WordPress is a content management system that is popular for website creation due to its flexibility. This is achieved, in part, because of the wide range of plugins available.

There are free plugins in the WordPress official directory that can be used to add different features to a website. If there are specific features not found in the directory, it’s also possible to get premium WordPress plugins from third-party marketplaces or create one yourself.

To narrow down the options, we’ve tested many plugins and compiled a list of the 13 best WordPress plugins for a wide variety of purposes.

13 Best WordPress Plugins

We narrowed down the options and selected the best WordPress plugin for each functionality. To decide on the best plugins, we considered the following:

• Features  – we have evaluated each plugin to ensure that the features provided are fit for purpose. We also made sure that they can work on any type of WordPress website.
• Reliability  – we have selected many free WordPress plugins available in the official WordPress plugin directory. For premium plugins, we have checked the reliability of the developers to make sure they are safe to use.
• Compatibility  – the plugin should be compatible with the latest WordPress and PHP versions. We’ve also selected plugins that have been updated in the last three months.

If you would like to evaluate the alternatives, we have included seven mentions at the end of the article.

1. Rank Math – Best WordPress SEO Plugin

Plugin Stats:

• Downloads: 1,000,000+
• Rating: 4.6/5
• Notable features: on-page SEO analysis, redirect manager, smart sitemaps, built-in schema markup
• Best suited for: optimizing pages and posts for search engines
• Price: freemium

Rank Math is one of the most popular SEO plugins for WordPress and was the preferred choice before AIOSEO came onto the scene. It is a very powerful plugin with many features to guide your SEO efforts.

Rank MathSEO has everything you need for both technical and on-page SEO. For blog posts, after you enter your keyword, it analyzes the content to make sure it’s ready to rank on Google.

You will then receive a checklist so you can make changes to the content as needed.

Technically speaking, you can use Rank Math for:

• Setup Wizard (Easy to follow)
• Optimize Unlimited Keywords
• XML sitemaps
• Canonical URLs (to avoid duplicate content)
• OpenGraph tags
• Schema.org structured data
• And more

The downside to Rank Mathis that you can train yourself to keep your eyes on the prize.

In other words, while the 2 may not always agree, it can be easy to start writing to make Rank Math happy rather than Google happy.

So when you use a plugin like Rank Math, you should have a strong grasp of how search engines like Google rank. That way, you can take or leave Rank Math’s suggestions more effectively.

2. Elementor – Page Builder

Plugin Statistics:

• Downloads:  5+ million
• Rating:  4.5/5
• Key features:  drag and drop page editor, template library, over 90 free widgets
• Best for:  page creation and customization
• Price: free (  from $49/  year)

Elementor is one of the most popular WordPress plugins for page building. At its core, Elementor provides a drag-and-drop functionality so users can customize their pages and posts on the fly.

The plugin also offers 100+ pre-made page templates to launch any type of website. More than 90 widget options help include features like social media icons and a progress bar without installing additional WordPress plugins.

While Elementor works with almost any WordPress theme, make sure to choose an Elementor ready theme to avoid any issues. When in doubt, you can use the  Hello Elementor WordPress theme designed by the plugin developers.

 Access Elementor theme builder by getting premium plan . This tool lets you create a theme from scratch by easily customizing essential parts of a theme such as headers, footers, and even product pages.

3. WooCommerce

Plugin Statistics:

• Downloads:  5+ million
• Rating:  4.5/5
• Key features:  integrated WooCommerce dashboard, quick setup wizard, support for multiple payment gateways
• Best for:  building an eCommerce website
• Price: starting at $6/month  with free, optional add-ons 

WooCommerce is the best  eCommerce WordPress plugin  . It provides basic eCommerce functions such as showcase creation, product listing and order management.

Also, WooCommerce accepts major credit cards and wire transfer payments and integrates seamlessly with 140 region-specific payment gateways.

It comes with a quick setup wizard that guides you step-by-step. All you have to do is answer the questions and provide details about your store and the website is ready.

Managing an online store with WooCommerce is easy, as the dashboard is integrated with WordPress. Use the admin panel sidebar to manage your products, orders or reports.

Make sure to use a WooCommerce compatible WordPress theme to create a beautiful showcase with WordPress and WooCommerce.

4.  Tutor LMS  – Best LMS Plugin for WordPress

Plugin Statistics:

• Downloads:  40,000+
• Rating:  4.5/5
• Key features:  unlimited courses, student dashboard, course tracking progress, multiple video sources
• Best for:  educational websites, online courses
• Price:  free (  from $149/year  )

Tutor LMS is one of the best  WordPress LMS plugins as it includes lots of tools even in the free version. The plugin allows you to give unlimited lessons in a variety of formats, including videos and quizzes.

This LMS plugin comes with a front-end student dashboard and progress monitor to easily see the lessons they have taken and the associated progress. The student Q&A feature allows them to submit questions about the course before enrolling.

Tutor LMS comes with a quiz builder that supports 10 question types for course assessment. This feature also allows you to mark each question and give clues to students.

If you choose the paid version, you get a front-end course builder to design the courses and a certificate generator to create a beautiful custom certificate for each course.

5.  UpdraftPlus  – Best WordPress Backup Plugin

Plugin Statistics:

• Downloads:  3+ million
• Madam:  5/5
• Key features:  scheduled backups, integration with cloud-based storage
• Best for:  creating and storing website data backups
• Price: free (  from $42/  year)

Backing up a WordPress site is essential to prevent data loss in the event of a system crash, hard drive failure, or security breach. UpdraftPlus is one of the best WordPress plugins for managing WordPress backups.

Creating a backup and restoring your website data is easy thanks to the plugin’s intuitive user interface. You can set files and database automatic backup schedules in the settings panel.

It is possible to connect UpdraftPlus to a variety of remote storage options, including cloud-based ones like Dropbox and Google Drive, and simple data transfer solutions like email and FTP.

UpdraftPlus Vault, the plugin’s remote storage, is available in the premium plan. It works seamlessly to backup and restore website data. Another great premium feature is database encryption to keep your website data safe.

6. MemberPress

Plugin Statistics:

• Downloads:  28,000+
• Rating:  4.6/5
• Key features:  content restriction rules, affiliate program, automatic billing system, easy setup
• Best for:  building a paid membership site
• Price: $179-$399/year

MemberPress is a premium membership plugin for monetizing online courses, membership-based digital downloads and other exclusive content from a paid membership site.

This premium plugin has a professional support team and is easy to install.  It also integrates well with plugins like bbPress to create a password protected forum or  Easy Affiliate for an affiliate program.

You can set up multiple plans for the affiliate program and the pricing page is fully customizable. Content restriction feature helps you to limit membership access to pages, posts, files and categories.

The automatic billing system makes it easy to remind users when it’s time to renew their plans. The plugin will also automatically cancel or renew the membership based on the payments made.

7.  Waglot

Plugin Statistics:

• Downloads:  40,000+
• Rating:  4.8/5
• Key features:  multilingual SEO, auto-redirect, dictionary
• Best for:  automatically translating a WordPress site
• Price:  premium (  from $9.99/month  )

 Weglot is one of the best WordPress translation plugins that can automatically translate websites  into over 100 languages. It also offers final editing tools that allow you to make appropriate changes to translations.

The translation software follows multilingual SEO best practices to help translate metadata and language-specific URLs. Weglot also automatically redirects your target audience to the appropriate website language based on their browser settings.

In addition, Weglot can further localize your customer’s journey by translating key conversion steps such as pop-ups, forms and email confirmations. Its multilingual dictionary also helps you add terms, phrases, brands and product names to keep your website translation consistent.

Weglot has six pricing plans that offer a different number of features, words and translated languages  .

The premium version costs  around $9.99-499 per month  – the exact price depends on the EUR/USD exchange rate at your subscription date. Choose the annual payment for a better deal.

If you want to try Weglot first, the plugin offers a free 10-day trial.

8. WP Mail SMTP

Plugin Statistics:

• Downloads:  2+ million
• Madam:  5/5
• Key features:  various mailing options as well as email logs and reports on premium version
• Best suited for:  ensuring deliverability of mail for marketing campaigns
• Price: free (  from $49/  year)

The WP Mail SMTP plugin works best with an email subscription plugin like Mailchimp for WordPress. This newsletter plugin will help you email your subscriber list for marketing campaigns.

Website owners often run into issues when the WordPress site isn’t sending emails as it should. WP Mail SMTP solves this problem by configuring the wp_mail()  function to use an appropriate SMTP mail server.

The plugin also includes many SMTP providers to choose from, such as SMTP.com, Sendinblue, Microsoft, and Google. Setting up SMTP only takes a few clicks. Alternatively, the setup wizard will guide you through the process based on your SMTP selection.

9. Smash Balloon Social Photo Feed

Plugin Statistics:

• Downloads:  1+ million
• Madam:  5/5
• Key features:  caching, unlimited feeding
• Best for:  Embedding Instagram posts on a WordPress site
• Price: free (  from $49/  year)

Smash Balloon Social Photo Stream is the best Instagram plugin to embed photos on a WordPress site. It’s easy to set up – all you have to do is install the plugin, connect to your account, customize the feed, and embed Instagram posts using the new block.

The feed can be customized in a number of ways. You can define the height and width of the feed to fit your site, and also specify how many photos are displayed. Also, the feed is fully responsive to make it look good on mobile devices.

If you choose the professional version, you get four additional layout types – grid, carousel, masonry and highlight. The pro version also allows you to create a post for hashtags, tagged posts or display a combination of different posts on the website.

10. Booking Calendar

Plugin Statistics:

• Downloads:  60,000+
• Rating:  4.5/5
• Highlights:  Gutenberg block to embed the calendar on a page or post, CAPTCHA support, rich customization options
• Best for:  accepting booking reservations and managing appointments
• Price: freemium ( starting at $47.40  for a lifetime license  )

Booking Calendar is among the best WordPress booking plugins. This plugin has over 60,000 active installs and offers many features even in the free version.

You can easily add a calendar to show available time slots and a form for users to book appointments. Embedding the calendar is very simple as the plugin has a special block that you can use on the page or in the post editor. There are also various shortcodes to customize the calendar interface.

The backend system in the WordPress dashboard is also user-friendly and provides a calendar overview where you can view and manage posted appointments.

The settings page provides a large number of configuration options. You can set unavailable days and time pickers for the calendar’s time ranges. There are also settings that enable CAPTCHA to prevent spam entries and autofill for logged in users.

In the form section, you can customize the booking submission form. The interface is easy to use, just drag and drop items to rearrange the fields.

Booking Calendar also supports Google Calendar integration to import events. It is also possible to import and export .ics  files to and from external websites if you use the Booking Manager  plugin  .

11.  Forminator  – Best Exam Plugin

Plugin Statistics:

• Downloads:  200,000+
• Madam:  5/5
• Key features:  dashboard statistics, visual builder, lead generation form
• Best for:  creating knowledge or personality tests, forms and surveys
• Price:  free (  from $5 per month  )

Forminator is a WordPress quiz plugin that lets you create forms, polls, polls, and calculations. Thanks to its extensibility and integrated features, we consider it the best testing plugin for WordPress sites.

You can create two types of quizzes using Forminator – knowledge and personality quizzes. Additionally, it lets you choose between non-paged and paginated quiz designs.

The editor comes with a drag and drop builder that allows you to easily edit questions and answers.

The quiz view is also fully customizable, from layout and fonts to colors. You can even add custom CSS and translation files to your tests.

With Forminator, you can use quizzes and interactive surveys as a lead generation strategy. There is a lead generation option for test takers – Forminator has a default lead generation form, so you don’t have to create one yourself. Participants can even strengthen your business’s online presence by sharing their results on social media.

Embed the quiz on your page or publish it by adding the Forminator block and selecting any quiz created.

12. HubSpot

Plugin Statistics:

• Downloads:  300,000+
• Rating:  4.5/5
• Key features:  email newsletter, contact form submission, customizable live chat
• Best for:  lead management and lead generation
• Price: free (  from $45/  month)

HubSpot is a comprehensive customer relationship management (CRM) plugin for WordPress. Even its free version offers enough features to implement CRM strategies on most websites.

Some of the CRM features include a contact form, live chat, and email newsletters. These features are automatically synchronized with the main Contacts dashboard in your WordPress admin.

In this dashboard, you will see a complete contact list with customers’ contact information, recent activity, lead status, and live chat conversations.

HubSpot’s email automation feature makes it easier to send newsletters or respond to customers’ emails. You can send a pre-made email when a user submits a form or chats with chatbots.

The visual email builder offers more than 20 email templates, allowing you to easily compose the email.

13. MonsterInsights

Plugin Statistics:

• Downloads:  3+ million
• Rating:  4.5/5
• Key features:  dashboard reports, real-time monitoring, user tracking
• Best suited for:  Integrating Google Analytics into a WordPress website
• Price:  free (  from $99.5/  year)

MonsterInsights is one of the best WordPress plugins for Google Analytics, thanks to its seamless integration and fast setup process. It also brings many tools to your WordPress dashboard to monitor website performance.

After installing the plugin, the setup wizard will help you connect your Google Analytics account. After that, access the MonsterInsights dashboard in the WordPress admin panel.

The plugin will show real-time site statistics, making it easy to identify and fix any issues.

Use MonsterInsights for affiliate tracking, shipment tracking, file download tracking, demographic tracking and more, as it’s suitable for any type of website. There is also a WooCommerce integration to set up analytics for your online store.

Other Plugins:

With over 50,000 free plugins available in the WordPress directory and many more premium plugins available on marketplaces, there are alternatives to all the WordPress plugins we have listed.

If you are interested in other options, here is a list of honorable mentions for the best WordPress plugins:

• Visual Composer  – A WYSIWYG website builder plugin that comes with 50+ free items and 10+ free landing page templates.
• W3 Total Cache  – A caching plugin that uses a CDN to speed up WordPress sites. It can also minify and cache CSS and Javascript files.
• Sucuri  – a security plugin with malware removal, file integrity monitoring and security monitoring.
• Ultimate Member  – this membership plugin is the best alternative if you don’t want to pay a premium price. It has an intuitive form builder and front-end user management.
• Easy Digital Downloads  – this plugin is a good option for creating an eCommerce store with digital download items such as eBooks, songs, photos or software.
• Smush this plugin helps you speed up website by compressing and optimizing images in WordPress. It also has image lazy loading.

Recent Views:

Adding more features and functionality to WordPress sites is easy thanks to the plethora of plugins. All you have to do is choose the one that suits your needs.

There is no limit to how many WordPress plugins to install to build a powerful website. However, be careful when installing WordPress plugins.

Activating too many WordPress plugins can cause slow loading time and increase security risks. It is also important to choose reliable plugins.

Therefore, always check the number of active installations and user reviews in the WordPress plugin directory. Also, remember to choose plugins that are updated frequently as they are more secure and less prone to compatibility issues.