Looking for the best WordPress plugins to take your business to the next level in 2023?
There are over 60,000+ WordPress plugins that you can choose from. This makes it extremely overwhelming for new users to find the right plugin for their website.
We are often asked by readers for the best WordPress plugin suggestions for SEO, social media, backups, speed, etc.
Being the largest WordPress resource site, our experts test over a thousand best paid and free WordPress plugins every year, so we can make it easy for our users (you) to find the best solutions.
Having the right set of WordPress plugins and tools can help you grow your online business. In this article, we have shared our expert pick of the must-have WordPress plugins for business websites in 2023.
Note: These are the plugins that our team installs when we start a new blog or make a new website for our own businesses.
Video Form
If you’d prefer a written list, please keep reading
1. WPForms
Every website needs a contact form because it makes it easy for your visitors to get in touch with you. WPForms is the most user-friendly contact form plugin for WordPress.
This drag & drop online form builder allows you to easily create contact forms, email subscription forms, online order forms, payment forms, surveys, polls, and basically all other types of online forms with just a few clicks. They have over 1200+ pre-built form templates to make your life easier.
WPForms integrates with all popular marketing and payment platforms like Stripe, PayPal, Square, and Authorize.net, so you can build powerful forms in less than 5 minutes.
It comes with powerful features that simply don’t exist in other form builders such as conversational forms, lead forms, form landing pages, user journey tracking, form abandonment, geolocation tracking, GDPR friendly, custom WordPress user registration and login forms, etc.
We use WPForms on the WPBeginner website and all of our other websites. But we’re not alone. Over 6 million websites use WPForms, and they have consistently maintained a 4.9 out of 5-star rating average for over 5 years now.
There’s a free WPForms Lite version available for those who are looking for a simple solution. Plus, it now offers a Stripe integration so that Lite users can easily collect online payments too.
If you are seriously looking to grow your business, then we recommend getting the Pro version because it comes with all the powerful features you need to boost your lead generation efforts. Use this WPForms coupon to get 50% off your purchase.
To learn more about the best form builder plugin, see our detailed WPForms review.
Alternative: Formidable Forms is an excellent alternative for creating advanced solution-focused WordPress forms.
2. All in One SEO
SEO helps you get more visitors from search engines to your website. While WordPress is SEO-friendly out of the box, there is so much more you can do to increase your website traffic using SEO best practices.
All in One SEO (AIOSEO) is one of the most popular WordPress plugins of all time. It is used by over 3 million websites.
Out of all the WordPress SEO plugins, AIOSEO offers the most comprehensive solution with all the features and tools that you need to improve your on-page SEO.
It helps you properly add SEO title, meta description, keywords, generate XML sitemaps, connect your site to Google Search Console, optimize it for social media, and more.
Their team is continuing to innovate and add new SEO features to help you improve your SEO rankings such as their content optimizer with TruSEO score, headline analyzer, custom schema generator for adding FAQ schema, reviews schema, and all other schema markup.
They even added an internal link assistant feature that helps you automate the process of internal linking to boost SEO. No other SEO plugin has this feature.
For complete SEO setup on your website, follow our complete AIOSEO setup guide and then our ultimate WordPress SEO tutorial for beginners.
There’s also a free version of AIOSEO available. However, the pro version includes more powerful features like WooCommerce SEO, local SEO, smart schema, video sitemap, news sitemap, smart redirection manager, ability to detect & fix 404 errors, advanced breadcrumbs, and much more.
To save 50% on the pro version, see our All in One SEO coupon.
Alternative: Yoast SEO is another good alternative for AIOSEO.
3. SeedProd
SeedProd is the best drag and drop page builder for WordPress. It allows you to easily customize your website design and create custom page layouts without writing any code.
Business owners love it because it lets them create completely custom landing pages within minutes without having to hire a developer.
NEW: You can now create completely custom WordPress themes using SeedProd builder without any code.
You can choose from over 300+ beautifully designed templates, or create a completely custom layout from scratch with their easy-to-use drag & drop WordPress page builder (no coding needed).
There have pre-made templates for landing pages, sales pages, thank you pages, webinar registration pages, coming soon pages, maintenance mode pages, 404 pages, frontend login pages, and more.
SeedProd comes with a smart design system, so you can save time by re-using elements instead of doing repetitive work. You can define color schemes, save font combinations, page templates, custom blocks, sections, and more.
It has all the blocks, widgets, and features that you would expect from a powerful page builder such as optin forms, social profiles, countdown timers, contact forms, buttons, pricing page blocks, various content blocks, and more.
It also comes with built-in subscriber management and seamless integration with third-party email marketing services and CRM software.
The best part is that SeedProd works with all WordPress themes, so you will not have to change your existing theme to create a custom design.
Alternative: Thrive Architect, Beaver Builder, Elementor, and Divi page builder plugins are great alternatives with powerful features. You can also try CSS Hero for theme customization.
4. MonsterInsights
MonsterInsights is the best Google Analytics plugin for WordPress. It allows you to “properly” connect your website with Google Analytics, so you can see exactly how people find and use your website.
The best part is that it shows you all the important stats that matter right inside your WordPress dashboard in easy-to-read reports.
For example, you can discover your most popular website pages and posts, track contact form conversions, see what pages a user visited before making a purchase, and much more. You can then optimize your website accordingly to increase your traffic, subscribers, and revenue.
We have detailed guides on how to install Google Analytics in WordPress, how to use Google Analytics to enable eCommerce tracking, and how to track user engagement.
MonsterInsights has a free version, but the true power of it only unlocks when you upgrade to the premium version.
You can use our MonsterInsights coupon to get 50% off your purchase.
MonsterInsights is used by over 3 million websites.
5. OptinMonster
OptinMonster is the most popular conversion rate optimization software in the market. It allows you to convert abandoning website visitors into email subscribers and customers.
This WordPress plugin and application helps you get more email subscribers and sales, fast.
You can use their hundreds of high-converting templates to create WordPress popups, slide-ins, announcement bars, gamified spin a wheel, and full-screen welcome mats to capture users’ attention.
Each opt-in form or campaign template can be easily customized with their drag-and-drop builder.
OptinMonster’s powerful display targeting features allow you to personalize the campaigns for each user, so you can show the right message at the right time.
It’s a great solution for bloggers, business websites, and eCommerce websites. Basically, if you want to make more money from your website traffic, then you need OptinMonster.
It helps you recover abandoned cart sales, convert website visitors, and grow your email list. Read these case studies to see how much success other businesses are having by using OptinMonster.
We use OptinMonster on WPBeginner and our other websites. Check out our OptinMonster review for more details.
There’s a free version of OptinMonster available if you signup from inside the WordPress plugin.
Alternatives: Thrive Leads is a popular alternative for creating popups in WordPress.
6. MemberPress
MemberPress allows you to build online courses, communities, and membership sites using WordPress. It is the best WordPress membership plugin in the market.
You can create subscriptions and restrict content access to users based on their subscription plans. It works with all popular payment solutions like Stripe, PayPal, Authorize.net, and more.
Since MemberPress is a premium plugin, it comes with many other powerful features including drip content, course management (LMS), quizzes, certifications, group memberships, paid forums, powerful access rules, automation features, and more.
For detailed instructions, see our guide on how to make a membership website in WordPress.
You can connect MemberPress with all popular email marketing platforms like Mailchimp, ConvertKit, and others to communicate with your customers.
MemberPress helps creators generate over $1 billion dollars in revenue each year.
Alternative: Thrive Apprentice and LearnDash are some other good WordPress LMS plugins for creating and selling online courses. Easy Digital Downloads is a great alternative for selling digital downloads like eBooks, software, music, and more.
7. Constant Contact
Email is the most effective and reliable marketing tool at your disposal as a business owner. It allows you to stay in touch with your users even after they leave your website. This is why we recommend every business owner start building an email list right away.
Constant Contact is one of the most popular email marketing service providers in the world.
Their platform allows you to build an email list and send beautiful email newsletters to your subscribers.
It offers a quick and easy setup for non-techy users. It also works well with popular lead generation plugins for WordPress like OptinMonster and WPForms.
Alternatives: HubSpot, Omnisend, Brevo (Sendinblue), and ConvertKit are good alternatives if you want something more advanced, but they are more pricey.
8. Pretty Links Pro
Pretty Links Pro is one of the best link management plugins for WordPress. It allows you to easily manage affiliate links while making it simple to make your affiliate links short and memorable for sharing.
It is the perfect tool for affiliate marketers, podcasters, business owners, and others who want to easily create short URLs in WordPress.
This plugin also helps put your affiliate marketing strategy on autopilot. It comes with a keyword replacement feature that adds relevant links to your blog posts automatically.
Other powerful features include auto rotating links, product displays, QR code creation, split testing, and more.
Alternative: ThirstyAffiliates is an excellent alternative for affiliate marketers with lots of advanced features including an Amazon integration. TastyLinks is another great alternative geared towards the food blogger audience.
9. WP Rocket
WP Rocket is the best WordPress caching plugin on the market. It allows you to instantly improve your WordPress website speed and performance with no technical skills required.
It automatically turns on recommended WordPress caching settings like gzip compression, page cache, and cache pre-loading. You can also turn on optional features like lazy loading images, CDN support, DNS pre-fetching, minification, and more to further improve page load times.
Most importantly, WP Rocket doesn’t wait for someone to request a page to save it in the cache. It automatically crawls and builds your website cache which results in an instant performance boost.
WP Rocket also offers Imagify, which is a free image optimization service to help you speed up your website even further.
They also have integrations with Cloudflare API, Sucuri, and many other tools to better configure your website caching setup.
WP Rocket is by far the easiest and most beginner-friendly caching plugin. The only downside is that it’s paid only.
Alternative: SiteGround Optimizer, WP Super Cache, Airlift, and W3 Total Cache are free, but they are not as powerful or easy.
10. SearchWP
SearchWP is the most advanced WordPress search plugin in the market. It helps you improve your site search, so your website visitors can easily find what they’re looking for on your site.
Unlike default WordPress search functionality, SearchWP goes beyond just the post content and indexes everything on your site including custom fields, ACF fields, text files, PDF document content, custom tables, custom taxonomies, custom post types, WooCommerce product attributes, and more.
It also gives you the flexibility to create your own relevance scale and adjust the algorithm without writing any code.
There is a search metrics feature that helps you see what your visitors are searching for, and what they are finding or not finding, so you can improve your content discoverability.
SearchWP also lets you add powerful features like live AJAX search in WordPress, and it seamlessly integrates with all major WordPress plugins including but not limited to WooCommerce, Advanced Custom Fields (ACF), Meta Box, Toolset, BigCommerce, Easy Digital Downloads, bbPress, and more.
To learn more, see our detailed SearchWP review.
11. Uncanny Automator
Uncanny Automator is the best WordPress automation plugin. It allows you to connect your existing WordPress plugins to work together without writing any code, so you can automate routine admin tasks to save time and money.
It seamlessly integrates with most popular WordPress plugins and third-party platforms, so you can easily build automation recipes without hiring a developer.
You simply choose from over 500 triggers and actions to create “if this then that” style recipes on your WordPress site (no code needed).
In plain English, it helps your WordPress plugins and other business tools talk to each other, so they work better together. Think of it like Zapier, but for WordPress.
What’s even better is that you can even connect two separate WordPress sites to work together without writing any code. This is very useful for online stores and membership sites.
Some example use-cases include:
- Have 2 WordPress sites talk to each other – sell products on one while create users & setup access on another.
- Create buttons that can automatically create user accounts and perform other actions in WordPress.
- Add custom user attributes to user profiles based on user’s actions.
- Trigger automation recipes in one plugin from the action taken by another plugin (for example, a submission of WPForms can be used to create an order in WooCommerce).
- Connect your WordPress site to business apps like Google Sheets, Airtable, Slack, Zoom, etc.
- … and so much more
Note: There’s also a free version of Uncanny Automator available that comes with basic automation features.
12. Duplicator
Duplicator is the most popular WordPress backup plugin on the market. It allows you to set up automatic backups and safely store them on a remote location like Google Drive, Dropbox, Amazon S3, FTP, One Drive, and more.
It also makes it super easy to restore your website from a backup. Other features include multisite support, archive encryption, recovery points, and an easy migration wizard, just to name a few.
There’s also a free version of Duplicator you can use to get started.
This is a great backend plugin that’s an absolute must-have for every WordPress blog and website because backups are an essential tool.
Alternative: UpdraftPlus, BackupBuddy, BlogVault, and VaultPress (Jetpack Backups) are also excellent solutions.
13. PushEngage
PushEngage is the best web push notification plugin for WordPress. It allows you to send targeted messages and announcements to your website visitors using the browser push notification technology.
We use push notifications alongside our email newsletter to increase our customer engagement and website traffic.
Push notifications are consistently a top 5 traffic source for WPBeginner.
PushEngage comes with all the powerful features like drip campaigns, a/b testing, dynamic user segmentation, opt-in reminders, powerful analytics, goal tracking, and more.
For eCommerce websites, it can automatically trigger cart abandonment notifications, price drop alerts, inventory alert notifications, and more.
For bloggers & publishers, it can automatically send out new blog post notifications to all of your subscribers.
PushEngage works seamlessly on all website builder platforms including WordPress, Shopify, Bigcommerce, and more.
They have a PushEngage WordPress plugin that makes it easy to enable web push notifications on your website.
The best part about PushEngage is that they DO NOT sell your data unlike every other provider in that space.
Alternative: OneSignal is another popular alternative, but they sell your data on free plans.
14. RafflePress
RafflePress is the best WordPress giveaway plugin on the market. It allows you to instantly increase your website traffic, get more social media followers, and email subscribers with viral giveaways and contests.
RafflePress comes with an easy drag and drop giveaway builder along with proven giveaway templates that you can use to create a giveaway that attracts visitors’ attention.
To enter the giveaway, website visitors must use their email address. This helps you get more subscribers for your email newsletter.
RafflePress incentivizes users to follow your social profiles and share the giveaway with their friends to get more entries into the contest. This helps you increase social media engagement.
The word-of-mouth marketing helps you get more traffic, FASTER! This results in more followers, more sales, and more revenue!
You can easily connect your social profiles, WordPress form plugins, and all popular marketing platforms and CRMs.
RafflePress has a free version called RafflePress Lite that you can get started with. If you want more powerful features to skyrocket your growth, then you need to use RafflePress Pro.
WPBeginner users can use our RafflePress coupon code: wpbeginner20 to get an additional 20% off.
15. Sucuri
Security should be a top priority for all online business owners. Sucuri offers a WordPress security plugin and web application firewall that is probably one of the best protection you can get for your site.
They monitor and protect your site from DDoS, malware threats, XSS attacks, brute force attacks, spam comment attacks, and basically every other type of attack. If you don’t have a firewall on your website, then you need to add one today.
To learn more on how to strengthen the security of your website and protect your business, see our ultimate WordPress security guide with step by step instructions for beginners.
Sucuri helps us block hundreds of thousands of attacks every month on WPBeginner.
Another added benefit of Sucuri is that it automatically adds a CDN layer which significantly speeds up your site.
While there are other security plugins like MalCare, Wordfence, WP Activity Log, etc., none of them can offer the full protection that Sucuri does. The only real alternative is Cloudflare which can be quite expensive if you get their premium add-ons.
16. Google Workspace (formerly G Suite)
Google Workspace (formerly G Suite) is a suite of web applications like email, docs, spreadsheets, etc. Created by Google, this powerful set of office applications is cheaper, easy to deploy, and hassle-free.
It allows you to save costs on software licenses, hardware, hiring IT staff, managing backups, and more. Most importantly it allows you to use professional email addresses with your own business domain name right inside Gmail.
Alternative: You can also get a free business email from your WordPress hosting provider or use Microsoft Office365.
17. Semrush
Semrush is an all-in-one marketing toolkit for digital marketing professionals and business owners. It comes with powerful tools to help you improve your SEO, paid traffic strategy, social media, and content & PR strategy.
It also helps you gather competitive intelligence on your competitors, so you can outrank them and dominate your industry.
We use their tool to do keyword research, backlink audit, track brand mentions, spy on competitors, discover best-performing posts and pages on social media, ad strategy analysis, keyword rank tracking, and more.
These short paragraphs are not enough to describe the true power of Semrush. It’s a must-have tool in our list for serious business owners, and it integrates seamlessly with AIOSEO mentioned above.
Alternative: If you’re looking for a free keyword research tool, you can use the WPBeginner Keyword Generator. It lets you instantly generate 300+ keyword ideas for free.
18. LiveChat
LiveChat Inc is the best live chat support software for businesses and e-commerce websites. It is super easy to use and allows you to quickly add live chat on your WordPress website.
It has tons of customization options, and it comes with a mobile app, so you can provide real-time support.
It integrates with your existing support software, CRM, email marketing, and other tools. Most importantly, it loads fast and offers a great user experience.
The team behind LiveChat also created ChatBot.com which is the best AI powered chatbot software. You can use it in combination with LiveChat to ensure your users always get the fastest response with the help AI + human.
Alternative: HubSpot and Brevo Chat are other popular services that let you connect chat, CRM, SMS, Facebook, and email in one platform.
19. WP Mail SMTP
By default, WordPress uses the PHP mail function to send emails. The problem is that either WordPress hosting companies don’t have this feature setup properly, or they block it to prevent abuse.
This basically means that you and your users may not receive important email notifications from your WordPress site.
WP Mail SMTP solves this problem by sending WordPress emails using a proper SMTP mail server. To learn more, see our article on how to fix WordPress not sending email issue.
Over 3 million websites use WP Mail SMTP because it’s an absolute must-have. We use it on WPBeginner as well.
Pro tip: The paid version called WP Mail SMTP Pro comes with white glove setup, detailed email logs, and more features. Basically, their support staff will set it up and connect it to use your SMTP service provider.
But you can use the free version of WP Mail SMTP to connect with all the popular SMTP services like SendLayer, SMTP.com, Mailgun, Gmail, etc.
20. Shared Counts
Shared Counts is the best WordPress social media plugin that allows you to easily add beautiful social sharing buttons on your website.
It also shows share counts, which helps you add social proof to your website.
While there are many paid solutions available, this free plugin beats them all in code quality and performance.
We use SharedCount on a lot of our websites because it offers an easy out-of-the-box solution for both beginners and developers.
If you want to display more social proof by automatically showing your latest Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube content on our site, then take a look at Smash Balloon plugins. They’re used by 1.6 million websites, and it’s the top social media feed plugin in WordPress.
21. WPCode
While managing your WordPress site, you may sometimes need to add code snippets to your WordPress header or footer for verification, insert ad retargeting scripts, etc.
WPCode (formerly known as Insert Headers and Footers) allows you to easily add code snippets to your WordPress site without editing your theme’s function.php file.
Aside from header and footer scripts, you can also use WPCode to add custom PHP, JavaScript, CSS, HTML, and text code snippets.
There’s a built-in code snippet library where you can find all of the most common WordPress code snippets and insert them in one click.
Plus, you can manage all of your code snippets from one central screen and use tags to organize them.
The WPCode Pro version comes with powerful features like version control for code snippets (Code Revisions), device based targeting for code, ability to add specific code snippets for specific posts & pages, conversion pixels, and deeper integration for WooCommerce, Easy Digital Downloads, and other popular WordPress plugins.
WPCode is a project started by Syed Balkhi, founder of WPBeginner.
22. WPML
By default, WordPress does not allow you to easily create a multilingual website. This is a challenge for businesses that cater to a multilingual customer base in different geographic locations.
This is where you’ll need WPML. It is a WordPress multilingual plugin that allows you to easily create multi-lingual websites with WordPress.
It is very easy to use, SEO friendly, and helps you easily create content in different languages.
Alternative: TranslatePress is an excellent alternative that’s growing fast.
23. WooCommerce
WooCommerce is the most popular eCommerce plugin for WordPress used by over 5 million websites.
It comes with all the powerful features that you need to create an online store.
Over the last few years, WooCommerce has established itself as the most dominant eCommerce plugin for WordPress. It’s built by the team behind Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com, Jetpack, and other popular services.
There’s a robust WooCommerce ecosystem now with dedicated WooCommerce hosting, WooCommerce themes, and WooCommerce plugins available.
Pro Tip: If you’re looking to start an eCommerce store with WooCommerce, then we recommend using SiteGround. Alternatively, you can try Bluehost’s new eCommerce plan which comes with over $1000+ premium WooCommerce extensions for free such as subscriptions, bookings, and more.
To grow your WordPress eCommerce site, we also recommend the following plugins:
- TrustPulse – helps you instantly win customer trust with social proof and FOMO.
- FunnelKit (formerly WooFunnels) – helps you build sales funnels and add eCommerce automation to WordPress.
- Advanced Coupons – helps you add loyalty program, gift cards, and other advanced coupon features in WooCommerce.
- Stripe for WooCommerce – this free plugin helps you easily accept credit card payments as well as add Google Pay, Apple Pay, and others to WooCommerce.
For more suggestions, see our complete list of best WooCommerce plugins.
Alternative: Easy Digital Downloads is the best WordPress eCommerce plugin if you’re looking to sell digital downloads.
If you’re looking for a WordPress payment solution without setting up a shopping cart, then WP Simple Pay is an excellent WooCommerce alternative.
24. Nextiva
Nextiva is the best business phone service in terms of features and ease of use. They allow you to get a business phone number for your website which comes with advanced call routing, unlimited free domestic calling, voicemail to email or text, online faxing, and more.
The best part is that you can receive calls from your business phone number straight to your cell phone which is excellent for small businesses. You can also set business hours, so you are not getting disturbed during holidays or non-work hours.
Their platform also offers CRM, live chat, online surveys, and other communication features. You can manage it all in a simple web-based admin panel which makes it easy for small business owners to easily manage everything like a pro.
We use Nextiva VOIP for our business because it’s one of the most affordable and most reliable business phone service that grows with your business.
Alternative: RingCentral and Ooma are other highly recommended phone service and business VoIP providers.
Bonus Tools
Aside from the top 24 WordPress plugins and tools that we mentioned above, we also use and recommend the following tools to better manage our WordPress sites:
- WP Simple Pay – A simple WordPress payments plugin that lets you accept credit cards without setting up a full eCommerce cart. You can add Apple Pay, Google Pay, ACH debit, and more. There’s also WP Simple Pay free plugin that you can use to get started.
- Smash Balloon – It’s the #1 social feeds plugin for WordPress used by 1.6 million websites. You can easily use their shortcode to display custom Instagram feeds, Facebook feed, Twitter feed, YouTube feed, TikTok feed, and even a full social wall. You can also try the free version of Smash Balloon plugins. The best part is that it makes your social media feeds customizable.
- Thrive Quiz Builder – A powerful lead generation plugin for WordPress that helps you create interactive quizzes to get more email subscribers and boost user engagement.
- Broken Link Checker – A free plugin that scans your website to check for broken internal and external links and helps you fix them to improve your search engine optimization.
- Grammarly – Excellent grammar checking tool that comes with a plagiarism detector, vocabulary enhancement, and more.
- PublishPress – This plugin makes it easy for us to manage our editorial workflow in WordPress.
- Antispam Bee – An excellent plugin to improve the comments section with reduced spam on your website. It works particularly well when used alongside Akismet to combat spam comments.
- Adobe Photoshop – This makes it easy for us to create blog thumbnails and other images for our articles.
- AffiliateWP – We use this plugin on some of our eCommerce sites to add a referral program. It works seamlessly with WooCommerce and other eCommerce platforms (Alternative: Easy Affiliate).
- FunnelKit (formerly WooFunnels) – Sales funnel builder, eCommerce marketing automation, and light-weight CRM for WordPress. It’s a great ClickFunnels alternative for WordPress.
- Thrive Comments – Powerful WordPress comments plugin that help you super charge user engagement with features like upvoting, user badges, subscribe to comments, post from social sites, and more.
- HeroThemes – The best WordPress customer support plugins to manage your customer emails and support tickets directly from WordPress. You can also create a knowledge base to reduce the number of support tickets you get.
- Sugar Calendar – A light-weight event management plugin for WordPress. Easily syncs with Google Calendar, allows you to sell tickets / accept payments, and more.
- WP 2FA – This plugin helps you add two-factor authentication to your WordPress sites. It helps improve WordPress security and is a very good plugin made by the same people behind WP Activity Log.
- Envira Gallery – We use this plugin to help us create better WordPress galleries with photo albums, sliders, tagging, and other advanced gallery features.
- Seahawk – A platform that helps you work with vetted WordPress developers to troubleshoot problems and make customizations.
This concludes our list of the best WordPress plugins for business websites.
Depending on your business, you may not need to use all the WordPress plugins and tools mentioned in our list, but it’s pretty common for our readers to end up using at least 15 to 18 solutions that we have mentioned.
We highly recommend that you either download the plugins straight from the WordPress.org plugin directory or by using the links in our articles which take you to the official plugin websites. Please avoid all nulled WordPress plugins and theme websites because they can put your site at risk.
Now that you have the best WordPress plugins, you may also want to see our article on how to increase your website traffic (27 proven tips).
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Having helped over 400,000+ business owners create their website and choose the best plugins, we have answered a lot of questions. Below are some of the most frequently asked questions about WordPress plugins.
What is a WordPress plugin and how do they work?
WordPress plugins are like apps for your website that allow you to add custom features and functionality like contact form, eCommerce, etc. The concept is similar to the apps on your smart phone.
For more detailed explanation, see our beginner’s guide on what are WordPress plugins.
Do WordPress plugins affect site speed?
It really depends on the plugin, but yes WordPress plugins can affect your site speed if they’re not coded well. However most well-coded WordPress plugins will NOT slow down your website especially if you’re using proper caching and following our WordPress performance best practices.
WordPress plugins that run exclusively on the admin area like WP Mail SMTP, Uncanny Automator, etc will never slow down your website because they don’t load on the frontend.
But when a plugin loads assets like images, scripts, and other files as your website loads for users (frontend), then they can impact your overall website speed. This is why choosing the right WordPress plugins is important, and the ones that we recommend in our list are performance optimized.
For more details, see our guide on how WordPress plugins affect your site’s load time.
How many plugins should I use in WordPress?
A typical WordPress website will have anywhere between 15 to 18 WordPress plugins. But the answer to how many plugins should you use is as many as you truly need and no more.
It’s not the quantity of WordPress plugins that slow down your website but rather it’s the quality.
The WPBeginner website has over 62 active plugins, and it’s blazing fast. That’s because we’re using high quality WordPress plugins. Typically on most of our websites, we have over 30+ active plugins to speed up our workflow.
Often when someone says “it is the plugins that are slowing down your site”, they’re simply not experienced enough and are giving this answer out of frustration.
For a more detailed explanation on this topic, see our comprehensive on how many WordPress plugins should you install and what’s too many.
Are WordPress plugins worth it?
Yes, premium WordPress plugins are worth every penny because they help you save thousands of dollars in custom development costs. Not to mention, you will get access to expert support and new features regularly.
WordPress plugins are also far cheaper than their SaaS alternatives because most plugins are self-hosted on your site. This means you have full control over your data.
For example, to build a custom form solution like WPForms that gives you access to drag & drop form builder, smart conditional logic, hundreds of templates, dozens of integrations, and powerful features like surveys, polls, payment capability, etc., would cost you tens of thousands of dollars. But you can buy the premium license starting at only $39 for Basic license and $199 for Pro license.
Comparatively, Typeform, a SaaS form building tool which only does a fraction of what WPForms does will cost you $996 / year.
Do professional developers use WordPress plugins over custom code?
Yes, professional developers always use WordPress plugins to speed up their workflow, so they can earn more profit on their client projects. There is no point reinventing the wheel when an existing tool does the job far better.
For example, when you ask a professional development agency to build an eCommerce website, they might quote you $15,000 for the project, but behind the scenes they use the plugins to make the project more profitable for them and more affordable for you.
They might use MonsterInsights to setup all conversion tracking, FunnelKit to create custom order forms, All in One SEO for proper SEO schema setup, and so on.
This is why most WordPress plugin companies offer Agency licenses so developers can use them on client projects.
What is the best free plugin for WordPress?
Some of the best free WordPress plugins include WPForms, All in One SEO, MonsterInsights, SeedProd, WP Mail SMTP, OptinMonster, and WPCode.
What are the top 5 plugins you typically use on WordPress sites?
The top 5 WordPress plugins that we install on all our websites include:
- WPForms – every website needs a contact form and likely other type of forms, and this is the best WordPress form builder plugin.
- AIOSEO – this is an All in One SEO toolkit that helps your website rank higher in search engines.
- MonsterInsights – this is the #1 analytics plugin for WordPress. You can’t improve what you can’t measure, and this plugin helps you grow your website with confidence.
- SeedProd – this lets you build custom website designs and landing pages faster.
- WPCode – this is a code snippets plugin that lets you replace at least a dozen plugins with their expert code snippet library. It’s super easy even a beginner can use it.
Aside from these, we always install a backup plugin like Duplicator, and a caching plugin like WP Rocket or WP Super Cache. We also use WP Mail SMTP to ensure our website emails get delivered and OptinMonster to ensure we unlock maximum revenue potential from each website visitor.
We hope this article helped you find the best WordPress plugin for your website. If you have a question or need help finding the best WordPress plugin for your use-case, feel free to reach out to us using our contact form and our team would be happy to assist.
If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.
Syed Balkhi says
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Barney says
I heard to many plugins are not good. How many plugins can one safely load on to a website ?
I’m a rookie?
Andy says
Each website is different so the demands for resources is different (I.e., ecommerce site vs a simple blog site). A common guideline is no more than 20. But the less the better. Regardless of how many you use, after your website is built you need to test it to ensure it runs flawlessly. A big consideration is speed. Speed is important as a lot of people use their smartphones. If it’s slow, not many people will wait for your site to render. Go to Google PageSpeed Insights to test each page. Good luck!
Mike says
A great list recently republished.
Answering this question: when it comes to WordPress plugins the concern is quality, not quantity.
This list contains some of the highest-quality plugins available for different uses.
Well-made plugins will not noticeably effect or even improve your website’s load time. Poorly-made plugins slow down the website, load unnecessary scripts and code, and even open your website to new vulnerabilities.
Performance is a big giveaway for the novice webmaster. Learn to use browser developer tools and you’ll be able to spot other surprising places poorly-made plugins impact your website. For instance, a client recently asked for a project management plugin. We used one plugin more than a year, but it forced its javascript and css into the front end despite we were only using it in the admin.
Ultimately, if you cannot test the plugin adequately yourself, rely on the community to guide you to reputable developers and plugins. Websites like this weed out undesirable plugins.
DO NOT rely on customer reviews and popularity rankings on theme / plugin websites. These can be inflated and often given before users truly vet the plugin.
Shanti says
Yoast seo is really helping,thank you and i will try other plugin too
Tisa Mohere says
This is very helpful information for best plug in results.. It’s very useful
Lorrayne says
Hi. This is really useful and I do use some of the plug ins you mentioned. However most of the plugins seem to be geared towards blogs or shopping websites. I just want a plug in where my customers can click on a few products they like the look of to either compare them side by side or add them to a list of ‘favourites’. I only seem to be able to find these plug ins if you have a full suite which allows customers to purchase online which my website doesn’t. I wonder if anyone can suggest anything to help me out?
Thanks!
ahmad says
hi, you can use woocommerce and u can use alot of gateway for payment.
ikomrad says
This is a great list, but would someone who is a solo blogger who just started blogging last week need all of the applications out of the gate? It seems excessive if that is the case.
If not is there an article that directed towards beginners?
WPBeginner Support says
Hey ikomrad,
We believe that these are essential plugins for all users even those who are just starting. If you feel that these are too many, then add those that you need right now, and add others as your website grows.
Admin
Saba Lorem says
This is certainly a great list! Take it week by week and build upon what you’ve got. You’ll grow to love everything WP can do
Rovshan says
Hi
I’d like to purchase a travel wordpress theme. Everything is ok with the theme exept a layout. I am not so happy with it. It has a wide layout while I need a layout with 2 columns. Is it possible to chenge the layout option of a premium theme with Beaver Builder or another page builder plagin?
WPBeginner Support says
Yes, it is possible to change layout of a single page. To change layout across the theme you will need to use theme options. Ask theme developers if their theme supports two column layout before making the purchase.
Admin
Saqib Rauf says
Thanks, already using some of these plugins. Salute to your efforts for WordPress community.
Johnpaul Onwueme says
Thank you, these lists are awesome
Uffe B. says
You mention Slack. I use it at work. But which slack plugin excactly do you advice using, and for what usage?
prince frank says
does optinmonster do same functions as contact forms? or can 1 use them both?
Divaldo says
Just use one of them, they are the same.
Rosie Lukaszczyk says
I have just finished my first page and incorporated some of these plugins!!!! Works great, check my work of art
Carlos says
So, if we must have this 24 plugins for business.
And some plugins are free and some are paid.
After a quick research… We Need To Invest Around $4,379 Annually?
WPBeginner Support says
Hi Carlos,
Some businesses may not need some of these plugins, while others will find them absolutely must have. You will need to find the perfect balance that fits in your budget while giving you best results.
Admin
Stefan Markov says
Nicely done! I’d say you missed a few, but well done!
R Scot Clark says
I would like for my home page to show posts. In addition, show the ABOUT page. How can I get a connection for that page?
Sco
Parikshit says
Sir, I want to increase the upload file size which is just 2MB and I tried the code memory-limit -100M
Upload max size -100M and so on in wp-admin but the file size remains as it is. Can you help me
vijay says
why my head menu is showing invalid. please help me i am a newbie to website.
Amelie Jons says
Hello,
Thank you for sharing this awesome collection of 20 must have WordPress plugins.
Yoast SEO is one of my favorite plugin. It helps you to optimize your meta tags without entering into coding. I use this plugin in my website.
Keep updating!!!
fred says
thanks.
it really helpful
idk says
Do you know of a plugin that creates images that flip to another image? that is free?
simon says
Quite Helpful !!
Thankyou
Kathy Slamp says
Thank you. This is extremely helpful. I am not a beginner to websites, but I am to Word Press, so this helps.
quick question:
Does Word Press have online chat? I work in Africa 6 months a year as a volunteer and sometimes I get stuck without any help.
Thanks
Kathy Slamp
Ollie says
Hi Kathy,
Wordpress unfortunately doesn’t have an online chat but there are support forums.
Ralpheal Jackson says
Wow, what an awesome, informative and insightful post! Lol
Love it!
Download most of the plugins, didn’t know some of these exist.
Thanks
Ralpheal
Loren Davey says
Hi, I am looking for a FREE contact form that gives you an option to upload a file.
Ollie says
Hi Loren,
“Contact form 7” is one of the best plugins available.
It has an option to add a file upload section as well and is quite easy to setup.
-Ollie
John Ether says
Are all these plugins free?
WPBeginner Support says
No, some of them are paid plugins and services.
Admin
John Ether says
If you mention whether it’s paid or free in the title/heading itself, it would save readers’ time to find the same out themselves, and it’d add to the beauty of the article.
umer tanveer says
hmm good
David Ikele says
Thanks, i appreciate.
Dinesh says
Thanks for Sharing about CSS Hero. Please suggest plugins/themes for making a tutorial site with page navigation,pagination and left/right frame for easy navigation.
Rachael says
hello…I make use of a very good page scroll id named from the wordpress plug in . It is easier for me for Vertical and/or horizontal scrolling,simple back-to-top links or complex single-page website navigation and so on .It is absolutely free,and would be very helpful in making a tutorial site.
Wang says
Very nice list
Yash Gautam says
Thanks mate for your advice!! It’s very helpful
Jan Watford says
Such great information. So glad I found this site!
Ankita says
Life seems so easy after reading this post. Great resource seriously![:)](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%200%200'%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Thanks.
Araceli says
Thank you for you post. I can not download Back Up Buddy Plugin. Can you please help? I just can’t find it. Thanks!
Harsha says
Helpful. Thank you.
samdani says
Plugins add additional functionalities to sites . This is why for any site using plugin is compulsory . Now question rises up which plugins are very essential ?
There are many source from where we can get answers .
Here the answer is on wordpress plugins must have for business websites .
This article is very much tonic for which purpose it has been written . Thank you author for sharing such nice article here . One can also jut have a look
for getting some of the best plugins
Corey says
Hey man great post!
I’m new to word press and some of these plugins will come in super handy. Going to mess around with OptinMonster and experiment with some of the others.
Rizwan says
Great Post!
Thanks for sharing top word press plugins and these plugins are necessary
for new blogger for SEO purposes as well as designing their website
Kate Sheren says
I am currently using Optin Monster plugin and so far it is good. Will try these plugins as experiment.
MCrifasi says
I would definetly add Trello to this list but overall a complete list. Also another great plugin to display live, updating data from your desktop Excel spreadsheets in your WordPress website or blog … that is iPushPull WordPress plugin
Jay says
So.. Why optinmonster and not SumoMe or Thrive Leads?
Editorial Staff says
Primarily because OptinMonster is more powerful and the best performing one in the market. See the full comparison here: https://www.wpbeginner.com/best-wordpress-popup-plugin/
That’s not to say that SumoMe or ThriveLeads are bad options. But in our list, we picked the ones that we like. There are dozens of alternatives to just about every single tool mentioned in the article
Admin
Brad Bush says
Thanks for sharing!!!
Anand says
I would definitely use BirchPress and Slack plugins.! Thanks for the list. Is there any plugin available to dynamically change Home page ? (Instead of showing recent posts OR static home page!) Thanks.
Nick Barban says
A couple of plugins I’ll definitely be looking at thank you. Also, do you have a suggestion for a plugin that will allow me to post PDFs on a page so that visitors can view and download if needed. Having trouble finding one to do it. Thanks
WPBeginner Support says
Please take a look at how to add a PDF viewer in WordPress.
Admin
Alecia Stringer says
Great resources! Thanks for the list! There are tons that will really stand out. I think I’ll test out that testimonial widget.
John Dimarco says
Shareaholic plugin for content amplification!
tayyab waqar says
if we add these plugins in newly host site.. these will make the website more heavy. and take lot of time to load the page..
WPBeginner Support says
No, actually that’s not true. Please see how many plugins should you install on your WordPress site for detailed explanation.
Admin
Tony B says
I’d like to have seen any of the thrive themes landing page plugin in that list.
The first Q from SILVIA, the thrive themes has some ‘themes’ within the collection that allow “apprentice pages” effectively private for members only.
& Totally agree with Mark wordfence is rocking right now.
Alan Martin says
Great list, I use many of these and they work great. I might add Trello for organising tasks and business related activities.
I am now considering whether I should start using OptinMonster, looks like a useful tool and at an appealing price, thank you!
Silvia karounos says
Excellent post, very informative.
I would like to add a Login configuration for my clients.on my WP site.
I need to have a private contact with them to share documents such as graphics and drawing.
I can’t see in the list above.
Thanks ahead for your feedback.
Jamie says
I will recommend “custom login form”. I also use it for my website and so far it has been great using this plugin.
Mark Klinefelter says
Good list of plugins. Everyone has opinions. IMHO the best backup system is Blog Vault. The best security is Wordfence Premium.
Robert says
Don’t think you should add them all at once. Some nice plugins but adding them all will slow your website down en drop in the SEO rankings. Test with plugins and if you don’t use them delete them from your WordPress site.