Have you ever stared at the WordPress plugin directory and felt like you’re drowning in options?
With over 90,000 plugins at your fingertips, it’s tough to figure out which ones are worth your time, especially when you’re new to WordPress.
You’re probably asking yourself, “How do I pick the right WordPress plugins that’ll actually help my site thrive without tanking its performance?” Trust me, I’ve wrestled with that too.
Let me tell you about it.
Years ago, I was obsessed with perfecting my first WordPress site. I’d spend hours tweaking content and chasing better search rankings, but I hit a wall—my site was solid, but it wasn’t ranking well.
Then I discovered the power of top plugins.
Not just any plugins, no. But the best WordPress plugins that streamlined my workflow, turbocharged my SEO, and made my content pop. The best part was that many of the WordPress plugins are free.
It was like flipping a switch: suddenly, my site wasn’t just surviving, it was growing.
That’s why I’ve rounded up this list of the top and most popular WordPress plugins for business sites and blogs.
In fact, to make it easier for you to select the plugins you need, I have categorized them by function and given each a star rating. I go a step further and also offer alternatives if the plugins I list are not for you.
These are the game-changers that WordPress experts lean on to unlock their site’s full potential.
Whether starting from scratch or fine-tuning a masterpiece, these tools will help you conquer the technical WordPress chaos and build something brilliant. Let’s dive in.
Key Takeaways:
- Essential plugins boost functionality without coding knowledge
- Free versions available for most recommended tools
- Each plugin tested on real WordPress projects
- Categories help you find solutions faster
- Premium versions unlock advanced features worth investment
With that out of the way, let’s begin.
How I Test & Evaluate WordPress Plugins
IsItWP is a WordPress site that we have been running for very many years. This has allowed me to test different types of plugins before reviewing them.
So, what is my testing process?
- I used them for my projects: For various website projects, I integrated several WordPress plugins to enhance functionality and performance. This hands-on usage helped me gauge their effectiveness and reliability in real-world scenarios.
- I also tested the most popular ones: I evaluated some of the most popular WordPress plugins on the market to determine their true value. My analysis covered factors such as ease of use, features, compatibility, performance, and pricing.
- I categorize them based on your needs: WordPress plugins serve diverse purposes. I assess each plugin’s unique features and benefits to help you choose the best one for your specific requirements, whether you need solutions for SEO, security, performance optimization, or other functionalities.
Why Trust IsItWP
Our team consists of WordPress experts with extensive knowledge of website creation and management. This ensures we stay up-to-date on the latest trends and tools in the WordPress ecosystem.
And as part of the team, my specialty is WordPress plugins and how they can improve WordPress functionality.
With that said, I don’t just rely on other people’s research or theory.
I test every WordPress plugin myself. This hands-on approach allows me to provide insights based on real performance and experience.
My Plugin reviews go beyond surface-level descriptions. I examine each product’s features, functionalities, and drawbacks.
This in-depth analysis can help you make informed decisions about your WordPress project.
Best WordPress Plugins: At a Glance
I’ve organized this guide into 11 focused categories to help you find exactly what you need.
Each category has its own comparison table showing key details like pricing, free versions, and best use cases.
Plus, each tool has a star rating, giving you a quick visual overview of how it compares against its competitors. You can also see alternatives folded at the bottom of each plugin section.
You can jump straight to any section or browse through to discover plugins that’ll take your site to the next level.
- 1. Forms & Lead Generation (3 plugins)
- 2. SEO & Analytics (4 plugins)
- 3. Page Builders & Design (3 plugins)
- 4. Marketing & Automation (5 plugins)
- 5. E-commerce & Sales (5 plugins)
- 6. Security & Backup (5 plugins)
- 7. Membership & Learning (3 plugins)
- 8. Content & Media (2 plugins)
- 9. Communication & Support (5 plugins)
- 10. Payments & Transactions (2 plugins)
- 11. Site Management & Utilities (6 plugins)
- Bonus Plugins
- Top WordPress Plugins – Free vs. Premium
- How to Find Good WordPress Plugins
- How to Install a WordPress Plugin
- Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
With that out of the way, here are the best plugins that I know every website must have.
1. Forms & Lead Generation (3 plugins)
| Plugin Name | Free Version | Best For | Key Feature | Starting Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WPForms | ✅ | Contact forms & surveys | Drag-and-drop form builder | $49.50/year |
| OptinMonster | ❌ | Lead generation & popups | Exit-intent technology | $14/month |
| RafflePress | ✅ | Contests & giveaways | Viral sharing & bonus entries | $39.50/year |
WPForms – Best WordPress Form Builder Plugin
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Every website needs a form builder to create contact forms, order forms, surveys, polls, and more. WPForms is the most beginner-friendly form builder for WordPress.
It comes with a powerful drag and drop builder that you can use to create beautiful online forms in just a few minutes without touching a single line of code.
WPForms is a one-stop shop for creating any type of WordPress form, including order forms, survey forms, donation forms, email subscription forms, etc.
This plugin comes with dozens of pre-built form templates that perfectly adapt to your workflow and save you time.
It has all the advanced features like email marketing integration, payment integrations, conditional logic, survey addon, multi-part forms, front-end post submission, and more.
If you’re after a contact form plugin that is both easy and powerful, then look no further than WPForms. I believe it’s a MUST HAVE for every site. It’s being used on over 5 million websites!
They also have a free plugin for WordPress available that you can get – WPForms Lite.
Key Features:
- Drag-and-drop form builder creates any form type in minutes
- Pre-built templates for contact, order, survey, and donation forms
- Conditional logic shows or hides fields based on user responses
- Payment integrations with PayPal, Stripe, and Square for transactions
- Entry management stores all form submissions in your dashboard
- Spam protection with reCAPTCHA and custom honeypot technology
Check out the latest WPForms review here.
Get started with WPForms Pro here | Try WPForms Lite for free here
Pricing: Starting at $49.50/year
Bonus: Check out our IsItWP WPForms coupon page for amazing deals on this form builder.
WPForms Alternatives:
- Formidable Forms – Compare WPForms or Formidable Forms
- FormStack – Compare WPForms vs. FormStack
- Gravity Forms – Compare Gravity Forms vs. WPForms
- Best WPForms Pro alternatives
OptinMonster – Best Lead Generation Plugin
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OptinMonster is the most powerful lead generation solution in the world. It comes with high-performing pre-built templates that are proven to convert your visitors into leads and customers.
You can choose the perfect campaign type that easily grabs your visitors’ attention, like a lightbox popup, floating bar, full-screen welcome mat, and more.
Check out my article on the best WordPress popup plugins.
With its powerful targeting and segmentation engine, you can show personalized messages to every individual visitor on your site.
You can base this on their geographic location, referral source, the page or section of your site, and more.
Some key features of OptinMonster are:
- Exit-intent Technology: Recover abandoning visitors into leads by showing customized campaigns to your visitors at the precise moment they are about to leave.
- Onsite Retargeting: Create special offers targeting repeat visitors based on their previous interactions on your site.
- Onsite Followup Campaigns: Follow up on your visitors with triggered campaigns based on visitor interactions.
- Cookie retargeting: Create custom browser cookies based on your customers’ demographic data like age, gender, and location, and then show highly targeted campaigns to drive conversions.
OptinMonster seamlessly integrates with all major email marketing services.
A free connector plugin is available to download from the WordPress plugin repository that lets you easily embed your OptinMonster forms.
Key Features:
- Exit-intent technology captures visitors before they leave your site
- Drag-and-drop campaign builder needs zero coding skills
- Advanced targeting shows personalized campaigns based on visitor behavior
- A/B testing compares different designs to maximize conversions
- Onsite retargeting displays follow-up offers to returning visitors
- Email integration connects with all major marketing platforms instantly
Check out the latest OptinMonster review here.
Get started with OptinMonster here.
Pricing: Starts at $14/month
Bonus: Check out our OptinMonster coupon code page for discounts on this leads plugin.
OptinMonster Alternatives:
RafflePress – Best WordPress Contest Plugin
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RafflePress is the best WordPress giveaway plugin on the market that makes it easy to run a successful online contest.
Unlike a typical contest plugin, RafflePress offers a built-in viral sharing option that rewards users with bonus entries if they refer a friend or share your giveaway on social media.
That way, you can drive more traffic, and grow your email list and social media followers.
Let’s take a quick look at some of their standout features:
- Drag and drop giveaway builder to build a giveaway campaign in minutes, without touching a line of code
- Pre-built giveaway templates to save you time, so you don’t always have to build an attractive contest from scratch
- Social sharing to make your giveaways go viral
- And a lot more
Key Features:
- Viral sharing rewards participants with bonus entries for referrals
- Drag-and-drop giveaway builder launches contests in under 10 minutes
- Multiple entry methods including social follows, email signups, and visits
- Fraud protection prevents cheating and fake entries automatically
- Landing page templates create stunning standalone giveaway pages
- Winner selection tool picks random winners with proof of fairness
Check out my updated RafflePress review here.
Get Started with RafflePress Pro here | Try RafflePress Lite for free here
Pricing: Starting at $39.50/year
Bonus: Check out our RafflePress coupon page for more amazing deals.
RafflePress Alternatives:
2. SEO & Analytics (4 plugins)
| Plugin Name | Free Version | Best For | Key Feature | Starting Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All in One SEO | ✅ | Complete SEO optimization | On-page & technical SEO | $49.50/year |
| MonsterInsights | ✅ | Google Analytics integration | Dashboard analytics & tracking | $99.50/year |
| SEOBoost | ❌ | AI content optimization | Real-time content analysis | $22.50/month |
| LowFruits | ❌ | Keyword research | Low-competition keyword finder | $12.50/month |
All in One SEO – Best WordPress Plugin for SEO
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All in One SEO is the best and most powerful WordPress SEO plugin on the market. It allows you to optimize your WordPress blog for better search engine rankings easily.
It is a comprehensive solution that takes care of everything you need to optimize your site.
You can audit your site’s SEO right from your WordPress dashboard.
It has features for on-page SEO, such as keywords, meta descriptions, rich snippets, and headline tools to optimize posts and pages.
Plus, it takes care of technical SEO with features like smart XML sitemaps, robots.txt, and canonical tags.
In addition, it lets you optimize for local SEO as well as eCommerce SEO.
The best part about All in One SEO is that it’s beginner-friendly, so even if you’re new to SEO, you can use this tool to get your WordPress website to rank on search engines easily.
And it gives you analytics to track how well your site is performing and what you can improve.
Key Features:
- TruSEO score analyzes content and suggests improvements in real-time
- Smart XML sitemaps automatically update when you publish content
- Local SEO tools help businesses rank in geographic searches
- Schema markup generator adds rich snippets without coding
- Social media integration optimizes how content appears when shared
- Redirect manager fixes broken links and protects SEO value
Check out the latest All in One SEO review here. See how All in One SEO Free vs Pro compare.
Get started with All In One Pro here | Try AIOSEO Lite for free here
Pricing: Starts at $49.50/year
Bonus: Check out our AIOSEO coupon code page for more deals
AIOSEO alternatives:
- Yoast – Compare AIOSEO vs Yoast SEO
- Rank Math – Compare All in One SEO Vs. Rank Math
- SE Ranking
MonsterInsights – Best Analytics Plugin for WordPress
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If you want to grow your website, then it’s important for you to know exactly how people find and use your website. MonsterInsights is the best and most popular Google Analytics plugin for WordPress.
Over 3 million websites use MonsterInsights.
MonsterInsights makes it super easy to connect your website to Google Analytics and offers comprehensive tracking features.
Even though Google Analytics is built for tracking almost every user interaction on your website, like form submissions, eCommerce transactions, downloads tracking, etc., the default Analytics setup doesn’t allow you to make use of the full potential of Analytics tracking.
For example, if you want to track an onsite event like form submissions tracking, you’ll either have to add the custom event tracking code to your website or set up a Google Analytics goal for every form.
This can be tedious and time-consuming, especially if you’re not a developer or an Analytics expert.
With MonsterInsights, you can enable different tracking features in just a few clicks without having to touch a single line of code.
At a glance, you can review your site’s performance right within your WordPress dashboard without logging into your Analytics profile.
A lite version of the plugin is available to download for free from the official WordPress plugins repository.
Key Features:
- Dashboard reports show key metrics without leaving WordPress
- Enhanced eCommerce tracking monitors product performance and revenue
- Form tracking measures conversion rates on any form
- Custom dimensions track logged-in users and post types
- Popular posts widget displays top-performing content automatically
- Download tracking monitors clicks on files and digital products
- Interlinking feature to make post and page connections seamless
Check out the latest MonsterInsights review here.
Get started with MonsterInsights Pro here | Try the free version of MonsterInsights here
Pricing: Starts at $99.50/year
Bonus: Check out our MonsterInsights coupon page for more deals
MonsterInsights Alternatives:
SEOBoost – Best On-Page SEO Plugin
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I’ve rewritten plenty of articles trying to rank better, usually just guessing what Google wanted to see. It’s frustrating when you put in the work but your rankings barely budge.
SEOBoost takes the guesswork out completely. It analyzes your content against top-ranking pages and tells you exactly what’s missing.
I used it on an article that was stuck on page two for months, and after implementing its suggestions, it jumped to position three within two weeks.
This SEO plugin scans your content right inside the WordPress editor through AIOSEO or on its independent dashboard and highlights specific improvements.
It’ll tell you if your headings need work, if you’re missing important keywords, or if your content is too thin compared to competitors. Everything shows up in real-time as you edit.
What I love most is how specific the recommendations are.
Instead of vague advice like “add more content,” it tells you exactly which topics to cover and which questions to answer based on what’s actually ranking.
Key Features:
- Real-time content analysis inside your WordPress editor
- Competitor comparison shows gaps in your content coverage
- Keyword density tracking ensures natural optimization without stuffing
- Readability scoring helps you write for humans and search engines
- Missing topic suggestions based on top-ranking competitor content
- Historical tracking shows how your optimization efforts improve rankings
Check out my updated SEOBoost review.
Get started with SEOBoost here.
Pricing: $22.50/month
SEOBoost Alternatives:
LowFruits – Best Low Fruits SEO Plugin
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Competing for popular keywords feels impossible when you’re up against sites with massive authority. I spent months targeting keywords that seemed perfect, only to realize I was fighting battles I couldn’t win.
LowFruits changed my entire keyword strategy. It hunts down keywords where weaker sites are actually ranking, which means you have a real shot at showing up on page one.
I found a cluster of keywords with decent search volume where forum posts and outdated sites were ranking; easy targets.
The SEO tool specifically looks for “weak spots” in search results.
If Reddit threads or Q&A sites are ranking, that’s a signal you can compete. LowFruits highlights these opportunities and even shows you the domain authority of ranking sites so you know exactly what you’re up against.
I used it to find 15 keywords for a new site with zero authority. Within three months, seven of them were ranking in the top 10. That’s because I wasn’t wasting time on impossible keywords anymore.
Key Features:
- Weak spot detection identifies keywords where low-authority sites rank
- SERP strength analysis shows competition level for each keyword
- Question-based keyword discovery finds long-tail opportunities
- Domain authority comparison helps you pick winnable battles
- Bulk keyword analysis processes hundreds of ideas quickly
- Export features let you build content plans from your findings
Check out my LowFruits review.
Get started with LowFruits here.
Pricing: Starts at $12.50/month
LowFruits Alternatives:
- SemRush – Check out my Semrush Review
- Ahrefs – Compare Ahrefs vs SEMrush
- Best SEO Tools for eCommerce
- Top Competitor Analysis Tools
3. Page Builders & Design (3 plugins)
| Plugin Name | Free Version | Best For | Key Feature | Starting Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SeedProd | ✅ | Landing pages & themes | Drag-and-drop theme builder | $39.50/year |
| Beaver Builder | ✅ | Visual page building | Frontend drag-and-drop editor | $67/year |
| CSS Hero | ❌ | Theme customization | Visual CSS editing | $29/month |
SeedProd – Best Website Builder Plugin
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SeedProd is the most popular website builder plugin for WordPress. When you are creating a new website, it lets you import readymade themes that you can customize with the drag and drop editor.
You can also design and customize landing pages quickly. It comes with powerful elements to help you get new potential leads and increase your revenue.
Over 1 million business websites are using SeedProd to create landing pages.
It offers 9+ themes and 300+ landing page templates, including sales pages, coming soon and maintenance mode pages, webinar pages, optin pages, and so on.
Here are some of the key features that make SeedProd the top choice for building landing pages:
- Drag and Drop Builder: It has a user-friendly drag and drop builder with all the options you need. You can use the point-and-click tool to add text, images, and other elements to your website quickly without editing any code.
- Premium Integrations: SeedProd seamlessly integrates with popular third-party WordPress plugins to extend the features and functionality of the landing page builder. It even supports API token integrations.
- Quick Templates: Some of the most important landing page templates are just 1-click away. You can enable coming soon, maintenance mode, and 404 error pages to limit access to your website whenever you need. These page templates also help capture leads and grow your email list.
- Smart Sections: It has ready-made sections and layouts to add a call-to-action, header, text, and so on. With professional designs, you get the best look for your landing page in just a few minutes.
A free/lite version of the plugin is available to download from WordPress.org. For more details on the premium version, you can head over to the official website.
Check out the latest SeedProd review here.
Get started with SeedProd Pro here | Try SeedPod Lite for Free here
Pricing: $39.50/year
Bonus: Check out our SeedProd coupon code page for more deals
SeedProd Alternatives:
- Thrive Architect – Check my Thrive Architect review
- Elementor – Check my Elementor Review
- AI Site Builders Tested & Compared
Beaver Builder – Best WordPress Plugin for Page Building
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Beaver Builder is one of the best drag & drop WordPress page builders. It gives you the ability to create a website the way you want without knowing any coding skills. You can drag & drop to build beautiful pages with ease.
Beaver Builder comes with dozens of gorgeous page templates, so you can easily kickstart your design without starting from scratch. You can choose a template, replace images and text with yours, and then hit publish.
Beaver Builder works with any WordPress theme, giving you full control over your content. The best thing is even if you stopped using the plugin, your content gets ported to the WordPress editor.
If you upgrade to a pro version, you’ll get beautiful Beaver Builder-compatible themes that allow you to modify your styles with the native WordPress Customizer.
Check out the latest Beaver Builder review here.
Get started with Beaver Builder Pro here | Get Started with the free Beaver Builder
Pricing: Starts at $67/year
Bonus: Want to get started with Beaver Builder? Check out my Beaver Builder coupon deals to get the best price!
Beaver Builder Alternatives:
CSS Hero – Best WordPress Theme Editor Plugin
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CSS Hero is a WordPress customization plugin that helps you customize your WordPress theme without writing a single line of code.
WordPress themes use CSS to control the visual appearance of your website. This means that if you want to customize the look and feel of your site, then you have to learn CSS. This isn’t a feasible option for beginners.
CSS Hero is a great solution if you’re not using a page builder like BeaverBuilder.
Get started with CCS Hero here.
Pricing: Starts at $29/month
Bonus: Check out our CSS Hero coupon page for deals.
CSS Hero Alternatives:
- SiteOrigin – Check out my SiteOrigin review
- Themify Builder
4. Marketing & Automation (5 plugins)
| Plugin Name | Free Version | Best For | Key Feature | Starting Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thrive Suite | ❌ | Conversion-focused sites | Complete marketing toolkit | $299/year |
| PushEngage | ✅ | Web push notifications | Timezone-specific alerts | $8/month |
| Uncanny Automator | ✅ | Workflow automation | Plugin integration & triggers | $149/year |
| Constant Contact | ❌ | Email marketing | Email templates & automation | $12/month |
| Revive Old Post | ✅ | Social media automation | Auto-share content to socials | $89/year |
Thrive Suite – Best Theme & Builder
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Thrive Suite is the best WordPress plugin to get everything you need to build and grow your WordPress site.
If you’re looking to build a website that’s not only beautiful but also conversion-focused, then Thrive Suite is the plugin for you.
You get access to Thrive Themes tools that include:
- Thrive Architect: Build your content and layouts with a visual builder (check out Thrive Architect review)
- Thrive Quiz Builder: Create interest and boost engagement with quizzes and surveys
- Thrive Leads: Grow your email list faster than before (check out the Thrive Leads review)
- Thrive Apprentice: Create and sell online courses
- Thrive Ultimatum: Boost sales using targeting campaigns
- Thrive Ovation: Gather and display the best testimonials on autopilot
- Thrive Optimize: Get the power of A/B testing to find what works best for your site
- Thrive Comments: Get your audience to interact with your site through likes, badges, upvotes, and more
- Thrive Automator: Integrate with your favorite plugins & marketing tools to automate tasks
You also get the Thrive Theme Builder and the companion themes Shapeshift, Ommi, and Kwik.
And there’s more, you also get 300+ landing page templates and complete control over your content and website pages with a simple drag and drop interface.
Get started with Thrive Suite here.
Pricing: Starts at $299/year
Thrive Suite Alternatives:
- Astra Theme – Check out my Astra Review
- Elementor Builder– Check out my Elementor review
- aThemes – Check out Sydney review and Botiga review
PushEngage – Best Web Push Notification Plugin
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PushEngage is a WordPress push notification plugin that lets you send custom web notifications to your users.
It lets you build a long-lasting relationship with your visitors by encouraging them to return to your site with custom notifications. The plugin helps you reach targeted customers with personalized messages.
Here’s a list of the top web push notifications that you can send to your customers and increase your website traffic:
- Customers who are interested in your products will automatically get a push notification whenever there is a price drop
- Inventory alerts bring back customers when the product is back in stock
- Timezone-specific alerts make PushEngage unique and effective. It lets you send a notification to users based on their local time
Check out the latest PushEngage review here.
Get started with Pushengage Pro here | Try PushEngage Lite for free here
Pricing: Starts at $8/month
PushEngage Alternatives:
- OneSignal – Compare PushEngage vs OneSignal
- Brevo – Check out my Brevo review
Uncanny Automator – Best WordPress Admin Automation Plugin
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Uncanny Automator is a WordPress admin automation plugin. It lets you connect plugins to automate routine administration tasks and saves time every day.
You can use the features of multiple WordPress plugins and combine them to make a single recipe or multiple recipes.
It comes with triggers from a dozen plugins and thousands of apps. The plugin works in three steps: Choose your trigger, create an action to perform, and let it run automatically.
Uncanny Automator integrates with popular plugins and apps, including Easy Digital Downloads, BuddyPress, Automator Core, and so on.
You can also use this plugin to automate tasks for your eCommerce store or learning management system.
Key Features:
- Recipe builder connects plugins using simple trigger-action logic
- 150+ plugin integrations automate workflows across your site
- Conditional logic adds “if this, then that” rules to recipes
- Scheduled actions trigger automations at specific times or dates
- User management automates role changes and account actions
- Webhook support connects WordPress to thousands of external apps
Check out my updated Uncanny Automator review.
Get started with Uncanny Automator Pro | Try Uncanny Automator for free
Pricing: Starts at $149/year
Uncanny Automator Alternatives:
Constant Contact – Top Email Marketing Tool
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Constant Contact is the most popular email marketing service for small businesses. It comes with tons of customizable email templates that help you get a head start.
When getting started, you’ll be prompted to choose your industry and your previous experience with email marketing.
Based on the selection, you’ll get customized content and promotion ideas that will help you level up your email marketing.
Constant Contact offers unmatched support with live chat, email, and discussion forums.
They also have a vast library of resources, and it integrates seamlessly with popular lead generation tools like OptinMonster and WPForms.
While most email marketing services offer a 14-day or 30-day free trial to test the service, Constant Contact gives you full access to their tool for 60 days.
After the trial, the subscription starts at $20 per month for up to 500 subscribers.
Constant Contact is best for smart businesses that are just starting out with email marketing.
Check out my Constant Contact review for more details.
Get started with Constant Contact here.
Pricing: Starts at $12/month
Bonus: Is this the best plugin to meet your needs? Check out our Constant Contact coupon page for more deals.
Constant Contact Alternatives:
- Aweber – Check out my Aweber Review
- ConverKit – Check out my ConverKit review
- Brevo – Check out my Brevo review
Revive Old Post – Best Post Scheduling Plugin
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Revive Old Post allows you to automatically share your new and old posts on your social media accounts.
It enables you to share your content on multiple platforms including Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. It also allows you to track clicks.
You can set a sharing interval and choose the number of posts to share. You can also post with featured images in your tweets to boost your click-through rates.
Check out my Revive Old Posts Review here.
Get started with Revive Old Posts Pro | Try Revive Old Posts free version
Pricing: Starts at $89/year
Revive Old Posts Alternatives:
5. E-commerce & Sales (5 plugins)
| Plugin Name | Free Version | Best For | Key Feature | Starting Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WooCommerce | ✅ | Full online stores | Complete eCommerce platform | Free |
| Easy Digital Downloads | ✅ | Digital products | Sell software, eBooks & downloads | $79.60/year |
| AffiliateWP | ✅ | Affiliate programs | Manage & track affiliates | $119.60/year |
| Advanced Coupons | ✅ | Discounts & deals | BOGO deals & auto-coupons | $59.50/year |
| Wholesale Suite | ✅ | Wholesale pricing | Bulk pricing & tiered rates | $239.20/year |
WooCommerce – Best WordPress eCommerce plugin
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WooCommerce is the most popular eCommerce platform for WordPress. Without a doubt, it is the most comprehensive solution that enables online stores to sell products, both digital and physical, on WordPress.
With hundreds of free and paid extensions, WooCommerce makes it super easy to build and enhance your store, so you can start selling products in minutes.
If you want to custom-build an online store, then you can easily hire WooCommerce developers thanks to the large community.
WooCommerce comes bundled with PayPal (for accepting credit card and PayPal account payments), BACS, and cash on delivery for accepting payments.
For more payment gateways, you can install addons on your WooCommerce store.
WooCommerce also provides easy-to-follow documentation that walks you through different aspects of building online stores.
The support requests are handled on the official forums, so in case you need assistance, they’ve got you covered. Don’t miss these best WooCommerce hosting reviews.
Key Features:
- Product management handles physical, digital, and variable products
- Built-in payment gateways include PayPal and Stripe by default
- Inventory tracking monitors stock levels and sends low-stock alerts
- Coupon system creates discount codes with flexible rules
- Shipping zones calculate rates based on customer location
- Tax automation handles complex tax rules for different regions
Check out my WooCommerce review.
Get started with WooCommerce here.
Pricing: Free. Premium addons available.
WooCommerce Alternatives:
- Shopify – Compare Shopify vs. WooCommerce
- BigCommerce – Compare BigCommerce vs. WooCommerce
- Wix – Check my Wix review
Easy Digital Downloads – Best Digital Downloads Plugin
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Easy Digital Downloads is the best solution for you if you want to sell digital products on your website without setting up an eCommerce store.
It is packed with eCommerce and reporting features that let you sell products online with ease.
With Easy Digital Downloads, you can sell any type of software, plugins, eBooks, songs, videos, graphics, and more from your WordPress website.
It comes with a fully integrated shopping cart system that lets you add cart elements for your product pages.
For accepting payments, you get to connect with Stripe, PayPal, Google Pay, Apple Pay, and other payment service providers.
Here are some of the highlights of Easy Digital Downloads
- Create customer account pages where users can view their purchase history, license keys, and downloads
- Keep track of your sales with accurate reports and stats straight from your WordPress dashboard
- Analyze how your products are downloaded by customers with data like date, time, IP addresses, and more
- Integrate with email accounts to boost newsletter signups
- Connect with content delivery tools like Amazon S3 and Dropbox to expand storage space
- Create discount codes for your products and attract customers to purchase them
- Track and manage your refunds on your website
Key Features:
- Shopping cart system handles single and bulk digital purchases
- File access control limits downloads and manages license keys
- Discount codes create percentage or flat-rate promotional offers
- Payment gateways connect with PayPal, Stripe, and Amazon Pay
- Customer accounts let buyers view purchase history and downloads
- Software licensing generates and manages product license keys
Check out the latest Easy Digital Downloads review here. Compare Easy Digital Downloads: Free vs Paid Version.
Get started with Easy Digital Downloads Pro here | Try the free version of Easy Digital Downloads here
Pricing: Starts at $79.60/year
AffiliateWP – Best Affiliate Program Plugin
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
AffiliateWP is the best affiliate management tool for WordPress. It offers tons of features that help you manage, track and pay your affiliates from your WordPress site.
The plugin is very easy to set up so you can get started with your affiliate program in a few minutes. It lets you add an unlimited number of affiliates to promote your brand and products online.
With AffiliateWP, you can add new affiliates, approve registrations, and edit affiliate accounts from the backend of your website. Use shortcodes to add affiliate login forms, registration forms, and more on any page.
Plus, you get a default affiliate area page where affiliates can track their performance and earnings. You can even customize this page to give your affiliates a better user experience.
AffiliateWP gives accurate and reliable reports about your affiliates and referrals on your dashboard. So all the tracking stats are available right in front of your eyes.
What’s more, this affiliate program tool lets you pay your affiliates without having to leave your admin dashboard. With its payout service, you can pay affiliates directly to their bank accounts or debit cards.
Along with this, here are the key features that Affiliate WP offers.
- User-friendly affiliate area page for your affiliates
- Option to generate pretty links for the referral URLs
- Built-in referral link generator lets affiliates generate their own referral links
- Complete integration with popular eCommerce and membership WordPress plugins
- Share brand assets with affiliates such as banners and text links for promotions
- Send custom email notifications to admins and affiliates
- Connect specific affiliate accounts with coupon codes and track sales
Check out my detailed AffiliateWP review here.
Get started with AffiliateWP Pro here | Try AffiliateWP Lite for free here
Pricing: Starts at $119.60/year
AffiliateWP Alternatives:
- Easy Affiliate – Check my Easy Affiliate review
- ThirstyAffiliates – Check my ThirstyAffiliates review
Advanced Coupons – Best Coupons and Discounts Plugin
⭐⭐⭐
Advanced Coupons is a powerful plugin that lets you add all sorts of deals and discounts to your site to encourage customers to buy.
It comes with features like:
- BOGO deals (buy one get one free)
- Scheduled coupons
- Auto-applied coupons
- URL coupons
- Shipping coupons
…and so much more. You can set rules and eligibility criteria that customers have to meet before they can redeem the coupon.
The plugin gives you the freedom to be flexible and creative with how you attract your customers to complete their orders with irresistible deals.
Check out my insightful Advanced Coupons review.
Get started with Advanced Coupons here | Try Advanced Coupons for free here
Pricing: Starts at $59.50/year
Advanced Coupons Alternatives:
- Pretty Links – Check my Pretty Links review
- ThirstyAffiliates – Compare ThirstyAffiliates vs. Pretty Links
Wholesale Suite – Best Wholesale Plugin
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Wholesale Suite is a must-have plugin for WordPress sellers who want to increase their average order value.
You can add bulk pricing, minimum quantity rules, and tiered pricing to your product listings. Added to that, you can also create an exclusive wholesale section where only select customers can log in.
Wholesale Suite also makes it easy to manage shipping and payments, order forms, and product visibility.
Check out my detailed Wholesale Suite review.
Get started with Wholesale Suite here.
Pricing: Starts at $239.20/year
Check the best WooCommerce Wholesale pricing plugins for Wholesale Suite alternatives.
6. Security & Backup (5 plugins)
| Plugin Name | Free Version | Best For | Key Feature | Starting Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Duplicator | ✅ | Backup & migration | Scheduled backups & cloud storage | $49.50/year |
| WPConsent | ✅ | Cookie consent & GDPR | GDPR compliance automation | $49.50/year |
| Sucuri | ✅ | Complete site security | Firewall & malware protection | $299/year |
| WP Rocket | ❌ | Site speed optimization | Caching & lazy loading | $35.40/year |
| Really Simple SSL | ✅ | SSL certificate setup | One-click HTTPS migration | $41.40/year |
Duplicator – Top WordPress Plugin for Backup
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Duplicator is one of the best WordPress backup plugins on the market. It’s been rated as the most popular backup solution for WordPress, with over 30 million downloads.
Even with the free version of the plugin, you can easily set up full, manual, or scheduled backups of all your website files, including databases, plugins, and themes.
Restoring your files is easy, and you can do it with minimal technical knowledge.
On the pro version, you can set up backup schedules so that it runs on autopilot.
Best of all, it supports multiple cloud storage options, including Google Drive, Dropbox, and Amazon S3.
While the free WordPress version is fully packed with all the essential features, you can easily enhance the core functionalities with the paid version.
Key Features:
- One-click backups create complete site snapshots in minutes
- Scheduled backup automation runs backups on your chosen frequency
- Cloud storage integration saves backups to Dropbox, Google Drive, and Amazon S3
- Migration tools move sites between hosts without technical knowledge
- Database-only backups save space when files haven’t changed
- Installer script restores sites on any server automatically
- Multisite backup and restoration
Check out the latest Duplicator review here.
Best Alternatives: UpdraftPlus and BackupBuddy
Get started with Duplicator Pro here | Try Duplicator for free here
Pricing: Starts at $49.50/year
Duplicator Alternatives:
WPConsent – Best WordPress Privacy plugin
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Privacy laws like GDPR can be confusing, especially when you’re just trying to run a website without getting hit with fines.
WPConsent took care of everything in about 20 minutes. It adds a customizable cookie consent banner to your site and automatically blocks tracking scripts until visitors give permission. No legal degree needed.
What makes it different from other consent plugins is how it actually integrates with your existing plugins.
Instead of just showing a banner and hoping for the best, WPConsent talks to Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, and other tools to ensure they only fire after consent is given.
The consent management dashboard shows you exactly who agreed to what and when. If someone requests their data or wants to revoke consent, you have a clear audit trail.
It’s the kind of peace of mind that lets you focus on growing your site instead of worrying about compliance.
Key Features:
- Customizable consent banners match your site’s design
- Automatic script blocking prevents tracking before consent
- Plugin integrations work with popular analytics and marketing tools
- Consent log keeps detailed records for compliance audits
- Geolocation targeting shows banners only where legally required
- Privacy policy generator creates legally compliant documentation
Check out my new WPConsent review.
Get started with WPConsent here | Try the free version of WPConsent here
Pricing: Starts at $49.50/year
WPConsent Alternatives:
Sucuri – Best WordPress Plugin for Site Security
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Sucuri is a complete website security solution that protects your site from malware, brute force attacks, and other potential vulnerabilities.
Once you activate the Sucuri firewall, all your website traffic goes through their CloudProxy servers and every request is scanned to filter out malicious requests.
This way, Sucuri can reduce server load and improve your site’s performance by blocking all malicious traffic from reaching your server.
It protects your website against SQL Injections, XSS, and all known attacks. It even blocks bots from submitting spam comments.
In addition to that, they proactively report potential security threats to the WordPress core team and third-party plugins as well.
Check out my article on best WordPress security plugins.
Aside from blocking all the attacks, some other ways Sucuri protects your website are:
- Its antivirus package monitors your website every 4 hours to ensure your website is free from potential vulnerabilities and malware
- It keeps track of everything that happens on your site, including file changes, last login, failed login attempts, and more
- It allows you to conduct server-side scanning to protect your website from compromised and server-level infections
Sucuri also offers speed optimization features such as CDN (content delivery network), multiple caching options, and uptime tracking.
Key Features:
- Website firewall blocks malicious traffic before it reaches your server
- Malware scanning checks your site every 4 hours for threats
- DDoS protection shields your site from overwhelming traffic attacks
- Security notifications alert you immediately when issues are detected
- Post-hack cleanup removes malware and restores your site completely
- CDN integration speeds up your site while adding security layers
Check out my Sucuri review here.
Get started with Sucuri here | Try Sucuri for free here
Pricing: Starts at $299/year
Sucuri Alternatives:
- Jetpack – Check out my Jetpack review
- Wordfence – Check out my Wordfence review
- Solid Security – Check out my Solid Security review
- MalCare
- Sucuri vs. SiteLock vs. CloudFlare
WP Rocket – Best WordPress Cache Plugin
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
WP Rocket is the best premium caching plugin available on the market. The best thing about WP Rocket is that it launches upon activation, so you don’t have to struggle with complex plugin configurations.
It also comes with a built-in image optimization tool called Imagify to compress images. This helps improve page load speed.
WP Rocket integrates all the latest features for boosting performance, including lazy loading minification of CSS, HTML, and JavaScript files, etc.
Check out my updated WP Rocket review.
Get started with WP Rocket here.
Pricing: Starts at $35.40/year
Bonus: Does this feel like the best plugin to meet your needs? Check out our WP Rocket coupon code page for more deals.
WP Rocket Alternatives:
- WP Super Cache – Check my WP Super Cache review
- EWWW Image Optimizer – Check my EWWW Image Optimizer review
- W3 Total Cache – check my W3 Total Cache review
- WP-Optimize
Really Simple SSL – Best SSL Plugin
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Really Simple SSL is the best solution to add an SSL certificate to your website. There’s a free version of the plugin that will help you secure your site in a matter of minutes.
It also helps you migrate your site from HTTP to HTTPS.
The plugin handles the technical side of things and makes it easy to fix critical issues with just a click of a button.
Check out my Really Simple SSL review for more details.
Get started with with Really Simple SSL here | Try Really Simple SSL free version
Pricing: Starts at $41.40/year
Bonus: Does this sound like the best plugin for you? Check out our Really Simple SSL coupon page for more details.
7. Membership & Learning (3 plugins)
| Plugin Name | Free Version | Best For | Key Feature | Starting Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BuddyBoss | ❌ | Online communities | Social networking & member profiles | $159/year |
| MemberPress | ❌ | Membership sites | Content restriction & subscriptions | $199.50/year |
| LearnDash | ❌ | Online courses (LMS) | Course builder & quizzes | $139.30/year |
BuddyBoss – Combine Learning and Community Building
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Building an engaged online community used to mean juggling multiple plugins and hoping they’d work together.
BuddyBoss solved that headache in one shot. It’s a complete platform that combines social networking, online courses, and membership features into a single solution.
I used it to create a private community where members could connect, take courses, and share progress all in one place.
What really stood out was how it transformed WordPress into something that feels like a private social network.
Members get profiles, activity feeds, private messaging, and groups. All the features you’d expect from platforms like Facebook, but completely under your control.
The course builder integration with LearnDash is seamless. Students can discuss lessons in dedicated groups, share their work in activity feeds, and message instructors directly.
It creates the kind of engagement that keeps people coming back instead of just consuming content and disappearing.
Key Features:
- Member profiles with customizable fields and privacy controls
- Activity feeds show updates, achievements, and community interactions
- Private messaging lets members connect one-on-one or in groups
- Course integration combines learning with social engagement
- Mobile app support keeps members engaged on any device
- Gamification features reward participation with badges and points
Check out my new BuddyBoss review.
Get started with BuddyBoss here.
Pricing: Starts at $159/year
MemberPress – Most Popular Membership Plugin
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
MemberPress is the most complete WordPress membership plugin that comes with all the features you need to create a powerful membership site with ease.
Unlike other plugins, MemberPress lets you transform your existing website into a fully-featured membership site without hassle.
All you need to do is install the MemberPress plugin on your existing site, enter your payment gateway details, set up your products, and start inviting your visitors to join your membership site.
With MemberPress, you can restrict access to specific pages, posts, custom post types, or any existing files from your regular visitors.
And with the built-in MemberPress Courses add-on, you can easily create, manage, and sell online courses.
The plugin integrates seamlessly with popular email marketing services, like AWeber, MailChimp, GetResponse, etc.
MemberPress offers built-in support for payment gateways like Stripe, PayPal, and Authorize.net. You can also create dynamic pricing pages quickly and easily.
The plugin also comes with several pricing page templates to create a unique look.
Check out my MemberPress review.
Get started with MemberPress here.
Pricing: Starts at $199.50/year
Bonus: Does this fit as a top WordPress plugin for your needs? Check out our MemberPress coupon code page for more deals.
MemberPress Alternative:
LearnDash – Best WordPress LMS Plugin
⭐⭐⭐⭐
LearnDash is the best WordPress LMS plugin in existence. LearnDash makes it super easy to create and sell courses, deliver quizzes, award certificates, and more.
It enables you to offer a robust learning experience to your members and supports the latest gamification, social learning, and micro-content trends.
Some of the ways you can sell your online courses from LearnDash are:
- Memberships: Sell traditional membership access to your entire online courses.
- One-time price: Allow users to make individual online course purchases.
- Subscription: Maximize revenue through recurring payments and subscriptions for your online course.
- Course licenses: Allow organizers to purchase the license in bulk and grant access to their staff.
With LearnDash, you can let your students unlock new courses based on the points they earn as they complete courses. This increases user engagement in your online courses.
You can also offer front-end user profiles where members can track their learning progress.
Get started with LearnDash here.
Pricing: Starts at $139.30/year
Bonus: Does this top plugin meet your needs? Check out our LearnDash coupon page for more deals.
LearnDash Alternatives:
8. Content & Media (2 plugins)
| Plugin Name | Free Version | Best For | Key Feature | Starting Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Envira Gallery | ✅ | Image galleries | Drag-and-drop gallery builder | $39.50/year |
| Smash Balloon | ✅ | Social media feeds | Facebook, Instagram & YouTube feeds | $49/year |
Envira Gallery – Top WordPress Gallery Plugin
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Envira Gallery is the best WordPress Gallery plugin that’s both easy and powerful. It comes with a set of pre-built templates that let you easily customize the look and feel of your gallery.
Unlike other popular WordPress gallery plugins, Envira is a lightweight, non-bloated plugin. It comes with all the important features out of the box.
You can easily enhance the core functionalities by installing one of their two dozen addons.
Some of the key features of Envira Gallery are:
- Drag and drop builder: Create beautiful galleries in a matter of seconds with just a few clicks.
- Responsive mobile friendly: All galleries you built with Envira are 100% responsive, meaning they’ll work great on mobile, tablet, and desktop devices.
- Standalone galleries: Create independent galleries that are not tied to your posts and pages.
- Tons of addons: You can find an extensive collection of addons, like Social sharing, Videos, WooCommerce, and Watermarking – just to name a few.
Check my updated Envira Gallery review. Plus, check out the review for Envira Gallery CDN, their new product.
Get started with Envira Gallery here | Try Envira Gallery Lite here
Pricing: Starts at $39.50/year
Bonus: Does this top plugin align with your company’s needs? Check out our Envira Gallery coupon page for more deals.
Envira Gallery Alternatives:
- FooGallery – Compare Envira Gallery vs. FooGallery
- Imagely – Check out my Imagely review
- Modula Gallery
Smash Balloon – Best WordPress Social Feed Plugin
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Smash Balloon is a social feed plugin suite for WordPress that lets you display social media content on your website the way you want. Smash Balloon makes it easy to set up social feeds within just 30 seconds.
All you have to do is authorize the plugin and add the shortcode anywhere on your site. Then the plugin will share your content from social media handles instantly.
Smash Balloon offers 6 different social feed plugins:
- Custom Facebook Feed: Integrate your Facebook photos, videos, events, and more into your website to completely match the look and feel of the site.
- Here is a quick tutorial to show you how to display Facebook feeds.
- Instagram Feed: Add hashtag, shoppable, and tagged feeds to your site. Plus, you can even display Instagram stories in a lightbox popup.
- Check out this tutorial to show you how to display Instagram feeds.
- Custom Twitter Feeds: Easily add Twitter cards, search-based feeds, and automatically moderated tweets with multi-column masonry layouts.
- Read this tutorial to see how to set up Twitter feeds.
- Feed for YouTube: Add as many YouTube feeds as you want, including the live streaming feeds.
- Check out this post to see how to embed YouTube feeds.
- TikTok Feeds – Beautifully add TikTok feeds to your WordPress site. Add dynamic content that Google can crawl.
- Read this tutorial to see how to set up TikTok feeds.
- Reviews Feeds – Automatically filter and display your best reviews from Google, Yelp, and more. Increase trust and conversions.
- See how to set up Yelp and Google reviews feeds.
The best part is that you can combine these feeds on the same page, or set up different feeds on different pages with the Smash Balloon Social Wall on the all-access bundle.
Smash Balloon lets you customize your feed to match your theme so that it looks great on your site.
Added to that, you can display social sharing buttons so visitors can become subscribers and share your content easily.
Check out my Smash Balloon review.
Get started with Smash Balloon here | Try the free version of Smash Balloon here
Pricing: Starts at $49/year
Smash Balloon Alternatives:
⚠️ Note: There is no single plugin that does all that Smash Balloon can do across all social platforms. But check out the lists below for feed plugins for specific social media platforms.
9. Communication & Support (5 plugins)
| Plugin Name | Free Version | Best For | Key Feature | Starting Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WP Mail SMTP | ✅ | Email deliverability | Fix WordPress email issues | $39/year |
| UserFeedback | ✅ | User surveys & feedback | On-site survey popups | $49.50/year |
| Beacon.by | ✅ | Knowledge base & help desk | Self-service documentation | $19/month |
| Live Chat | ✅ | Real-time customer chat | Live chat with analytics | $19/month |
| Nextiva | ❌ | Business phone system | VoIP calling & auto-attendant | $15/month |
WP Mail SMTP – Best SMTP Plugin
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
WP Mail SMTP helps fix the email deliverability issue that many WordPress sites encounter by routing emails through a proper SMTP protocol instead of your default hosting server.
One of the things their spam tools look for is whether an email is originating from the location it claims to be originating from.
Popular email clients like Outlook, Gmail, Yahoo, etc., etc are constantly improving their services to reduce email spam.
If the proper authentication isn’t there, then the emails either go into your SPAM folder or, worse, do not get delivered at all.
Also check: How to Create an Email Blast
WP Mail SMTP solves this issue, making it one of the best transactional SMTP services. This is a MUST HAVE plugin for all websites. Currently running on 3+ million WordPress sites.
Key Features:
- SMTP configuration routes emails through reliable mail servers
- Multiple mailer support works with Gmail, Outlook, SendGrid, and more
- Email logging records every email sent from your WordPress site
- Test email feature verifies your setup is working correctly
- Authentication support handles OAuth and API key connections
- Backup mailer automatically switches if your primary service fails
Check out the latest WP Mail SMTP review here.
Get started with WP Mail SMTP here | Try WP Mail SMTP Lite here
Pricing: Starts at $39/year
WP Mail SMTP Alternatives:
- SendLayer – Check my SendLayer review
- Easy WP SMTP – Check my Easy WP SMTP review
- SMTP.com
- Free SMTP Plugins Picks for WordPress
UserFeedback – Best WordPress User Feedback Plugin
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
I’ve always struggled with guessing what visitors actually think about my site. You can look at analytics all day, but nothing beats hearing directly from users about what’s working and what’s not.
That’s where UserFeedback comes in. It became my go-to after I used it to figure out why people were abandoning a checkout page.
Turns out, the shipping calculator was confusing. Something I’d never have known without asking.
UserFeedback lets you create simple surveys that pop up at exactly the right moment. You can ask visitors why they’re leaving, what they think of your content, or what features they want next.
The responses show up right in your WordPress dashboard, making it super easy to spot patterns and make improvements.
The best part is how non-intrusive it is. Unlike those annoying surveys that block your entire screen, UserFeedback feels natural.
You can trigger survey forms based on specific actions, like when someone’s about to exit or after they’ve spent a certain amount of time on your site.
Key Features:
- Pre-built survey templates for common questions like NPS and customer satisfaction
- Targeting rules let you show surveys to specific visitors or pages
- Device detection ensures surveys look great on mobile and desktop
- Integration with email marketing tools to segment your audience
- Real-time notifications when someone leaves important feedback
- Question branching creates personalized survey experiences based on answers
Check out my UserFeedback review.
Get started with UserFeedback here | Try UserFeedback free here
Pricing: Starts at $49.50/year
UserFeedback Alternatives:
- Typeform – Check out my Typeform review
- Crowdsignal – Check out my Crowdsignal review
- Best NPS Survey Tools & Software for WordPress
Beacon.by – Create a Complete Lead Magnet in Minutes
⭐⭐⭐⭐
I used to waste days creating lead magnets in design tools, wrestling with formatting in Word, or paying designers hundreds of dollars.
Every single lead magnet felt like a major project instead of something I could knock out quickly.
Beacon.by changed everything for me. It’s a complete lead magnet creation platform that lets you build professional eBooks, checklists, workbooks, and resource libraries without any design skills.
I created my first lead magnet in about 20 minutes using one of their templates.
What makes it different is how it handles the entire lead magnet lifecycle. You’re not just creating a PDF and hoping people download it.
Beacon.by gives you lead landing pages, lead capture forms, and even a resource library where you can organize all your lead magnets in one place for easy access.
The drag-and-drop editor feels like using Canva, but specifically built for lead magnets. You can pull in blog posts and automatically convert them into downloadable products like eBooks.
Plus, you can add interactive elements and even create “smart PDFs” that update automatically when you make changes to the original file.
Key Features:
- Drag-and-drop lead magnet builder with professional templates
- Multiple format options including eBooks, checklists, and workbooks
- Built-in lead capture forms and landing pages
- Resource library organizes all your lead magnets in one central location
- Blog post recycling converts existing content into lead magnets automatically
- Smart PDF technology updates files automatically when you edit them
Check out my Beacon.by review for more details.
Get Started with Beacon.by here | Try Beacon.by for free here
Pricing: Starts at $19/month
Beacon.by Alternatives:
- OptinMonster – Check my OptinMonster review
- Thrive Leads – Check my Thrive Leads review
Live Chat – Best Live Chat Plugin
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Live Chat is the best live chat tool that lets you get in touch with your website visitors and point them in the right direction.
The pricing is based on the number of agents that can log into your Live Chat account at the same time. However, you can create as many agent accounts for organizing your team members.
Everything that customers are typing in is visible instantly in the chat window, which helps you provide quick assistance to your customers.
The tool also comes with powerful built-in reports and analytics. You can even integrate it with your Google Analytics account to measure the impact Live Chat has on your business.
You can also get a free WordPress plugin to install on your WordPress website.
Live Chat Inc supports integration with all your favorite web apps.
Check out my LiveChat review.
Get started with LiveChat here | Try LiveChat Lite here
Pricing: Starts from $19/month
Bonus: Does this tool sound like the best plugin to meet your needs? Check out our LiveChat coupon page for more deals.
Nextiva – Best Team & Customer Communication Software
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Nextiva is the best business phone service to help you set up a professional system of communication for your team and customers.
You can get a business phone number for your website that comes with advanced features like unlimited calling, faxing, and texting, a toll-free number, and virtual voicemail.
You can even set up an auto attendant to interact with customers while they’re on hold or when you are away from the office.
Added to this, you can also access their CRM tools, live chat, and online surveys to better your customer support experience.
If you’re wondering whether this will all be too complex to handle, Nextiva makes it easy to manage everything from a centralized web-based admin panel.
There’s also a mobile app to make it easy to stay connected on the go.
See my full review: Nextiva Review: Is It the Best Business Phone Service?
Get started with Nextiva here.
Pricing: Starts at $15/month
Nextiva Alternatives:
- RingCentral – Check my RingCentral review
- Ooma
- Grasshopper
10. Payments & Transactions (2 plugins)
| Plugin Name | Free Version | Best For | Key Feature | Starting Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WP Simple Pay | ✅ | Stripe payments | No-cart payment forms | $49.50/year |
| Sugar Calendar | ✅ | Event calendars | Event ticketing & bookings | $39.60/year |
WP Simple Pay – Best Stripe Payments Plugin
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
As the name suggests, WP Simple Pay is the easiest payment management plugin for WordPress sites. It lets you set up secure Stripe payments on your website without touching a line of code.
If you want to start accepting one-time and recurring payments on your site, then this plugin is the perfect solution. No need to set up a shopping cart to sell your product.
With its beginner-friendly drag and drop form builder, you can create and customize payment forms in minutes. When added to your checkout page, these forms help you improve your sales and conversions.
WP Simple Pay offers powerful features that make accepting payments on your site a breeze. Some highlights are:
- Custom payment forms with 3 different display options
- Option to use Stripe’s fully hosted checkout pages
- Allow users to choose the payment amount
- Add discount coupon codes on your payment forms
- Lets users pay with Apple Pay and Google Pay
- Accept payments directly from customers’ bank accounts
- Set up the currency, date formats, and language for payment forms
Check out my WP Simple Pay review
Get started with WP Simple Pay here | Try the free version of WP Simple Pay
Pricing: Starts from $49.50/year
WP Simple Pay Alternatives:
Sugar Calendar – Best Event Calendar Plugin
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Sugar Calendar is a simple yet powerful event calendar plugin for WordPress sites.
It lets you manage all your events with its easy-to-use interface. Easily add new events to your calendar or edit existing ones in a few clicks.
With Sugar Calendar, you can create events for any purpose such as webinars, screenings, parties, openings, and more. Set reminders for your events so you don’t miss out on your important days.
This calendar plugin lets you create recurring events that repeat on a daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly basis. You can also assign a starting and ending time which is helpful for time-specific and all-day events.
The best thing is you can connect with popular services and WordPress plugins such as Stripe, WooCommerce, WPForm, and more. This helps you to add more functionalities to your calendars.
Additionally, you can integrate other calendar applications like Google Calendar, iCal, and Gnome Calendar.
Key features of this plugin include:
- Import your existing events and populate your calendar in seconds
- Set different time zones for specific events and calendar
- Beautiful designs and frontend display options
- 4 calendar widgets that let you display the events the way you want
- Assign your events to different categories as per your requirements
- Event ticketing system lets you sell tickets for your events
Check out my Sugar Calendar review.
Get started with Sugar Calendar here | Try Sugar Calendar’s free version
Pricing: Starts at $39.60/year
Sugar Calendar Alternatives:
11. Site Management & Utilities (6 plugins)
| Plugin Name | Free Version | Best For | Key Feature | Starting Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WPCode | ✅ | Code snippets | Add custom code safely | $49/year |
| TrustPulse | ❌ | Social proof notifications | Real-time activity popups | $5/month |
| SearchWP | ❌ | Better site search | Relevant search results | $99/year |
| Pretty Links | ✅ | Link management | Link cloaking & tracking | $99.60/year |
| WPML | ❌ | Translation & multilingual | Multi-language sites | €39/year |
| AdSanity | ✅ | Ad management | Banner ad placement & tracking | $89/year |
WPCode – Top Snippet Plugin
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
WPCode is a simple utility plugin that lets you insert code snippets like Facebook Pixel, custom CSS, meta verification, and others in your website’s header or footer area.
This saves you from editing your theme files. You can make all the changes from a simple interface inside your WordPress dashboard.
Check out my WPCode review.
Get started with WPCode here | Try the free version of WPCode
Pricing: Starts at $49/year
WPCode Alternatives:
TrustPulse – Best Social Proof Notification App
⭐⭐⭐⭐
TrustPulse is a social proof notification app that leverages the power of social proof to increase trust, conversions, and sales.
With TrustPulse, you can track and display real user activities on your site, like purchases and signups. This enforces trust, leading to driving more sales and revenue.
Some of the key features of TrustPulse are:
- Real-time event tracking: Show a live stream of any action on your site, such as purchases, demo registrations, etc.
- Smart targeting: Show your social proof notifications to the right people at the right time.
- Works on any site: TrustPulse is a platform-independent app, meaning you can use it on any platform, including WordPress, Shopify, Joomla, Blogger, etc.
Check out the latest TrustPulse review here.
Get started with TrustPulse here.
Pricing: Starts at $5/month
Bonus: Does this sound like the best WordPress plugin for your site? Check out our TrustPulse coupon code page for the best offers.
TrustPulse Alternatives:
SearchWP – Best Search Plugin
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SearchWP makes it possible for visitors to search your site to find what they’re looking for faster. Users can type in what they are looking for and the plugin will display results based on relevance.
This is a great option for eCommerce stores, archives, blogs, and business sites, to name a few.
SearchWP collects user data and tells you what your visitors are searching for. This powerful on-site search data can help you better cater to your audience.
The plugin automatically integrates with your theme so it’s easy for beginners to use without any coding. No PHP, CSS, and all that!
Check out my SearchWP review.
Get started with SearchWP here.
Pricing: Starts at $99/year
SearchWP Alternatives:
Pretty Links – Top Affiliate Marketing Plugin
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Pretty Links is a must-use plugin for affiliate marketers that lets you easily organize all your affiliate links in a single place. With Pretty Links, finding and replacing your affiliate links won’t be a hassle.
For example, whenever you want to change an affiliate link, you don’t need to dig deeper into your site and manually alter those URLs.
Instead, you simply do that in your Pretty Links panel, which will automatically change all the published URLs.
It also allows you to cloak your ugly-looking long URLs into shorter, prettier links.
Get started with Pretty Links here |
Pricing: Starts at $99.60/year
Bonus: Does this sound like a top plugin you need? Check out our Pretty Links coupon page for more deals.
Pretty Links Alternatives:
WPML – Best WordPress Translation Plugin
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WPML is a premium translation plugin that allows you to translate your posts, pages, and custom post types. It’s advised to make a full backup of your site before installing it on your website.
Unlike most other translation plugins, WPML is compatible with most major WordPress themes and plugins, so you don’t have to patch your themes or plugins to make WPML work.
It even allows you to translate web copy created with popular drag & drop page builders.
If you need help with human translation, then WPML connects you to leading translation services.
WPML takes care of all multilingual SEO and works seamlessly with popular SEO plugins. You can use as many languages as you like with WPML.
They offer 3 premium plans based on the number of features. With every premium plan, you get unlimited website usage rights.
WPML is the oldest and most reliable plugin for creating multilingual WordPress websites.
Check out my WPML review.
Pricing: Starts from €39/year
WPML Alternatives:
- Polylang – Compare WPML vs. Polylang
- Weglot – Check out my Weglot review
- TranslatePress – Check out my TranslatePress review
AdSanity – Top WordPress Plugin for Ads
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AdSanity provides an easy way to insert affiliate banners inside a post or sidebar widget. You can manage your affiliate campaigns and ads within your WordPress admin panel.
The main benefit of using AdSanity is that you can display affiliate banners only on a specified timeframe on your website.
With its performance report, you can easily track the performance of each banner you publish on your site.
Check out my AdSanity review.
Pricing: Starts at $89/year
Bonus: Does this tool sound like the perfect plugin for your site? Check out our AdSanity coupon code page for great deals.
AdSanity Alternatives:
Great! That is my list of the best WordPress plugins. The best part? Most of them are free or come with a free version. But we are not done yet! Check below for more bonus plugins you can use.
Bonus Plugins
- Search & Replace Everything – Find and replace text, URLs, or code across your entire database safely
- Sugar Calendar Bookings – Accept appointment bookings and manage scheduling directly on your site
- RewardsWP – Create customer loyalty programs with points and rewards for WooCommerce stores
- Easy WP SMTP – Fix WordPress email delivery issues with simple SMTP configuration
- OnePageGA – View Google Analytics data in a single, easy-to-read dashboard page
- WP Charitable – The best donation plugin for WordPress
- Imagely – Professional photography portfolio and client gallery management solution
- Soliloquy – Display beautiful responsive sliders for products, images, PDFs, and more
- Plugin Rank – Monitor your site’s rankings and track your performance against competitors
- WP Call Button – Add a simple ‘Call Now’ button to your site to capture leads
- Semrush – Optimize your site’s content, SEO, and paid traffic strategy
- PublishPress – Manage and extend your editorial capabilities, schedule, authors, and more
- 2FA – Secure your site with 2-factor authentication
- StackPath – Boost your site’s page load times using a content delivery network (CDN)
- HubSpot – The best CRM and marketing automation solution with a forever free plan
- WP Tasty – Best recipe plugin with powerful monetization features for food bloggers
And that’s my list of the best WordPress plugins every website should have.
Before I wrap up, you may be interested to know the difference between free and premium plugins so that you can make the right choices
Top WordPress Plugins – Free vs. Premium
There are thousands of WordPress plugins, which are available for free in the WordPress.org directory. However, there are lots of WordPress plugins that are sold on third-party websites as premium plugins.
This makes many new users wonder whether premium or paid plugins are better in some way.
Free WordPress plugins are available to you without any warranties.
- Support for free plugins is usually limited, and it is not guaranteed. Some free plugin authors do provide excellent support for their free plugins, but sooner or later it becomes a chore.
- There is no financial incentive for plugin authors to keep answering user questions on their free plugins. This means that free WordPress plugins are available on an as-is basis with no warranties.
- Developers may not maintain the plugin leading to security and compatibility issues.
Paid WordPress plugins, on the other hand, offer premium support for their product.
Most of them are licensed GPL too, which means they also come with a limited warranty. But having access to support means you can get help much faster.
This does not mean that premium plugins are always a better alternative to free WordPress plugins.
In fact, many of the most popular WordPress plugins are free. For example, All in One SEO, WP Super Cache, WPForms, and many more.
You should focus on finding a good plugin that is easy to use and has excellent reviews.
Once you have narrowed down your search, you can decide whether you want to go for a premium plugin or a free alternative.
You can try the free plugins first, but if they are too difficult to use, then you can go for a paid plugin.
How to Find Good WordPress Plugins
As I mentioned earlier, there are thousands of free and paid WordPress plugins. Locating a plugin for something that you want to do on your site can be difficult. Here is how you would begin your search.
The search feature on the WordPress.org directory can help you narrow down your quest. However, you will still have to scroll down a lot, and many of the results will not be relevant at all.
The best way to search for plugins is by using Google Search or searching through WPBeginner’s plugins category.
When looking at plugins in the WordPress.org directory, look at the plugin stats below each listing.
It shows the total number of active installs for a plugin, higher installs mean that it has been tested and used by more websites.
You will also see the average review stars, last updated, and tested up to information.
For more detailed instructions take a look at this beginner’s guide on how to choose the best WordPress plugin.
If you do not see the plugin page in WordPress, then the most likely reason is you are using WordPress.com run by Automattic.
It is a free blog hosting service that allows you to create free blogs on their servers. It is not the same as having your own self-hosted WordPress.org site.
Take a look at this guide on the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org. One of the main differences between the two is that you cannot install plugins on a WordPress.com blog unless you’re on their higher-end plan.
In order to use powerful WordPress plugins and themes, you will need to move to a self-hosted WordPress.org site. Here is a step-by-step tutorial on how to move from WordPress.com to WordPress.org.
Now let’s take a look at the best WordPress plugins on the market.
How to Install a WordPress Plugin
There are two easy ways to install a WordPress plugin from the admin area of your site. For free WordPress plugins, you can go to Plugins » Add New and search for the plugin name that you want to install.
Carefully look at the results to make sure that you are downloading the plugin you wanted and then click on the Install button. Once installed, you will need to activate the plugin.
If you downloaded a WordPress plugin in a zip file, then this is how you will install it.
Simply go to Plugins » Add New page, and then click on the ‘Upload Plugin’ button at the top.
WordPress will now show you a page where you can upload the plugin zip file. Simply click on the “Choose File” button, locate the ZIP file on your computer, and then click on the “Install Now” button.
WordPress will now upload the plugin file to your website, extract it, and install the plugin. Once the installation is finished, it will show you a success message with a link to activate the plugin.
It is important to remember that you need to activate a plugin before you can use it on your WordPress site.
For more detailed instructions, take a look at my guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
How do I find the best plugins for WordPress?
The best place to find useful WordPress plugins is on trustworthy blogs like this IsItWP guide. You can also check out WPBeginner’s pick of Must-have WordPress Plugins.
What is the best free plugin for WordPress?
It depends on what you’re looking for. There are tons of free plugins to improve your site. Here are the best free plugins you’ll need for any WordPress site:
- SeedProd – Build your website
- WPForms – Create any WordPress form
- MonsterInsights – Track your site’s performance
- WP Mail SMTP – Fix WordPress email issues
- LazyLoad – Make your website load fast
What is the best WordPress package?
The best WordPress package is from Bluehost. You’ll get a web hosting plan, free domain name, free SSL, and free CDN in your package. Plus, it lets you install WordPress in one click. Plans start at just $2.75 per month.
What are the best WordPress plugins for SEO?
The best WordPress plugin for SEO is All in One SEO. When you install it, the plugin scans your site and recommends the changes you need to make to optimize your site. It also gives you a dedicated SEO section inside the post/page editor where you can optimize the title, meta description, keyword, and content.
What is the best plugin for WordPress for customer reviews?
WP Business Reviews is a good plugin to display customer reviews on your site. You can pull reviews from third-party sites like Google, Facebook, Yelp, and Zomato. To collect customer reviews, you can use WPForms. Follow my guide: How to Get More Online Reviews to Grow Your WordPress Business.
What are the top 5 or 10 WordPress plugins you use for every website?
The top 10 plugins every WordPress website needs are:
- SeedProd – Build your website
- WPForms – Create any WordPress form
- All in One SEO – Optimize your site for search engines
- Thrive Suite – Get the tools you need to build & grow your site
- Constant Contact – Grow your site with email marketing
- Sucuri – Secure your website from hackers
- Duplicator – Backup your website
- MonsterInsights – Track your site’s performance
- WP Mail SMTP – Fix WordPress email issues
- WP Rocket – Make your website load fast
That’s all I have for you. I hope you liked my list of the best WordPress plugins. For your next steps, you’ll find these resources helpful:
- 5 Best Apps and Tools for Keeping Track of Your Passwords
- 8 Best WordPress Maintenance Services and Plans (Compared)
- 6 Best WordPress Auto-Update Plugins (Compared)
Once you sign up for multiple plugins, you’ll need to keep track of all your passwords. You’ll also need to update your plugins regularly to make sure your site is using the latest and most secure version.
So we’ve also added posts that will help you maintain these plugins using a maintenance service or an auto-update plugin.
