One of the best perks of using WordPress to build a site is its massive collection of plugins. Installing a plugin will add features to your WordPress website, making it highly scalable.
As there are tons of WordPress plugins, choosing the right ones may be challenging. While it may seem ideal to get all of them, having too many plugins installed will slow down website performance – one of the most important factors in determining its ranking in search engines.
I have compiled a list of must-have WordPress plugins to narrow down your search. Here you’ll find each of their notable features and pricing. In the end, feel free to choose which plugins suit your needs best.
What Is a WordPress Plugin and Why Do You Need It? A plugin is a software you can install on a WordPress website to extend its functionality. Each plugin carries specific features to perform certain tasks, scaling the site without coding.
When you install WordPress, you only get the basic tools for content management. Should you want to create an eCommerce site or blog, you need additional plugins to make the necessary changes.
Thousands of free and premium plugins are available on the WordPress plugin directory official guide
Top 5 Must-Have WordPress Plugins If you’re short on time and need a quick read on the best WordPress plugins, here are my personal picks:
Rank Math ‒ optimizes websites’ performance in search engines.WP Rocket ‒ improves site speed with multiple caching methods.Akismet ‒ protects websites from spam comments.UpdraftPlus ‒ creates backups and restores websites with just a click.Smush ‒ optimizes images for faster page load speed. 25 Best WordPress Plugins While doing in-depth research and comparing various types of WordPress plugins to compile the best of the best, I took the following factors into account:
Pricing ‒ the pricing plans and their value for money.Ease of use ‒ the plugin’s learning curve and whether it requires technical skills to operate.Features ‒ the range of functions and capabilities the plugin offers to enhance your website’s performance and user experience.Support ‒ measures how accessible the plugin’s support team and knowledge base are. Reliability ‒ the plugin’s security, maintenance quality, and compatibility with other WordPress plugins and themes. Now that you know the importance of plugins and how I’ve measured their overall quality, let’s start with recommendations for the best WordPress plugins of 2021.
Pricing: freemiumEase of use: 5/5Support: 4.5/5Reliability: 4.5/5Notable features: multiple payment options, supplier and shipping management, and point-of-sale toolkitBest suited for: aspiring entrepreneurs looking to turn their WordPress website into an eCommerce storeWooCommerce for eCommerce sites . Besides handling online transactions of various business models , it also accommodates shipping , inventory management , and marketing automation .
Customizing your online store is more straightforward with pre-built WooCommerce themes. The theme store $35-$129/year catered to various niches.
Also, WooCommerce has an extensive library $299/year , making extending your store’s functionality easier. Furthermore, the installation process is easy even for non-technical users to perform.
The abundance of extensions also means that WooCommerce can integrate with other plugins and services. For example, the WooCommerce PayPal Here PayPal Here .
Support is available through different channels. Either consult a WooExpert $69/hour , refer to the guides, or check the documentation. Its community forum
Pricing: freemiumEase of Use: 5/5Support: 5/5Reliability: 5/5Notable Features: Google Trends and Analytics integration, custom schema builder, and orphan page detector Best Suited For: bloggers and website owners wanting to improve their site’s ranking in search engines Rank Math search engine optimization
This WordPress plugin comes with a step-by-step installation and configuration wizard, allowing even newcomers to set up the site’s SEO. With the SEO analysis and testing tool, Rank Math recommends the best settings to achieve optimal results.
The advanced redirection manager lets you manage all redirects as well as import and export them in a few clicks. A broken link checker is also available to find 404 links within your site. This SEO plugin can also detect WordPress pages without any internal links pointing to them.
Other features that may benefit you include automated image optimization, Google News and Google Video sitemaps, and local SEO optimization. Additionally, Rank Math supports WooCommerce, Divi, and Elementor integrations.
The free version, while serving its purpose, offers a limited number of features only. Consider getting either the Pro plan ($59/year ) or the Business plan ($199/year ) to unlock the plugin’s full functionality. Both premium plans include a powerful schema generator and 24/7 support.
3. WP Rocket Pricing: $49-$249/month Ease of use: 5/5Support: 4/5Reliability: 5/5Notable features: browser caching, cache preloading, and lazy-loading featureBest suited for: website owners looking for an all-in-one solution for web performance optimizationWP Rocket multiple caching options to boost site speed and reduce page load time .
WP Rocket caches pages by creating static HTML files. It minifies CSS and JavaScript files to make them lighter, optimizes CSS delivery, and delays JavaScript files. The LazyLoad feature also applies to media files, conserving your bandwidth.
The cache preloading feature prompts your site to preload content manually or automatically. Its functionality includes detecting and preloading sitemaps generated by popular WordPress SEO plugins like Yoast SEO.
Support is available via tickets. You may also seek assistance from the knowledge base, its Facebook group help center
WP Rocket offers three pricing options $49-$249/month . All plans come with yearly support and updates. While this WordPress plugin doesn’t offer a free trial, WP Rocket includes a 14-day money-back guarantee in all of its plans.
4. Akismet Pricing: free (non-business and personal sites)Ease of use: 5/5Support: 4.5/5Reliability: 5/5Notable features: automated spam filtering, comment status history, and discard featureBest suited for: bloggers and website owners wanting to screen their comments section for spamAkismet combat spam comments . It automates the filtering process and shows any URLs in the comments’ body to reveal malicious links.
As each comment has its status history, moderators can see which comments are flagged and approve them manually if necessary. This feature also allows moderators to monitor each user’s comment history.
Akismet comes with a useful discard feature that blocks the most obvious spam. Doing so saves disk space, improving your website’s performance.
Personal blogs can get Akismet API keys and use this WordPress plugin for free, while commercial websites should get a paid subscription. Akismet’s subscription plans $8.33-$250/month .
You can refer to its Help page for guides or visit the support forums
5. Sucuri Pricing: freemiumEase of use: 4.5/5Support: 4.5/5Reliability: 4.5/5Notable features: security activity auditing, remote malware scanner, and blocklist monitoringBest suited for: website owners seeking to strengthen their site’s security measuresSucuri Security complements the security measures implemented by WordPress and your hosting provider, minimizing security risks that could compromise the site.
This plugin logs all security-related events and changes within the WordPress site to the Sucuri cloud server. Should the site be compromised, you can analyze the security logs to mitigate future threats.
The security file integrity feature periodically monitors all of your files within the site to see if they change at some point. Meanwhile, the remote malware scanner tool verifies your pages’ integrity and cross-check the resources against multiple blocklist engines.
Unfortunately, this WordPress plugin doesn’t include a website application firewall Sucuri Firewall $9.99/month to get this premium feature.
Support is accessible via tickets, phone, forums
6. Wordfence Pricing: freemiumEase of use: 4.5/5Support: 4.5/5Reliability: 4.5/5Notable features: web application firewall, two-factor authentication (2FA), and Wordfence CentralBest suited for: website owners seeking to strengthen their site’s security measuresDespite serving the same purpose as Sucuri, Wordfence
For one, Wordfence has a web application firewall and malware scanner as its main features. It blocks malicious traffic and requests containing suspicious code and content. Since your server powers the firewall, it cannot leak data and be bypassed.
The login security feature protects your site from DDoS attacks
Another helpful feature, Wordfence Central, lets you manage multiple WordPress sites’ security settings in one place. Configure the plugin to send alerts via numerous channels when there’s a critical problem.
Wordfence comes in free and premium versions. Opting for Wordfence Premium $99/year/license for one website, and you can get a discount if you buy it for more sites or more years.
Pricing: freemiumEase of use: 5/5Support: 4/5Reliability: 5/5Notable features: HttpOnly flag , mixed content fixer, and HTTP Strict Transport SecurityBest suited for: website owners who haven’t enable HTTPS protocolReally Simple SSL HTTPS boost site security , protecting visitors’ sensitive information when accessing your website. Doing so can also improve your SEO ranking .
Other than simplifying the migration process, this plugin also generates an SSL certificate and assists you with the installation process ‒ all with just a few clicks.
The free version includes all the core features. However, opting for the paid version $29-$169/year will give you access to better security features. For instance, the mixed content scan feature identifies and fixes files that are still requested over HTTP.
The plugin provides a knowledge base forum
Pricing: freemiumEase of use: 5/5Support: 5/5Reliability: 5/5Notable features: multiple cloud storage options, scheduled backups, and email reportingBest suited for: website owners looking for an easier way to backup and restore their websiteUpdraftPlus create backups and restore sites hassle-free .
The backup plugin offers manual and automated backups ‒ the latter may be based on the pre-set time interval or at a specific time. Backups will automatically commence before WordPress runs a core update. Meanwhile, old backups will be pruned regularly to save space.
In terms of security, UpdraftPlus provides basic email reporting. It logs all backup operations and reports any warnings or errors after each backup session.
Websites that manage a large number of data may want to invest in Updraft Premium $70-$399/year , you get to encrypt database backups, send backups to multiple destinations, and perform incremental backups. You’ll also have access to the paid support form and forum.
9. Elementor Pricing: freemiumEase of use: 4/5Support: 3/5Reliability: 4.5/5Notable features: responsive live editing, global widgets, and custom CSS supportBest suited for: website owners wanting to customize their website hassle-freeElementor over 100 premade page templates for various niches and 300 blocks to choose from . With the drag-and-drop editor, building your ideal WordPress site will be much faster and intuitive.
Its responsive live editing feature displays all the changes implemented on the site live without reloading the page. It can also preview the design for mobile devices and accepts custom CSS code.
As Elementor is compatible with posts and custom post types, you can enable its functionality on specific post types. With the 30 basic widgets added to the default Gutenberg blocks, creating a custom look for different pages will be much easier.
For more tools and assets, consider upgrading to Elementor Pro $49-$999/year . Doing so will unlock all the available 90 blocks and over 300 templates, along with premium support. You’ll also have access to WooCommerce Builder and eCommerce widgets.
Pricing: freemiumEase of Use: 5/5Support: 5/5Reliability: 5/5Notable Features: A/B testing, targeting segmentation, and scheduled notificationsBest Suited For: website owners wanting to increase user engagementOneSignal
This WordPress plugin supports push notifications via web, mobile, in-app, email, and text messages. It has an easy setup process and can send a large number of notifications daily. All features are accessible via WordPress dashboard, streamlining your work.
With the automation feature, you can set it to send notifications for every new post published or based on their last visit. Alternatively, schedule them to be delivered based on followers’ timezone.
Cluster followers with the targeting segmentation feature according to their language, site visitation frequency, or other attributes. This way, you get to create personalized messages for optimal conversions.
Through real-time reporting, the WordPress plugin keeps track of each message’s delivery and performance. You may then use the A/B testing feature to craft the best marketing campaigns.
The free plan supports up to 10,000 subscribers with limited personalization. Meanwhile, the paid version offers two plans ‒ Growth and Professional.
The Growth plan, costing $12/month per 1,000 subscribers , includes standard personalization and advanced in-app messaging. The Professional plan, starting from $114/month per 5,000 subscribers , offers advanced personalization, custom event tracking, and 24/7 priority support.
11. WPForms Pricing: freemiumEase of use: 5/5Support: 5/5Reliability: 5/5Notable features: smart conditional logic, spam protection, and entry managementBest suited for: website owners wanting to create forms for various needsWPForms form builder plugins today. The drag-and-drop builder and pre-built templates make designing all kinds of contact forms hassle-free, including booking, testimonials, and payment forms.
All of the available form templates are responsive, mobile-friendly, GDPR-compatible
The free version has more than enough tools for designing dynamic contact forms. However, upgrading to WPForms Pro
Other essential features included in the premium version include spam protection, file uploads, and field validation. You can also use Smart Conditional Logic to personalize forms based on user selections, making the data collection process more efficient.
WPForms Pro plans cost between $31.60-$239.60/year . All plans come with a 14-day money-back guarantee.
12. Bloom Pricing: $89/year or $249/lifetime license Ease of Use: 5/5Support: 5/5Reliability: 5/5Notable Features: multiple pop-up styles and trigger types, email marketing integrations, and pre-made pop-up templatesBest Suited For: bloggers and website owners looking to grow their audience baseBloom
Various pop-up and opt-in styles and trigger types are ready to cater to various needs. All opt-in forms are responsive and come with a wide range of color options and border styles.
Integrate your opt-in forms with popular email marketing systems like MailChimp and Constant Contact to ease the data collection process. The Bloom custom panel, accessible via WordPress dashboard, provides easy access to all of your email marketing accounts.
A/B testing and email list statistics are available to further boost your marketing efforts. The real-time conversion statistics lets you keep track of each campaign’s performance, providing actionable insights 24/7.
Purchasing this premium plugin for $89/year will give you access to other Divi products, such as Monarch Extra $249 and get lifetime product updates.
Both yearly and lifetime plans include premium support, a 30-day money-back guarantee, and unlimited website usage.
Pricing: freemiumEase of Use: 5/5Support: 4/5Reliability: 4/5Notable Features: user notes, social login, and user verification systemBest Suited For: website owners wanting to turn their WordPress site into a membership platformUltimate Member
Users will have control over their account’s tabs. User roles may be assigned upon registration or manually by admins. The access controls feature lets you restrict access to posts, pages, and menu links based on users’ assigned roles and login status.
The drag-and-drop form builder makes creating registration, login, and profile forms easier. You can use the pre-defined fields or design custom fields and reuse them in other forms. Each field’s visibility is customizable using conditional logic.
Ultimate Member offers 23 extensions to expand the plugin’s functionality. Additional features you can add to the site include WooCommerce integration, real-time notifications, a private messaging system, and a user verification system.
The free version provides all the basic features for creating a membership system. However, getting the extension pass for $249/year will give you access to all extensions, unlimited sites license, and email support.
Pricing: freeEase of Use: 5/5Support: 3/5Reliability: 4/5Notable Features: Google tools integration, up-to-date insights and easy-to-understand stats, and quick setupBest Suited For: website owners looking to use multiple Google toolsSite Kit
This free plugin will retrieve official stats and key metrics from various Google tools. Some of the supported tools include Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and Google AdSense.
Aside from being easy to use, Site Kit is also easy to understand data-wise. It processes raw data into readable reports, then presents all of them in one dashboard.
Since Site Kit is open-source software, support is only available via the WordPress.org support forum
Pricing: freeEase of use: 5/5 Support: 4/5Reliability: 4/5Notable features: cloud storage integrations, mobile device compatibility, and WCAG 2.1 AA Level complianceBest suited for: website owners wanting to migrate their website to a different serverAll-In-One WP Migration best solution for migrating your WordPress site hassle-free. It complies with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
This free WordPress plugin makes the migration process easy and with minimal chance of downtime. You only need to export all the website data into a compressed file and unpack it on the new location using the drag-and-drop feature.
All-In-One WP Migration ensures compatibility with all the major themes and plugins along with a vast range of hosting providers Google Drive and Dropbox .
That said, cloud storage integrations are only available via extensions $99/plan .
Visit the Help Desk page to access its knowledge base, FAQ section, and troubleshooting tutorials. Email support is also accessible through the same page.
16. Smush Pricing: freemiumEase of use: 5/5Support: 5/5Reliability: 5/5Notable features: bulk compression, automated optimization, and incorrect size image detectionBest suited for: bloggers and website owners who produce a significant amount of visual contentSmush image optimization . It provides multiple image optimization techniques to increase your page load speed . The best part is that this plugin can locate images slowing down your WordPress site, and perform lazy loading
Its core function is lossless compression, which reduces image sizes without affecting their quality. The automated optimization feature saves time as it compresses images during the upload process. Alternatively, optimize images in bulk with one click.
Besides supporting all kinds of media file types, Smush can optimize images outside the Media Library and across multisite. Furthermore, this WordPress plugin is compatible with popular themes, page builders, and media library plugins.
Consider upgrading to Smush Pro $5-$15.83/month to get other page speed optimization tools via Hummingbird Pro
Pricing: freemiumEase of use: 5/5Support: 5/5Reliability: 5/5Notable features: multiple SMTP setup options, email log, and email stats trackingBest suited for: website owners wanting to send emails from their WordPress siteWP Mail SMTP improving websites’ email deliverability . This plugin reconfigures your WordPress site for sending PHP emails using the simple mail transfer protocol
Different SMTP setup options are ready to connect your site to the chosen SMTP provider. While the plugin recommends using SMTP.com Sendinblue Mailgun , SendGrid , and even Gmail .
The setup process is straightforward enough that even beginners can do it without professional assistance. WP Mail SMTP has thorough documentation that explains how to set up your chosen mailer and manage the settings.
Upgrading to WP Mail SMTP Pro $39-$389/year .
18. LiveChat Pricing: $16-$50/month/agent Ease of use: 5/5 Support: 4/5Reliability: 4/5Notable features: data security, agent groups, and chat taggingBest suited for: business owners wanting to create direct support channels on their eCommerce websiteLiveChat adding live chat support to your site. It creates a direct channel to visitors for answering their inquiries promptly, ensuring an optimal customer experience.
This WordPress plugin is built for businesses with a dedicated support team. It lets your support agents hold multiple chat sessions simultaneously, send automated personalized messages, and tag chats for better reporting.
Various chat tools are ready to boost your communication’s efficiency ‒ canned responses for frequently asked questions, file sharing, and chat transfer, to name a few. Meanwhile, the report and analytics tools help manage your support team and monitor their work performance.
The Live Chat WordPress plugin is free to download. However, you need to purchase a plan $16-$50/month per agent . If you are not sure if it’s worth it, take the free trial for 14 days.
Pricing: freemiumEase of use: 5/5Support: 5/5Reliability: 5/5Notable features: a vast range of social network integrations, animation and icon design options, and custom icon placementBest suited for: bloggers and business owners looking to boost their social media presenceSocial Media Share Buttons improve your social media icons’ visibility and appeal to visitors. It supports integrations with popular social networking platforms, expanding your reach.
This WordPress plugin offers various icon designs and themed styles to choose from. A library of animations is ready to improve social media icons’ presence on your WordPress site.
Additionally, the social media counters and popup options will help to encourage more social media sharing. The icons’ placement is also customizable – for example, you can only display them on certain pages or at the end of every post for optimal results.
All the basic features are accessible through the free plugin. Consider getting the premium version WPML-compatible
Non-commercial sites can make a one-time purchase of the license for $29.98 , while the commercial license costs $39.98 . Both licenses come with a 14-day money-back guarantee.
Pricing: freemiumEase of use: 5/5 Support: 3/5Reliability: 4/5Notable Features: custom post type UI extended and Visual Composer Grid supportBest Suited For: bloggers and website owners wanting to register custom post types and taxonomiesCustom Post Type UI
Additionally, the plugin allows importing and exporting custom posts existing on other sites. You can even create an all-term taxonomy archive and assign new terms to existing content.
Despite supporting Visual Composer Grid $29/6 months .
Custom Post Type UI Extended has a shortcode builder that generates code for displaying any post type within your site, including those created by plugins and extensions. It’s an excellent solution for users who don’t know how to code.
That said, the premium version offers multiple hooks and filters for web developers wanting to add data to existing or custom-built templates. Custom Post Type UI Extended fully supports multisite.
Support via ticket system is available for premium users. User documentation and code documentation are accessible to the public.
Pricing: freemiumEase of use: 4/5Support: 5/5Reliability: 5/5Notable features: native Gutenberg support, image translation support, and editorial controlBest suited for: website owners wanting to build a multilingual websiteTranslatePress
This WordPress plugin supports both manual and automatic translation ‒ the latter is possible by integrating the site with Google Translate API. With the native Gutenberg support, you can translate Gutenberg blocks and see the results in real-time.
The editorial control feature ensures that the site can only publish complete translations. Partial translation mode is available for when you need to exclude some parts from being translated. Add language switchers anywhere within your site using shortcode or as a drop-down list.
All these features and tools are available in the free plan. However, upgrading to the Pro version for $79-$199/year will give you access to premium add-ons and support.
Getting one of the Pro plans allows you to create translator accounts and a multilingual sitemap for popular SEO plugins. The automatic user language detection feature may also contribute to improving the user experience.
22. PeepSo Pricing: freemiumEase of Use: 5/5Support: 3/5Reliability: 4/5Notable Features: post scheduling, social network integration, and GDPR compliance settingsBest Suited For: website owners wanting to expand their social networkIf you’re looking to build an online community, PeepSo
The admin can design registration forms with custom profile fields and set each field’s privacy. Each user has control over their profile’s avatars, cover images, and notification settings. You can create custom reactions for users to leave on each other’s posts to encourage interaction.
Like any other social media platform, PeepSo has nested comment, pinned post, and hashtag search features. All comments and reactions are synchronized with their corresponding community posts. New blog posts will be visible on the community stream upon publication.
Other features that PeepSo provides include appearance configuration, terms and conditions settings, email automation management, and RTL support. Additionally, the plugin comes with a built-in security configuration to prevent brute force attacks, among other cyber threats.
PeepSo offers free and premium versions. The latter, ranging between $99-$299/year , includes free updates, technical support, and access to other PeepSo premium plugins.
Unfortunately, 24/7 support is only available in the Ultimate Bundle. The lowest-tier plan, Basic Bundle, only provides 30 days of technical support from Monday to Friday.
Pricing: freemiumEase of use: 4/5Support: 4/5Reliability: 4.5/5Notable features: WooCommerce integration, SMS notification, and calendar admin viewBest suited for: businesses wanting to set up an online booking system Amelia Booking System build a WordPress booking website . The responsive, mobile-friendly interface makes booking any service easier. Setting up the booking wizard on your posts or pages is also hassle-free with the use of shortcodes.
The appointment management is highly flexible, allowing both customers and admins to schedule new appointments. The WordPress plugin will send notifications to the users via email when the appointment status changes.
Amelia Booking System comes in Lite and Pro versions. Luckily, the Lite version offers more than enough tools to accommodate small businesses and individuals.
Upgrading to the Pro plan for $59/year per domain or $189/lifetime license per domain will grant you access to more premium features, making it suitable for medium to large-sized businesses. Some of the features include WooCommerce integration, recurring appointments, and calendar sync.
Pricing: freemiumEase of use: 4.5/5Support: 4/5Reliability: 4.5/5Notable features: multiple payment options, customer management, and detailed eCommerce reportsBest suited for: entrepreneurs wanting to sell digital products from their WordPress siteEasy Digital Downloads selling digital products on WordPress hassle-free. The file access control ensures that customers can only download the product after completing the checkout process.
It supports all kinds of file types, from software and eBooks to songs and videos. Admins can manage each customer’s purchase history and their activities within the site. Integrations with cloud storage services like Dropbox and Amazon S3 are available for hosting your files.
Other notable features include data reporting, discount codes, refund tracking, and AffiliateWP
You can download the plugin for free from the WordPress plugin directory. Upgrade to the premium plan for $99-$499/year to access email support, updates, and premium extensions
Alternatively, get the functions you need by installing individual extensions in free and paid versions.
Pricing: freeEase of use: 5/5Support: 4/5Reliability: 4/5Notable features: wishlist, bbPress integration, and offline paymentBest suited for: professionals looking to sell online courses from their WordPress siteIf you’re thinking about selling online courses , consider trying this WordPress plugin. Despite being free, LearnPress
The course creator’s interface is easy to use and supports WordPress multisite. Various free add-ons are available to extend your site’s functionality, such as wishlist, prerequisite courses, and bbPress integration.
You may add additional functionality by purchasing premium add-ons $19.99-$39.99/add-on . Said premium features include a certificate builder, payment gateways and WooCommerce integrations, and a commission management system.
Purchasing any of the add-ons will give you access to six-month support and the premium support forum
Conclusion There you have it, the 25 best premium and free plugins from the WordPress community. Each plugin has its pros and cons, so it’s best to pick the ones best suited for your needs. Remember, installing too many unnecessary plugins will reduce your page load time, harming your SEO effort.
Let me know which plugins you end up using and whether they live up to your expectations.
juanhen81
Very useful