I recently stumbled upon a Reddit thread that asked a simple but really compelling question. You can see it in the headline: If you could only choose 5 WordPress plugins, which ones would you pick? 1
Why is this even interesting?
You see, with literally thousands of WordPress plugins on the market, it’s easy to assume everyone’s must-haves would be things like, Yoast, Jetpack, Akismet, or Contact Form 7, right?
Okay, take a guess at how many times those were mentioned by the people who answered the question…
Wrong! Plot twist: Jetpack racked up a grand total of zero mentions, and Akismet only earned one. Yoast SEO got 7 – nothing to sniff at, but hardly a landslide.
For comparison, the plugin that was voted collectively to be the most “can’t-live-without” kind of plugin got 14 mentions. (I’m going to show you the leaderboard in just a sec.)
So what’s going on? Although it’s purely my theory, it seems that when you challenge people to choose only five plugins, you get a truer picture of what they really can’t live without – those “I’d-rather-not-even-start-my-site-without-it” tools. That might be a massive SEO plugin…or it might be something small and laser-focused that solves a super-specific headache.
The following is my summary of all the recommendations provided by users who answered the main question. A total of 170 plugins were mentioned, including 80+ unique ones.
The aha moment: If you’re out there combing the internet for “top 10 plugin” lists, you might miss hidden gems that do exactly what you need – without the bloat or brand-name hype. And that’s the magic of places like Reddit and real user recommendations. It sometimes surfaces all the off-the-radar plugins that actual people, not just marketing copy, say they can’t live without.
Let’s check it out:
Some plugins people actually cannot live without
Let’s start with the real MVP:
ACF (Advanced Custom Fields) got to the top of the list comfortably – with 14 mentions, leaving second-place plugins in the dust.
ACF is the reigning champion if you’re looking to create custom fields or flexible site content. And, it continues to solidify its position as the most newsworthy plugin of the last six months – on more than one front. (If you know, you know.)
Other noteworthy plugins:
- Wordfence (a security guard for your site) and WP Rocket (a website performance plugin) – 8 mentions each.
- Rank Math and Yoast SEO – 7 each. These have become the two heavyweights fighting for your SEO love. Yoast has been here for years, sure, but Rank Math’s quick ascend cannot be ignored.
- Elementor (you know what it is), Gravity Forms (a form plugin with lots of features), and WooCommerce – 6 each.
- Classic Editor – 5 mentions. Tough luck, Gutenberg, I guess.
- ASE (Admin and Site Enhancements) and Perfmatters – 4 each.
Big names, small love:
- Jetpack got a whopping 0 mentions. (Yes, zero.)
- Akismet clocked in at 1 mention.
I’m not mentioning these two plugins just to pick on them, but I was just quite surprised that basically no one put them on their list even though they are both in the top three of the most popular WordPress plugins of all time.
Underrated gems
Not every plugin that made the list is a big brand name. Here are a couple that scored multiple mentions but might be missing from your standard “top 10” lists:
- ASE (Admin and Site Enhancements) – This one’s basically a multitool for your WordPress admin – handling everything from custom content types (akin to ACF) and media replacement, to reordering taxonomy terms, custom login pages, improved site security, and a ton of other small-yet-mighty features. Instead of installing 10 mini-plugins to tweak your admin, ASE lets you do it all under one roof. Dare I say it, it’s the kind of plugin Jetpack always wanted to be. 🙊
- Perfmatters – A really easy to use and simplistic performance plugin – offering a set of presets that you can pick from – toggle them on/off with a click. It disables scripts you don’t need, tackles bloat head-on, and more.
- Antispam Bee – Think of it as Akismet’s quieter cousin – less hype, more honey. Though, in all honestly, whether it’s going to work better than Akismet in your specific case is not a given. You’ll need to test it out.
- Query Monitor – Your secret weapon for debugging performance or plugin conflicts. A highly popular plugin among devs.
Full list of plugins
Here’s the entire list of all the plugins mentioned by users:
| Plugin | Count |
|---|---|
| ACF | 14 |
| Wordfence | 8 |
| WP Rocket | 8 |
| Rank Math | 7 |
| Yoast SEO | 7 |
| Elementor | 6 |
| Gravity Forms | 6 |
| LiteSpeed Cache | 6 |
| WooCommerce | 6 |
| Classic Editor | 5 |
| ASE | 4 |
| Perfmatters | 4 |
| All in One WP Migration | 3 |
| Contact Form 7 | 3 |
| SEOPress | 3 |
| UpdraftPlus | 3 |
| Antispam Bee | 2 |
| Breeze | 2 |
| Bricks Builder | 2 |
| Duplicate Post | 2 |
| Fluent Forms | 2 |
| Forminator | 2 |
| GenerateBlocks | 2 |
| Object Cache Pro | 2 |
| PostSMTP | 2 |
| Query Monitor | 2 |
| The SEO Framework | 2 |
| WP Umbrella | 2 |
| ActivityLog | 1 |
| AcyMailing | 1 |
| Admin Columns Pro | 1 |
| AffiliateWP | 1 |
| AIOSEO | 1 |
| Akismet | 1 |
| Back In Stock Notifier for WooCommerce | 1 |
| Breakdance | 1 |
| Brevo | 1 |
| Bricksforge | 1 |
| Code Snippets | 1 |
| Core Framework | 1 |
| Disable Gutenberg | 1 |
| Disable WP Updates | 1 |
| Duplicator | 1 |
| Easy Digital Downloads | 1 |
| Enable media replace | 1 |
| Everest Forms | 1 |
| FireBox | 1 |
| Flowmattic | 1 |
| Fluent SMTP | 1 |
| Fullworks Anti Spam | 1 |
| GeneratePress | 1 |
| Geordirectory | 1 |
| Git Updater | 1 |
| HCaptcha | 1 |
| IP Location Block | 1 |
| iThemes Security | 1 |
| Migrate DB Pro | 1 |
| OOPSpam | 1 |
| OptinMonster | 1 |
| Pods | 1 |
| Post Types Order | 1 |
| Redirection | 1 |
| Rollback | 1 |
| Seedprod | 1 |
| Shortcodes Ultimate | 1 |
| Slim SEO | 1 |
| SlimStat | 1 |
| SMTP | 1 |
| Solid Backups | 1 |
| Stop WP Emails Going to Spam | 1 |
| Super order bump for woocommerce | 1 |
| Superb Addons | 1 |
| SVG uploader | 1 |
| Tutor LMS | 1 |
| Uncanny Automator | 1 |
| White label CMS | 1 |
| WP Mail SMTP | 1 |
| WP Statistics | 1 |
| WpForms | 1 |
| WPGraphQL | 1 |
| Yodel Image - AI | 1 |
How to read these lists and why you should care
First, again, notice that Wordfence and WP Rocket rank high. People are hyper-focused on keeping sites fast and safe – and for a good reason! They also believe that these plugins are some of the top selections out there for those purposes. At least check them out.
Customization is king! ACF sitting at #1 and ASE popping up later on also underscores how important it is to tailor your backend to your needs, not just rely on an out-of-the-box WordPress install.
SEO is non-negotiable. You’ve got several SEO options (Yoast, Rank Math, SEOPress, The SEO Framework) that come up on the list. No matter which one you end up choosing, everyone agrees they can’t afford to choose none of them.
Sometimes the big names fade. Just because some plugin is hyper-popular, doesn’t mean that it has to make your must-have list. In fact, the bigger some plugin is, the more likely it is you’re going to find some good alternatives. Plus, it’s often better to go for a specialized tool to do precisely what you need – rather than getting a do-it-all plugin that might be heavier than you’d like.
Take action, too!
I have a challenge for you:
👉 Pick your own list of 5 can’t-live-without plugins!
Pretend you can only install five plugins on your site. Which ones survive the cut?
Doing this can help you weed out bloat, reduce plugin conflicts, and keep your website rocking.
At first, I get it, picking only five plugins is like choosing which five friends you’d take if you moved to a desert island. (It’s okay, the others can still visit…occasionally.) By focusing on what you truly need – speed, security, customization, essential SEO – you’ll keep your site lean, mean, and more manageable.
When you’re done with that, look through the list and look for your next hidden gem. If your current stack is feeling bloated, consider alternatives like Antispam Bee, Perfmatters, ASE or SEOPress (my fav for SEO). Sometimes smaller = faster, leaner, better. Have an open mind about lesser-known options.
For me, this Reddit thread shows that the biggest names aren’t always the ones people can’t live without. That’s a huge hint to explore beyond the mainstream. Who knows? You might find that one plugin that changes your entire WordPress game.
And perhaps most importantly, watch out for bloat! Install only what you need – and keep performance and speed top of mind. If your site is slowed by 20 random plugins, your visitors (and Google/ChatGPT search(?)) will go elsewhere.
Let me know what you think of these plugins and if any of them is on your can’t-live-without list.
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