{"id":96723,"date":"2024-02-09T14:30:19","date_gmt":"2024-02-09T12:30:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/themeisle.com\/blog\/?p=96723"},"modified":"2024-02-09T14:30:19","modified_gmt":"2024-02-09T12:30:19","slug":"wordpress-community-says-must-have-plugin-is","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themeisle.com\/blog\/wordpress-community-says-must-have-plugin-is\/","title":{"rendered":"We Asked 20 Members of the WordPress Community What Their Must-Have Plugin Is and Why"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Hello! Over recent years, we’ve had the pleasure of featuring a series of interviews on this blog, spotlighting awesome individuals from the WordPress community and beyond. If you haven’t had the chance to explore these conversations yet, we invite you to browse the archive here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

With this in mind, we’ve had the idea of doing a few roundups featuring some of the most popular questions from these interviews and the insightful answers people had for them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this inaugural roundup, we’ve selected a particularly intriguing question that we believe will pique your interest: “What\u2019s your favorite\/must-have WordPress plugin and why?<\/em>” \ud83d\ude0d This question, frequently asked in our interviews, stems from a genuine curiosity to delve deeper into our community’s preferences and understand the needs of its members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given that there are tens of thousands of WordPress plugins on the market, knowing everyone’s number-one choices is intriguing. Hoping you will find this topic as interesting as we do, we put together all the answers to this question in one single post. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before we show you the individual opinions, you might want to check out the summary table that we’ve put together based on the answers we got. As you’ll see, there’s one clear leader here:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Plugin<\/strong><\/th>\nMentions<\/strong><\/th>\nWhat it does<\/strong><\/th>\nActive installs<\/strong><\/th>\nRating<\/strong><\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Yoast SEO<\/a><\/td>\n6<\/td>\nMost popular SEO plugin<\/td>\nover 10 million<\/td>\n96%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
WooCommerce<\/a><\/td>\n1<\/td>\nTurns your site into an online store<\/td>\nover 7 million<\/td>\n90%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
BlogVault<\/a><\/td>\n1<\/td>\nBacks up your website’s content<\/td>\n80,000<\/td>\n90%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Advanced Custom Fields<\/a><\/td>\n1<\/td>\nFramework for working with custom fields<\/td>\nover 2 million<\/td>\n90%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Query Monitor<\/a><\/td>\n1<\/td>\nOffers debugging solutions for developers<\/td>\n200,000<\/td>\n98%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Plugin Notes<\/a><\/td>\n1<\/td>\nLets you add notes about your installed plugins<\/td>\n9,000<\/td>\n100%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Gravity Forms<\/a><\/td>\n1<\/td>\nAdvanced form builder<\/td>\nN\/A (premium plugin)<\/td>\nN\/A (premium plugin)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
ShortPixel<\/a><\/td>\n1<\/td>\nOptimizes your images<\/td>\n300,000<\/td>\n90%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Gutenberg<\/a><\/td>\n1<\/td>\nThe cutting-edge version of the block editor<\/td>\n300,000<\/td>\n42%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Jetpack<\/a><\/td>\n1<\/td>\nMulti-tool for security, speed, marketing, and more<\/td>\nover 3 million<\/td>\n76%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Masteriyo<\/a><\/td>\n1<\/td>\nA learning management system<\/td>\n4,000<\/td>\n96%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
WP Rocket<\/a><\/td>\n1<\/td>\nCaching plugin<\/td>\nN\/A (premium plugin)<\/td>\nN\/A (premium plugin)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Contextual Related Posts<\/a><\/td>\n1<\/td>\nDisplays a list of related posts<\/td>\n60,000<\/td>\n96%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Two Factor<\/a><\/td>\n1<\/td>\nEnables two-factor authentication<\/td>\n100,000<\/td>\n96%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
NitroPack<\/a><\/td>\n1<\/td>\nOptimizes your website’s speed<\/td>\n100,000<\/td>\n86%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
BBQ Firewall<\/a><\/td>\n1<\/td>\nA custom firewall<\/td>\n100,000<\/td>\n98%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Blackhole for Bad Bots<\/a><\/td>\n1<\/td>\nStops bad bots from accessing your site<\/td>\n30,000<\/td>\n94%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\t\t
<\/div>\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t \t
\n\t\t \t\t#WordPress community \ud83d\ude4b\u200d\u2642\ufe0f what their must-have #plugin is and why \ud83d\udd0c<\/a>\n\t\t \t<\/div>\n\t\t \t
\n\t\t \tClick To Tweet \n\t\t \t\t<\/span>\n\t\t \t<\/a>\n\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Here are our community’s favorite WordPress plugins, accompanied by explanations of how these tools prove beneficial to their businesses:<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s your favorite\/must-have WordPress plugin and why?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\"Andy<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Per Esbensen<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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The must-have WordPress plugin is WooCommerce<\/a>. This is the primary way to transform a website into a store. This potentiates a business.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\"Andy<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Adam Connell<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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I manage a fair few different sites. A bunch of them have different plugin combinations but the one plugin that never changes is BlogVault<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are plenty of other backup solutions on the market but I never have to worry about backups slowing down my site or taking ages to run \u2013 they\u2019re incremental and they run on BlogVault servers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s also a dashboard so I can manage all my sites from one location. Staging site creation, firewall, malware scanning, and an activity log.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One particularly neat feature is that I can test backups easily.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\"Andy<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Val Vesa<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Yoast SEO<\/a>. This needs no explanations.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\"Andy<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Tom Zsomborgi<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n

Yoast<\/a> is one of the plugins I always install and rely on. It\u2019s a must-have plugin, and they make it easy to optimize your content for search visibility. Besides the great product \u2014 both the free and premium versions are feature-packed \u2014 I like and support their approach on pushing WordPress PHP versions<\/a> always to the latest stable version. An up-to-date website can prevent users from so many headaches\u2026.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\"Andy<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Jeff Starr<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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I have two favorite plugins, both are my own creation: BBQ<\/a> and Blackhole for Bad Bots<\/a>. I am heavy into security, and these two plugins do an excellent job of providing a lightweight super-fast firewall and honeypot-style trap to stop bad bots.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\"Andy<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Nyasha Green<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Advanced Custom Fields<\/a>. It makes websites so much more user-friendly for clients. If I could name my first child Advanced Custom Fields, I would.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\"Andy<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Carrie Dils<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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It\u2019s hard to pair it down to one! I\u2019ll say my go-to for development is Query Monitor<\/a> and my go-to for site management is Plugin Notes<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\"Andy<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Miriam Schwab<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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I\u2019ve always been, and continue to be, a huge fan of Yoast SEO<\/a>. A site should be as optimized as possible and Yoast SEO is an amazing, forward-thinking tool that puts a lot of power in the hands of website managers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\"Andy<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Rahul Bansal<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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I do have favorite plugins across many categories, but I do not have a single plugin which is a must-have for all WordPress sites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yoast SEO<\/a> is good to have on any public sites that you care to show up in search engines, as well as share links on social media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For contact forms, Gravity Forms<\/a> has been my favorite plugin for more than a decade.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\"Andy<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Tess Coughlan<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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It\u2019s got to be an image compression plugin, Shortpixel<\/a> is a favourite with Atomic Smash! It makes a huge difference to site speed. As well as quicker load times, it also automatically serves up the correct image format (jpg\/webp\/avif) based on browser support.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\"Andy<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Tammie Lister<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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I really like using the Gutenberg<\/a> plugin as love running the latest there. That one feels an easy one though, if not that then honestly Jetpack<\/a> probably runs on most of my sites as it just works for me every single time \u2013 that to me is the sign of a great plugin.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\"Andy<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Sunita Rai<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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For a content creator, it\u2019s an excellent topic for a piece of content. I could write a whole article on this. Haha.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For now, I\u2019ll name two plugins \u2013 one my current favorite and one must-have plugin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My favorite plugin now is Masteriyo<\/a>, a WordPress LMS plugin to build and sell online courses. It\u2019s a product of ThemeGrill, where I currently work. My first impression of the plugin was that it\u2019s straightforward and anyone can use it confidently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many plugins in WordPress offer great features, but they turn me off instantly due to poorly designed user interface, lots of ads, and lazy speed. Masteriyo solves all of those problems with React JS integration and clean design.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019re currently using the plugin to power our employee training site. We have built online courses for onboarding new team members, training them about our products, and answering the most asked questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, let me share my must-have plugin; it\u2019s Yoast SEO<\/a>. An SEO plugin is essential for every content creator, and Yoast has been my favorite since the beginning. It offers simple yet best features to optimize WordPress sites. It\u2019s straightforward and not stuffed with too many features. That\u2019s what I like most about this plugin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are now great alternatives to Yoast<\/a>, like Rank Math, All in One SEO, and SEOPress. In fact, we\u2019re using Rank Math on some of our websites. But Yoast SEO is still my personal favorite as I believe it has done everything just right, nothing more and nothing less. My personal opinion, though.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\"Andy<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Pavel Ciorici<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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That\u2019s a tough question, because there are so many great plugins out there for WordPress! If I had to choose just one, I would say WP Rocket<\/a> is my must-have plugin. It\u2019s an incredibly powerful optimization plugin that I use on just about every website.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\"Andy<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Lindsey Miller<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Yoast<\/a>, we use it every single day at Content Journey. AND the pro version. We upgrade each of our clients, the features they get in pro make it worth it for the upgrade.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\"Andy<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Andy Crestodina<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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My current favorite is Contextual Related Posts<\/a>. Here\u2019s why:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We were doing a little research to learn what features are standard on blogs. So we reviewed a bunch of the top marketing blogs and wrote a report showing which features were the most popular. […] I realized that our own blog was missing something. 79% of blogs show related articles\u2026but ours did not. So we quickly did some research, found the Contextual plugin, and added it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\"Andy<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

David Artiss<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Two Factor<\/a>. Adding two-factor authentication is probably the best thing you can do for site security and this is a great solution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Security on WordPress is a much-discussed topic, but it doesn\u2019t have to be complex \u2013 for example, I steer away from the \u201call in one\u201d security plugins and stick to a number of simple plugins as well as a robust process (enforcing 2FA for all site users, for example).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\"Andy<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Maddy Osman<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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There are so many, but one that immediately comes to mind is NitroPack<\/a>. It\u2019s a simple solution for improving WordPress performance. Any website could benefit from something like this or similar.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

This concludes our community roundup on favorite WordPress plugins. Are any of the mentioned plugins part of your toolkit? Alternatively, if you have a favorite plugin that you’d like to share, we welcome your input in the comments section. We’re eager to hear your perspectives and insights on this topic.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n\t\t

<\/div>\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t \t
\n\t\t \t\t#WordPress community \ud83d\ude4b\u200d\u2642\ufe0f what their must-have #plugin is and why \ud83d\udd0c<\/a>\n\t\t \t<\/div>\n\t\t \t
\n\t\t \tClick To Tweet \n\t\t \t\t<\/span>\n\t\t \t<\/a>\n\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\n