60+ Best WordPress Plugins Across 12 Categories

What is WordPress without its extensive list of plugins? At last count, there were 60,000+ free plugins on the WordPress plugin repository, excluding the thousands of plugins available on 3rd party marketplaces.

With so many WordPress extensions to choose from, it’s easy to lose your way in the plugin jungle. Instead of experimenting with every plugin (which is practically not possible), you can go through this hand-picked list of the 60+ best WordPress plugins for your blog or website.

I have gone a step ahead and listed these popular WordPress plugins under 12 different categories so you can find the best plugin for your specific needs easily. Also, please note that this roundup is not a ranking of the plugins; rather I have numbered them solely for easy discoverability.

Sounds fun? Let’s start.

1. Yoast SEO

Yoast SEO is the most popular SEO plugin by a long margin installed on more than 5 million websites and enjoying a perfect 5-star rating on WordPress.org. Although there are many SEO plugins with similar features, Yoast was the first to introduce the much-used SEO analysis feature in the WordPress editor.

It also popularized the Readability Analysis feature which is today found in other SEO plugins as well. Other cool features include XML sitemaps, breadcrumbs, schema.org rich snippets, Google preview, cornerstone content, etc.

Yoast integrates perfectly with your page builder like Elementor and you can edit your SEO meta settings right from the Elementor editor.

Check out Yoast SEO

2. Rank Math

Rank Math is a newcomer on the SEO scene but it has quickly gained wide popularity with more than 1 million installs thanks to the multitude of features available in the free version. Rank Math also claims to be the first SEO plugin to offer AI-based SEO analysis of your website content.

The plugin is very easy to set up thanks to the Setup Wizard that guides you along the way. You can also optimize your content for 5 focus keywords compared with just 1 in other SEO plugins. There are many more cool features available. I will list only the most prominent ones below:

1. Optimize content for 16+ types of rich snippets
2. Google Analytics and Search Console integration
3. Redirection manager, XML sitemaps
4. Breadcrumbs and 404 monitor
5. Add ALT tags on the fly in the Image SEO module
6. Integration with page builders like Elementor

Check out Rank Math

3. All in One SEO

AIOSEO is probably the oldest SEO plugin launched way back in 2007 and is actively used by more than 3 million websites. It also offers an easy-to-use Setup Wizard to configure the plugin the right way.

AIOSEO offers all the usual features expected in an SEO plugin including:

1. XML sitemaps
2. SEO meta titles, descriptions, and keywords
3. Open Graph SEO Knowledge panel information
4. Social media integration
5. Search Console integration
6. Schema markup and local SEO

Just like Rank Math, AIOSEO also allows users to optimize their content for unlimited focus keywords.

Check out AIOSEO

4. Squirrly SEO

Squirrly SEO plugin is relatively lightweight as far as popularity is concerned but it comes loaded with all the features you need to rank your website pages on search results. It is also the SEO plugin that powers PassionWP so I have very good experience of using the plugin.

You can import your settings from more than 10 different SEO plugins, including, Yoast, Rank Math, and All in One SEO.

This plugin is best suited for bloggers with not much SEO experience as it hand-holds the user and advises on taking the recommended steps to boost your search rankings using the plugin.

You can set a focus page that you wish to rank high and Squirrly will layout the exact strategy to execute, including the number of backlinks required, to achieve your goals.

Check out Squirrly SEO

5. SEOPress

SEOPress is another quality WordPress SEO plugin. It offers all the features found in the top-rated SEO plugins and some more. Here I will only focus on the unique features of SEOPress.

1. Content analysis with unlimited focus keywords
2. Facebook and Twitter preview to see exactly how your content will look on these social networks
3. Build custom sitemaps, including, image and video sitemaps
4. Redirection manager
5. Remove category base in URLs (a very useful feature)
6. 15 types of structured Google schema
7. Google Analytics stats in your dashboard
8. 404 page monitoring and automatic redirection

Looking at this list of unique features, SEOPress is definitely a recommended SEO plugin for WordPress.

Check out SEOPress

6. SEO Framework

The SEO Framework is a recent SEO plugin but has quickly climbed up the popularity charts. As its name suggests, the plugin provides the framework for ranking your sites by auto-generating critical meta tags for your website content.

The plugin makes use of color-coded guidelines to suggest improvements when you hover over the suggestions using the SEO Bar.

It doesn’t include a focus keyword functionality unlike other SEO plugins since the plugin creators believe that the focus keyword approach to content optimization encourages keyword stuffing that is disapproved by Google.

Check out SEO Framework

7. LiteSpeed Cache

LiteSpeed Cache is the top-rated and most popular free WordPress cache plugin used on more than 2 million websites. Although it can be used on any type of web server, it performs best when paired with a LiteSpeed-powered web hosting server.

It integrates seamlessly with QUIC.cloud CDN service and if you opt for the free plan, you can get free cloud-based caching for your website.

LiteSpeed offers all the features found in a commercial cache plugin, including, minifying and combining JavaScript and CSS files, generating critical CSS, deferring JS loading, DNS prefetch, etc.

Apart from the caching features, LiteSpeed also offers image optimization and lazyload features found in dedicated image optimization plugins.

Check out LiteSpeed Cache

8. W3 Total Cache

W3 Total Cache claims to be the only web hosting agnostic web performance optimization framework for WordPress. There are many high-sounding words in this sentence that basically mean that this cache plugin is web hosting platform-neutral, unlike Lite Speed Cache.

W3 is not the easiest plugin to configure and you may need to play around with its different options to identify the optimal configuration for your site. For instance, it offers 8 different caching methods to choose from.

It also offers image optimization features such as WebP conversion that results in significant size reduction.

Check out W3 Total Cache

9. WP Rocket

If you need an all-in-one speed optimization plugin, WP Rocket is what you need to speed up your WordPress site. We use it on PassionWP to achieve an almost perfect Google Page Speed Insights score.

WP Rocket is very easy to configure thanks to the extensive guides available online. I suggest that you check out my WP Rocket settings guide to set up the plugin the right way in under 5 minutes.

It takes care of 80 percent of the recommended cache settings once you activate the plugin and you only need to configure the remaining 20 percent. It has image lazyload and missing image dimensions features built-in.

You can also schedule the common database maintenance tasks such as posts, database, comments, and transients clean up that will help to boost your site performance.

Check out WP Rocket

10. WP Fastest Cache

WP Fastest Cache is one of the fastest free cache plugins available. The interface is simple. So simple that it looks somewhat dated. But don’t be fooled by its interface. The plugin packs in quite a punch with its performance.

You can integrate your favorite CDN, including, Cloudflare to realize higher page size savings and faster page load times.

Like other cache plugins, WP Fastest Cache offers built-in database optimization features. Certain features like mobile cache, widget cache, minify HTML/CSS Plus, etc. are pro only.

Check out WP Fastest Cache

11. WP Super Cache

WP Super Cache by Automattic is one of the most popular free cache plugins boasting 2+ million active installs. It offers three caching methods – Expert, Simple, and WP-Cache. The Expert mode is the fastest as it utilizes the mod_rewrite module on your hosting server.

The Simple method is the second fastest and recommended caching method and utilizes PHP to cache your website files. It is flexible enough to permit static as well as dynamic files on your site.

CDN integration is also included in the plugin. Some other cool features include cache preload and REST API caching.

Check out WP Super Cache

12. Ultimate Member

Ultimate Member is a popular free user registration and membership plugin for WordPress with many paid extensions to choose from. Using this plugin, you can create front-end custom registration forms for your audience using the power of conditional logic.

Your website members will get their personalized profile page and using some paid extensions, you can allow user notes, locations, photos, etc. to create a unique experience for each member.

You can also add a terms and conditions checkbox in the user registration form using a free extension.

Check out Ultimate Member

13. Paid Memberships Pro

If you want to create a full-fledged membership site to collect payments from members then Paid Memberships Pro is the plugin you should be considering for your project.

You can restrict site content by membership level, set up PayPal and Stripe integration, offer discounts, paid newsletters, and more using Paid Memberships Pro. You can also set up recurring subscription payments on your site.

It integrates perfectly with LMS plugins like LearnDash and Lifter LMS.

Check out Paid Memberships Pro

14. Simple Membership

As its name suggests, Simple Membership offers an easy and free method to create a fully functional membership site where users can not only sign up for accessing member-only content but also make recurring payments on your site.

You can create unlimited membership levels and restrict content by type of membership level. You can show teaser content to non-members to encourage them to sign up for your membership.

Post content can also be partially protected if you would like the user to sign up for accessing the complete content. There are many more features in this plugin.

Check out Simple Membership

15. Members

Members by MemberPress is primarily a role and capabilities plugin that enables users to access content based on their roles and the capabilities assigned to each role.

It has more than 10 free addons that you can use to extend the capabilities beyond simple user registration and management.

Check out Members

16. s2Member

s2Member has been in the WordPress membership plugin game for a long time now even though it may not be as popular as the plugins discussed earlier. Like the other plugins, s2Member allows you to restrict content access by membership levels.

It also allows content dripping based on the user membership level. You can also send renewal reminder emails to your paid users at a fixed time before the expiry of the user’s membership.

You can also sell specific posts, file downloads, or access capabilities to your paid members.

Check out s2Member

17. UpdraftPlus

When you think of WordPress backups, UpdraftPlus is the first to come to mind. With 3+ million installs, UpdraftPlus is, hands down, the most popular and highest-rated backup plugin for WordPress.

You can schedule daily, weekly, or monthly backups on a variety of platforms like Dropbox, Google Drive, Amazon S3, FTP, email, etc. If something goes wrong with your site or your hosting platform closes shop, you can simply restore the backup of your site using UpdraftPlus.

The plugin is very easy to configure and works as promised. The premium version also offers duplication, incremental backups, database encryption, and other features.

Check out UpdraftPlus

18. Jetpack

Jetpack is a multi-dimensional plugin that takes care of your site’s backups, security, speed, and other requirements. It could’ve been included under the list of security plugins instead of backup plugins. The individual features are so comprehensively developed.

The best aspect of its backup feature is that backups are made automatically in real-time and without the need to store the backups on 3rd party platforms. Rather, you get unlimited storage for your site backups that you can restore any time.

Apart from backups, you can easily migrate your site, create clones of your existing sites. There are many other features bundled in that can be turned on and off depending on your needs. This way, you don’t have to worry about plugin bloat.

Check out Jetpack

19. BackWPup

BackWPup is a full-featured WordPress backup plugin that backs up your site content along with the database for restoring later on. You can choose from 6 different locations to store your backups. However, Google Drive and One Drive locations are included in the premium version only.

Apart from backups, the plugin also repairs and optimizes your database. It does not, however, duplicate your site.

Check out BackWPup

20. All-in-One WP Migration

All-in-One WP Migration is, by far, the most popular WordPress migration plugin available with more than 4 million active installs. The free version does not back up your site, rather it is specifically built for one purpose – migration.

You simply need to activate the plugin, hit the export button, and unpack the exported file at the new location. Couldn’t get any easier than this.

It has a long list of premium extensions that take care of creating backups of your site on different platforms.

Check out All-in-One WP Migration

21. Duplicator

Next in line of migration-focussed plugins is Duplicator that handles the task of moving your WordPress site from one host to another irrespective of the size of your database.

Other cool feature includes transferring the site to your local development environment for working locally and then restoring the local copy to the live environment.

It can also be used to clone or duplicate websites apart from creating manual backups. If you upgrade to the premium version, you can also schedule automated backups.

Check out Duplicator

22. Wordfence Security

If you’re serious about your site’s security then Wordfence is the go-to WordPress security plugin with 4+ million active installs. Wordfence not only secures your site against malware, redirects, code injections, but it also includes a built-in Web Application Firewall (WAF) and malware scanner based on the Wordfence global database.

It also provides brute force protection by limiting login attempts. You can pair it with Cloudflare to enable comprehensive off-site and on-site security for your website.

If you manage multiple websites, then you can take advantage of Wordfence Central where you can create security templates for managing the security of all websites from one place. Wordfence also includes useful login security measures such as 2FA, login page CAPTCHA, etc.

Check out Wordfence Security

23. All In One WP Security & Firewall

AIO WP Security is a 100 percent free security plugin for WordPress. The hallmark of the plugin is a security meter that grades your website security on a score of 0 to 100. The more recommendations you implement higher will be the security score.

You can choose from one among 3 firewall rules – Basic, Intermediate, and Advanced depending on the level of security features that you wish to implement. The plugin also offers detailed login security measures like 2FA, brute force login protection, changing the login page URL, etc.

Apart from the standard security measures, AIO WP Security also includes comment spam protection, text copy protection, and a malware scanner to check for malicious code injection.

Check out All In One WP Security & Firewall

24. MalCare Security

MalCare Security provides cloud-based malware scanning that doesn’t slow down your website. It also includes a Web Application Firewall (WAF) to stop hackers and bots from harming your website. The third feature is captcha-based login protection to ward off brute force login attempts.

The paid version of the plugin includes some useful features like viewing the hacked files, one-click instant malware removal, WordPress-recommended website hardening settings, and geo-blocking based on the visitor’s location.

Check out MalCare Security

25. iThemes Security

iThemes Security (formerly known as Better WP Security) is another well-known freemium WordPress security plugin. While the free version offers some useful features for protecting your site, the real value lies in the premium version if you’re serious about securing your website using this plugin.

It includes a real-time WordPress security dashboard that provides details of all security events occurring on your site. It includes 2FA login protection and a password policy feature for site users. The network brute force protection is another useful feature since it’s based on the entire iThemes Security network of sites.

Check out iThemes Security

26. WP Cerber Security

WP Cerber Security is quickly climbing the security plugins charts thanks to its comprehensive free features. It handles all the regular aspects of WordPress security like other security plugins do. Apart from this, it has some unique tricks up its sleeves that are not found in other popular security plugins.

You can create a custom login URL to deter brute force login attempts and bot logins, a security scanner to verify the integrity of WordPress core, plugin, and theme files, role-based access to WP REST API, and many other features.

Check out WP Cerber Security

27. WooCommerce

WooCommerce turns your WordPress site into a full-featured eCommerce storefront. It powers about 30 percent of all eCommerce sites in the World and is one of the top 10 WordPress plugins in terms of downloads and active installs.

There are so many features packed in this single plugin that it’s not possible to list them all here. What you need to know is that you can list any type of product (physical or digital) for sale using WooCommerce, collect payments online, handle the logistics, offer discounts, and much more.

I will list the extensions to WooCommerce below.

Check out WooCommerce

28. Easy Digital Downloads

Easy Digital Downloads or EDD makes it super easy to sell digital products online. But you’re not limited to just digital products. You can sell any type of product on your WordPress site and collect payments using different payment services like PayPal and Stripe.

EDD allows you to keep track of your customer profiles and choices, provides detailed eCommerce reports, protects product files, allows you to offer discount codes, and more. There are multiple premium add ons available that extend EDD beyond the basic capabilities.

Check out Easy Digital Downloads

29. Ecwid Ecommerce Shopping Cart

Ecwid is another popular shopping cart plugin for WordPress with some unique features. It integrates perfectly with your Facebook store and you can sell your Facebook merchandise on your site flawlessly.

Ecwid charges zero transaction and set up charges and is perfect for small business owners looking to get their feet off the ground. Another useful feature is the automated shipping charges calculator for the US, Canada, Australia, and EU countries. It provides unlimited storage and automatic backups for your eCommerce store.

Check out Ecwid Shopping Cart

30. Dokan

Dokan claims to be the best multi-vendor marketplace add-on for WooCommerce that enables users to create Amazon and Etsy style eCommerce stores in no time. You can sell different product types using Dokan like physical products, digital products, bookable, and auction products.

The plugin enables earnings not just through selling products but also through commissions earned from vendors who upload their products to your store. You can even create a marketplace with a unique store URL for each vendor. The pro version offers many more features and a free eCommerce theme as well.

Check out Dokan

31. Booster for WooCommerce

Booster is designed to boost your WooCommerce store by providing an all-in-one solution to replace multiple WooCommerce add-ons. Its key features include PDF invoicing and packaging slips, Product input fields, Prices and currencies, Cart and checkout, Product addons, Button and price labels, Payment gateways, emails, and reporting tools.

With so many features, it’s hard not to see why Booster may be the only addon you will need for your WooCommerce store.

Check out Booster

32. Elementor

Elementor is the most popular and highest-rated front-end page builder plugin for WordPress. In fact, when we talk of page builders, it’s always Elementor and the rest. The plugin offers true front-page editing with drag-and-drop simplicity.

The free version of Elementor comes loaded with 40+ widgets like text editor, video, image box, icon, button, accordion, Google maps, etc. You also get access to 100s of free templates that you can import and customize to create beautiful-looking landing pages and home page for your website or blog.

Read my complete Elementor review to learn more about this awesome plugin.

Check out Elementor

33. Thrive Architect

Thrive Architect is a premium plugin with a similar interface as Elementor. The difference between the two page builders is that while the premium version of Elementor is a complete website builder, Thrive Architect is essentially a landing page builder and not a website builder.

However, the advantage of Thrive Architect is its one-time price as compared to the recurring pricing of other page builders. The learning curve of Thrive Architect is short thanks to the extensive support documentation available.

Read my Thrive Architect review to learn more about this popular page builder plugin.

Check out Thrive Architect

34. Page Builder by SiteOrigin

Page Builder plugin by SiteOrigin is the most used free page builder plugin for WordPress. It works in the back-end as well as the front-end with its live page editing capabilities. The best part about SiteOrigin’s page builder is that it uses the readily available WordPress plugins for creating the page of your imagination.

If you need more widgets, you can use the Widgets Bundle plugin by SiteOrigin to add different widgets in any area of your page. These widgets are plugin neutral so you can also use them with other page builder plugins like Elementor.

Check out Page Builder by SiteOrigin

35. Beaver Builder

Beaver Builder is a well-coded and fast page builder plugin for WordPress. It offers limited but useful free widgets, including, content modules, image editor, ability to add WordPress widgets, etc. As is expected, the premium version offers many more widgets along with premium support.

What I liked most about Beaver Builder is that it does not slow down your website, unlike some other page builder plugins. If you’re a stickler for performance, then Beaver Builder is what you should be looking at.

Check out Beaver Builder

36. SeedProd

SeedProd is not just a page builder plugin for WordPress. It is also a coming soon and maintenance mode page builder. You can also create custom 404 pages using SeedProd. It offers a bunch of useful widget blocks to get started. But if you wish to experience its true power, then you will need to upgrade to the premium version that offers tons of different templates to quickly build the page of your needs.

The premium version also offers subscriber management features and integrates perfectly with leading email marketing services like Aweber, MailChimp, Active Campaign, Zapier, and more.

Check out SeedProd

37. CoBlocks

This round of the best page builder plugins would be incomplete without mentioning a dedicated page builder plugin for the Gutenberg WordPress block editor. This is where CoBlocks really shines as it offers more than 30 different blocks for the block editor.

You can literally build any layout and design that you wish using the power of Gutenberg and CoBlocks. The best part is that this plugin is completely free to use and can be used with any theme although it works best when paired with the Go theme created by GoDaddy.

Check out CoBlocks

38. Site Kit

Site Kit by Google provides a bird’s-eye view of your Analytics, Search Console, and Adsense reports. With this integration, you don’t need to install separate plugins for individual services. What’s more, Site Kit also displays the latest Page Speed Insights score for your site and individual pages.

It’s currently installed on more than 1 million websites and its popularity is growing by the day. The free support provided on the WordPress forums is outstanding and your support ticket is attended to within 24 hours. No wonder it is the fastest-growing Google Analytics plugin for WordPress.

Check out Site Kit

39. MonsterInsights

MonsterInsights is perhaps the most popular Google Analytics plugin with 3+ million active installs. It also offers many unique features not found in other Analytics plugins. But the downside is that these features are offered only in its Pro version.

What I like most about MonsterInsights is that you can host the Google Analytics script locally instead of externally. This results in an appreciable performance page speed boost. You also receive a bird’s eye view of the most important Analytics and Search Console metrics right in your dashboard using this plugin.

Check out MonsterInsights

40. Analytify

Analytify does not come close to the earlier two plugins in terms of popularity, but it offers powerful features in its free version. You can track your eCommerce data such as order value, total transactions, cart value, etc. accurately using this Google Analytics plugin.

Analytify offers page-level reporting of your Analytics data. You can check out the views, bounce rate, dwell time, etc. for every page on your blog in a beautiful admin dashboard using Analytify. Other cool features include social media stats in WordPress, real-time reporting, automated email reports, top keywords, etc.

Check out Analytify

41. GainWP

GainWP is a fork of the popular Google Analytics Dashboard plugin which was acquired by Awesome Motive Inc and turned into a clone of MonsterInsights. GainWP offers a useful dashboard widget that displays the most important Google Analytics data on your WordPress admin screen.

The charts provide useful stats from your Google Analytics account and can be filtered as per requirement. That so much information is presented in a single widget is the true utility of this plugin. You can read my guide on how to set up Analytics tracking using GainWP.

Check out GainWP

42. ShareThis Dashboard

ShareThis Google Analytics plugin is 100% free to use. It not only inserts the Analytics tracking code on every page of your site but also displays the important Analytics information right in your WordPress dashboard.

Although it’s not as feature-rich as Site Kit or MonsterInsights, you can still get important metrics like weekly and monthly traffic stats, top 10 pages by traffic, exclude tracking by user role, etc.

Check out ShareThis Dashboard

43. Akismet

Akismet is the top-rated anti-spam plugin with more than 5 million active installations. It is one of the default plugins that is installed with every WordPress installation. The plugin truly lives up to its billing and stops 99% of the most pervasive spam comments right in its tracks. The plugin is also very lightweight and has a negligible impact on site performance.

Akismet offers multi-layered protection for your website and you can configure the settings in different ways. For instance, you can choose to moderate every comment before they appear on the front-end or you can auto-approve comments without links in them, etc.

Check out Akismet

44. Disqus Comment System

Disqus is the leading cloud-based commenting platform used by millions of websites. WordPress users can integrate Disqus on their websites using their plugin. The biggest advantage of Disqus is that it syncs with the WordPress database for backing up the comments if you decide to switch to a different platform later on.

The spam handling is taken care of by Akismet. Disqus provides multiple social login options, including, Facebook and Twitter. There are other engagement features built-in like voting, photo, and video upload, spoiler tags, and mentions.

Check out Disqus

45. Comments – wpDiscuz

Although Disqus backs up the comments to the WordPress database, the comments are stored on the Disqus cloud servers. If you’re concerned about your data privacy, you can try out the namesake plugin – wpDiscuz. It stores all the comments on the WordPress database without slowing down your site.

It uses AJAX-powered comments and three different layouts to increase engagement. There are social login options along with post rating and sharing options. You can see that it’s multiple plugins bundled into one.

Check out wpDiscuz

46. Super Socializer

Super Socializer by Team Heator is a combination of three plugins – social login, social share, and comments rolled into one. There are 100 social networks included for sharing and 24 social network logins. The biggest advantage of social commenting is that when users comment using their social profiles, the plugin automatically posts the comment on their news feed thus providing free publicity to your blog.

Check out Super Socializer

47. Disable Comments

What’s the best way to stop spam comments on their track? Disable commenting entirely. Before you exclaim that disabling comments is an inbuilt feature of WordPress, let me remind you that the native WordPress setting disables commenting site-wide.

But what if you wanted to allow comments on a per-post basis? This is where this plugin is handy as you can select the posts and pages to allow or disallow comments from the plugin’s settings. Further, the plugin also supports disabling pingbacks, comment RSS feed, comment-related widgets, etc.

Check out Disable Comments

48. EWWW Image Optimizer

EWWW Image Optimizer is one of the coolest image compression plugins for WordPress. There are many image optimization plugins available but EWWW offers the highest number of features for free. There is no limit on the number or size of images that you can compress in the free version.

EWWW also offers image lazyload, WebP conversion, and adds missing image dimensions. It offers lossy and lossless image compression. I tested its image compression capabilities and was quite impressed.

I recommend that you go through my comparison of 10 image WordPress optimization plugins for more details.

Check out EWWW Image Optimizer

49. reSmush.it

reSmush offers a 100% free cloud compression service using its API. Although it’s not as feature-rich as EWWW, its image compression ability is quite impressive. You can compress unlimited images up to 5 MB in size for free.

The plugin also stores a backup of the original image and you can revert to the uncompressed version if required. Since the images are compressed using an API, the performance of the plugin is quite fast.

Check out reSmush

50. Imagify

Imagify is an image optimization service from the creators of the WP Rocket plugin. The Imagify WordPress plugin allows users to compress images totaling 20 MB for free each month. Apart from image compression, the plugin can also convert the compressed images to WebP format thus reducing their size further.

Imagify offers 3 compression modes – normal (lossless), aggressive, and ultra. The last two offer lossy compression. The compression results after using aggressive and ultra modes are remarkable, to say the least.

Check out Imagify

51. Smush

With over 1 million active installs, Smush is the most popular image optimization plugin for WordPress presently. It is packed with features. You can compress unlimited images up to 5 MB in size for free. Is there a catch? There is. You can only use lossless compression in the free version. For using lossy compression, which offers far higher compression, you will need the pro version.

Smush also enables bulk image compression, image lazyload, and image resizing features. However, WebP conversion is a pro-only feature along with other offerings.

Check out Smush

52. ShortPixel Image Optimizer

ShortPixel is one of the best image compression plugins in terms of performance. It offers lossless, lossy, and glossy compression modes. The glossy mode is ideal for photographers shooting very high-resolution images.

The compression takes place in the cloud, therefore, the plugin does not slow down your website. On the free version, you get 100 credits every month which is good enough to get a taste of its abilities. The pay-as-you-go model starts at $4.99 for 5000 image credits which is quite reasonable if you’re looking for a premium image compression plugin.

Check out ShortPixel

53. Mailchimp for WordPress

Mailchimp is the most popular email marketing service and understandably there’s great demand for a simple newsletter opt-in plugin that integrates with the Mailchimp API. The Mailchimp for WordPress or MC4WP plugin with over 2 million installs is the most popular newsletter plugin specifically focussed on Mailchimp.

It’s quite basic but gets the job done. There’s a single default theme in the free version but you can customize all its aspects with some CSS knowledge. MC4WP also integrates with a host of contact form and membership plugins flawlessly.

Check out Mailchimp for WordPress

54. MailPoet

MailPoet is a popular and easy-to-use newsletter plugin for WordPress. You can send unlimited emails to a list of under 1000 subscribers for free using the MailPoet Sending Service. This way you don’t have to use your web host for sending the mails. BTW, you should NEVER use your hosting server to send emails.

The newsletter builder is fun to use and drag-and-drop simple. You also get access to many free email templates that are responsive and can be easily customized. If you upgrade to the premium version, you can send to over 1000 subscribers and get access to powerful reporting features.

Check out MailPoet

55. Email Subscribers and Newsletters

Email Subscribers and Newsletters plugin is an easy way to collect new leads on your site by placing subscription boxes in the right places. You can send new blog post update notifications to your list and also push broadcast emails.

The plugin allows unlimited subscribers and lists as also option to enable double opt-in subscriptions. You can use any SMTP service to send emails. However, there is no option to send autoresponders or use 3rd party mailing services on the free version. For this, you will need to upgrade to Pro.

Check out Email Subscribers and Newsletters

56. Newsletter

Newsletter is a popular plugin for email marketing with a number of user-friendly features such as drag and drop editor, templates, email tracking, unlimited subscribers and emails, spam check, etc. The list of features is quite extensive for a free plugin. Although you can choose between multiple SMTP services for handling the email, the email sending will be handled by your hosting server.

If you wish to use external email service providers for sending the emails then you will need to upgrade to the pro plan that comes loaded with 20+ addons for different purposes and takes this plugin to another level.

Check out Newsletter

57. Creative Mail

We have discussed 4 different newsletter plugins for blogs. But what if you are running a WooCommerce store and need a dedicated newsletter plugin for sending emails to your customers and leads? This is where Creative Mail comes into the picture. It is a newsletter plugin specifically designed for WooCommerce.

You can send transactional emails, abandoned cart emails, mails for multi-step marketing journeys, etc. The best part is that Creative Mail does not rely on SMTP services to handle the email. Rather, it uses Constant Contact’s platform for email marketing for higher deliverability and reliability.

Check out Creative Mail

58. Forminator

Forminator is simply the best multipurpose contact form plugin for WordPress. Where other plugins focus only on a contact widget, Forminator includes polls, quizzes, calculations, and payments in addition to contact forms.

Creating different types of forms in Forminator is drag-and-drop simple and there are multiple free templates to play around with. This is a full-featured plugin and you can get access to the best features that this plugin has to offer for free. You can also integrate your favorite email service provider to create a lead magnet for building your email list.

Check out Forminator

59. Contact Form 7

Contact Form 7 is the most popular contact form plugin for WordPress with 5+ million installs. It’s a simple plugin that includes Ajax-powered comment submission, CAPTCHA test, and spam filtering using Akismet. The plugin does not include any fancy design templates.

If you can work your way through basic HTML and CSS, you can create functional forms that don’t appear as an eyesore in no time. With the Stripe addon, you can also accept payments using the plugin and also collect email leads using the Constant Contact addon.

Check out Contact Form 7

60. WPForms

WPForms is another popular and mobile-responsive contact form plugin for WordPress. The plugin makes it super easy to create contact forms in under 5 minutes. The drag-and-drop builder uses Ajax-powered fields that are very easy to configure without the need to hire a WP developer.

You can create different types of forms with WPForms like marketing, quote, donation, payment order, registration, and subscription forms. There are a handful of templates available in the free version to play around with. The premium version unlocks numerous features for making truly multipurpose forms in your WordPress dashboard.

Check out WPForms

61. Ninja Forms

If you wish to create different types of forms using a powerful and intuitive drag-and-drop builder, you should check out Ninja Forms. You can create multi-page forms using the power of conditional logic and Ajax.

Users can upload attachments to your site and their submissions can be exported as PDF, Excel files, and even Google Sheets. Not just this, you can also accept payments using Ninja Forms with its PayPal and Stripe integration. It also integrates with a host of email marketing services to enable the creation of email opt-in forms flawlessly.

Check out Ninja Forms

62. Formidable Forms

The last plugin in this round-up is Formidable Forms that claims to be the most powerful WordPress form builder plugin available. Using this plugin, you can create not just contact forms but also survey, quiz, registration forms, payment forms, email marketing, or calculator forms.

The plugin is 100% mobile responsive and does not slow down your website. It includes a built-in survey feature that enables you to create powerful surveys for collecting user responses without expending much effort.

Check out Formidable Forms

Summary of the Best WordPress Plugins

You’ve seen the list of some of the best and most popular WordPress plugins across multiple categories. Hopefully, this round-up has made it easier to pick the right plugin for your needs. If there is still any doubt remaining, I suggest that you try out a few plugins before deciding on the right one for your website.

I have tried hard to cover as many categories and plugins as I could. However, I realize that there are many more plugins and categories left to explore. If you feel strongly that a particular plugin or category should be included in this roundup, leave me a shout in the comments below and I will try my best to include it in this list of the best plugins for WordPress.