less than a minute, but it really helps me. 🙂
