Here you are searching for the must-have WordPress Plugins. Isn’t it? You have landed exactly in the right place. We have listed the best free plugins for WordPress in this post that you should have on your website. All the plugins listed here are verified and tested properly by our experts.
No matter what niche we have, All of us want to improve the speed, security, conversion rate, etc. In fact, these are the basic requirements of any site that you manage.
The official WordPress Plugin directory contains more than 58,705 plugins. So, how to choose the plugins needed for your business?
There may be lots of doubts as well as confusion if you are a beginner to WordPress.
This post will give you a clear concept about the best WordPress plugins which you can use on your site. Also, we have listed Alternative plugins that you can use in case if you want to choose from the available options.
By the time you read this post, you should already have a clear concept of What is a WordPress Plugin
Best Free WordPress Plugins for Email and Newsletters
Not only email and newsletters help in marketing products but also it increases the conversion rate. We are discussing one of the best free WordPress plugins for this purpose.
Email Subscribers and Newsletters
It helps you to collect lead as well as send blog post notification emails. You can manage, create and send broadcasts all from the single place. Without a doubt, it’s a great plugin for website owners. Email Subscribers is a free WordPress plugin that allows you to create beautiful newsletters within a moment of time. Furthermore, you can add infographics, images or links to make the newsletter engaging.
Apart from all, the support team is really helpful if you face any issues in the plugin. You can add shortcodes for any posts or pages with the help of Email Subscribers. It is simply one of the best ways to build an email list on your own site.
Key Features:
- Subscription Box
- Email Notification
- Import/Export Contact Emails
- HTML editor
Is the premium version available?
No
Alternative Plugins:
Best Free WordPress Plugins for Form Builder
Whatever the niche of your website is, you need a form builder to build a marketing strategy or to engage with your audience.
WPForms
It is the best online form builder in WordPress. You can create contact forms, payment forms, online surveys, newsletter signup forms, polls or any other forms with the help of WP Forms.
It is built on drag and drop interface which can build a form without writing any code. WPForms Lite is one of the must-have plugins for WordPress. It includes pre-made form templates which let you create a simple contact form with different features. Pro version has additional features like conversational forms, landing pages, smart conditional logic and many more. The proper use of WP forms helps boost your online store by improving the conversations with your customers.
Key Features:
- Drag and Drop Form Builder
- Multiple Addons including Mailchimp, Stripe, and Paypal
- Smart Conditional Logic
- Constant Contact Integration
- Responsive Mobile Friendly
- Instant Notifications
Does it have a premium version?
Yes, the premium versions have different plans Basic, Plus, Pro and Elite.
Alternative Plugins:
Best Free WordPress Plugins for Redirection
When you land on the missing page on the website, it is because of broken links. The internal or external links in your site may be broken and you may not notice that.
Broken Link Checker
Sometimes this becomes a serious SEO issue when you have a vulnerable theme. As far as SEO is concerned, the broken link gives a negative impact and creates the worst impression among users. If the broken links are not corrected in time, you will lose your possible customers.
Broken Link Checker helps you to catch all these links and fix them automatically. This is one of the must-have WordPress plugins that helps you to fix broken links that appear in pages, posts, images and in other locations. Not only it searches and filter links by URL but also blocks search engines from following broken links. You will be notified either by email or dashboard when the plugin searches error on your site. Thus, it helps to reduce WordPress Vulnerability.
Key Features:
- Controls Search Engine
- Automatic Scans
- Notifications
Is the premium version available?
No
Alternative Plugins:
Best Free WordPress Plugins for GDPR
Do you have a GDPR plugin on your site?
Here is the one you may be looking for.
GDPR Cookie Consent
In the wake of the GDPR, it’s important to comply with the law if your website in any way deals with the personal data of EU citizens. Website cookies can be a real challenge in ensuring the compliance of your website. With the GDPR Cookie consent plugin, you can make it fairly easy with its powerful set of features.
Key Features:
- Display a cookie banner/cookie notice on your website with Accept and Reject buttons.
- Customize cookie banner.
- Cookie Audit module.
- Assistance in CCPA compliance (Do Not Sell My Personal Information)
- Privacy policy templates
- Automatic script blocking of popular third-party plugins.
Does it have a premium version?
The plugin’s premium version comes with additional features such as automatic cookie scan, Geo IP-based cookie notice exclusion, cookie consent recording, and more.
Alternative Plugins:
Best Free WordPress Plugins for Performance and Optimization
It helps you to increase the performance of your website and optimize your site. Additionally, you can improve the metrics shown by various online tools for speed and performance.
Autoptimize
As the name suggests, Autoptimize optimizes your site. The SEO of your site will face your problem if your website is slow.
You will find the options to optimize HTML, CSS, and JS once you install and activate the plugin. Autoptimize is a free plugin with more than a million active installations. With its help, you can not only minify the scripts but also cache them and bundle them together. You can combine and load Google fonts asynchronously as well as enable lazy-loading for the images which causes a positive impact on website speed.
Not only you can minify CSS but also set options like aggregate, inline and defer. Furthermore, there are options for JS to load early or late to prevent render-blocking. It is active for logged on editors/administrators by default.
Key Features:
- Optimize and lazy-load images
- Optimize Google Fonts
- Async non-aggregated JavaScript
- Removes WordPress core emoji
Does it have a premium version?
You can purchase the Autoptimize power-ups and related services to optimize more.
Jetpack
A free plugin with CDN that delivers your photos and static files after optimization. These files include CSS and JS. Moreover, it accelerates your site and not only reduces load time but also saves the bandwidth of your host. You will be able to deliver your content from high-speed data centers.
These data centers are across different geographic locations. So, these distributed data centers increase download speed. Furthermore, saving bandwidth results in reducing the hosting costs of your server.
Jetpack enhances site security with Brute force attack protection, downtime monitoring, and spam filtering. Not only it has a powerful customization interface but also it gives site stats and analytics. So. it is one of the must-have plugins for WordPress.
Key Features:
- Image CDN
- Video CDN
- Resizes and Lazy Loading Images
- Free Site Accelerator
- Unlimited files
Is the premium version available?
Yes, you can upgrade it to Personal, Premium and Professional versions.
Alternative Plugins:
Best Free WordPress Plugins for SEO
Have you been looking for the plugin to make your website search engine friendly?
Have you used any SEO plugin before?
Here is the answer to all the questions.
Yoast SEO
If you want to transfer to Yoast, then you can save time as you can import SEO settings. All you have to do is check the appropriate options before importing. You can verify your site with tools like Alexa, Google Search Console, Yandex/Bing Webmaster tools inside the settings if you haven’t done that yet.
You can edit meta SEO box in all posts and pages to set custom title tags, meta descriptions, meta robot tags, open graph, and canonicals. It also tells you the optimization level of post or page to the target keyword. The readability analysis gives you an idea of whether or not your content is readable. It also checks your subheading distribution, sentence length, etc.
In addition to this, you can set up to 5 focus keywords in the premium version. Other features like Redirect Manager, Internal Link Suggestions, Ad-free and Customer Support for a year are available with the premium version. The free version is also good for content optimization and other general features.
Key Features:
- Readability Analysis
- Cornerstone Content
- Snippet Preview
- Breadcrumbs and XML Sitemap
- Redirect Manager (Premium Feature)
Can we purchase the premium version?
Yes, you can upgrade to the premium version as well.
Alternative Plugins:
Best Free WordPress Plugins for Security
Not only you have to keep your site secure from hackers but also from malicious bots. Your website may be vulnerable because of these attacks. So, you should always check your site for possible spams and keep your website secure. There are security plugins available in WordPress to do these tasks.
Wordfence Security
The plugin has features like live traffic monitoring, blocking, login security, Firewall protection, malware scan and much more. If you need a solution to monitor real-time traffic including various components then it is probably the solution for you. When you monitor the real-time traffic then you know how secure your website is and can plan accordingly.
In addition to this, it blocks entire malicious networks and suspicious activities quickly and efficiently. The blocking is based on pattern matching and IP ranges. It also helps to stop brute force attacks permanently with the help of two-factor Authentication.
Key Features:
- Leaked Password Protection
- Advanced Manual Blocking
- Two-Factor Authentication
- Repair Files
- Country Blocking (Premium Feature)
Is there a premium version?
Yes
Alternative Plugins:
Best Free WordPress Plugins for Analytics
This plugin will show you various statistics that help you to track the growth of your website. Google Analytics is a free tool provided by Google to monitor and study website traffic. So, the Google analytics plugin is one of the must-have WordPress plugins on your website.
MonsterInsights
Not only MonsterInsights help to make analytics easy but also it makes accessible for the website owners. The insights help small businesses to grow when they work towards their targeted traffic. Furthermore, the report helps to make data-driven decisions. It has enhanced eCommerce tracking which lets you track users around your online store. It helps you to track users across devices and platforms with universal tracking. Also, the publishers can track the performance of their Google Ads with Ads tracking addon.
In addition to this, there are other features like affiliate link tracking, events tracking, performance tracking and much more.
Key Features:
- Universal Tracking
- Ecommerce Tracking
- Ads and Affiliate Link Tracking
- AMP tracking
- Form Conversion Tracking
Can you purchase the premium version?
Yes
Alternative Plugins:
Best Free WordPress Plugins for Backup
You need to keep a regular backup of your website as a measure of safety from accidental changes. With Jetpack in VaultPress, it allows you to sync content, post, media files. It is a security scanning service that protects you from hackers, malware, host outages, and accidental damages.
VaultPress
It is a regular backup solution for your website with an advantage of easy restoration. As it performs the security scans daily, so it helps to review and fix threats. It emails the threats to the administrator whenever it encounters the vulnerable files. After that, you can review and manage your website based on their recommendations.
Akismet support provides anti-spam tools that ensure strong spam protection. Akismet checks and filters the spam comments. The multiple subscriptions allow you to manage multiple websites with a single dashboard. All in all, the support team is praised for its active and helpful records.
Key Features:
- Daily and Real-Time Backups
- Powered by Jetpack
- Akismet Support
- Backup serves as an effective WordPress Services
Does it have a premium version?
Available in both Free and Premium Versions.
Alternative Plugins:
Best Free WordPress Plugins for Social Media
When content is shared on social media, then the amount of visitors increases. It boosts the traffic of the website if the content is genuine. Social Media has been a medium to obtain various news and pieces of information. Whether it’s content marketing or link building, social media has become popular in recent days.
Ultimate Social Media Icons
Social Media Marketing(SMM) can be done with the help of must-have plugins for WordPress like Social Media Share Buttons & Social Sharing Icons. It is available for free from which you can add different social media icons. You can also upload custom share icons. In addition to this, several actions can be done with the help of a single social media share icon. The icons can be added with a beautiful animation which increases the possibility of an icon to be active.
With the premium features, you will get coverage to many more social networks. It has customization options for various features which is simple and easy to use.
Key Features:
- Animated Icons
- Responsive Icons
- Optimized for Speed
- GDPR Compliant
- Tons of settings & options
Can you purchase the premium version?
Yes
Alternative Plugins:
Best Free WordPress Plugins for eCommerce
WordPress Plugins for eCommerce and online stores are very demanding nowadays. Out of the available ones, WooCommerce is undoubtedly the best free WordPress Plugin for eCommerce.
WooCommerce
Whether you want to create an online store or you want to sell your products, WooCommerce is the solution. If you have created the website with the purpose of eCommerce, sooner or later you will need this plugin. It has features that will practically help to grow your store.
The product with different variations, whether it’s physical or digital can be sold with WooCommerce. Furthermore, you can also sell affiliate goods. It accepts alternative payment methods, major credit cards, bank transfer and cash on delivery as well. You can use different extensions to add the features and functionality of your store.
Key Features:
- WordPress Integration(WordPress Professionals love it)
- Comprehensive Payment Options
- Ship Locally and Globally
- Customize your store
- Control your data
Can you purchase the premium version?
Yes, you can pay for commercial extensions.
Alternative Plugins:
Best Free WordPress Plugins for User Registration
User registration can be enabled in WordPress in order to increase engagement with your site members. It is especially helpful to create a registration form for payments, login forms or any other purposes.
Ultimate Member
The main use of this plugin is to create advanced online communities and membership sites. It adds eye-catching user profiles to your site which urges users to sign-up to your site. The users can join and become a member of your site with its help.
Its free version is one of the must-have WordPress plugins with lots of features. Furthermore, the paid extension extends the power of the plugin. There are basic free extensions as well.
Key Features:
- Front-end user profiles
- Front-end user registration
- Drag and drop form builder
- Content Restriction
- Developer Friendly
Is the premium version available?
Yes, you need to pay for premium extensions.
Alternative Plugins:
Best Free WordPress Plugins for Search
Users on the website require effective search solutions on your website. Comparatively, a better search engine integration is preferrable than the standard WordPress search.
Relevanssi
It has a list of features with different configurations. In fact, the results will look better with this plugin. There are added features in its premium version. However, its drawback is that it requires a big database space.
As a result, it cannot be recommended if the hosting has a limited amount of space. In such a case, there may be a problem.
Key Features:
- Relevance Sorted Order
- Fuzzy matching
- Advanced Filtering
- Gutenberg friendly & Performs best with Gutenberg Compatible WordPress Themes
- Log queries
Is there a premium version?
Yes
Alternative Plugins:
Best Free WordPress Plugins for Coming Soon Page
You can jumpstart to the coming soon pages with SeedProd.
Does a coming soon page matter?
Yes, it does.
SeedProd Coming Soon Page
A professional coming soon page is the solution to collect emails from your potential subscribers. You can build social followings to ensure that your visitors return when you launch your page.
There is no excuse if you forget to create a coming soon page. Probably, you can make a good impression before a big launch for your brand with it. All in all, everyone recommends a professional coming soon page for lead generation. This plugin saves your time to create a page.
Key Features:
- Realtime Page Builder
- Multilingual and GDPR Ready
- Social Sharing and Referral Tracking
- Free Images, Fonts, and Themes
Can you purchase the premium version?
You can upgrade to Basic, Plus or Pro versions.
Alternative Plugins:
Best Free WordPress Plugins for Content Management
The management of a content calendar can be solved by must-have WordPress plugins like Scheduled Posts. When working with multiple authors, it can really be a challenging task.
WP Scheduled Posts
This plugin helps to plan your content management strategy with an editorial calendar. It includes various options for scheduling and sharing content.
To note whether or not an individual author is following the dates or other updates is necessary. WP Schedule Posts has a schedule calendar with a drag and drop interface.
It forces the post in a queue to be posted automatically. It manages multiple posts and authors in one place.
Key Features:
- Schedule Calendar
- Auto Scheduler
- Auto Social Sharing
- Missed Schedule Handler
Is the premium version available?
You can upgrade to their premium plans if needed.
Alternative Plugins:
Best Free WordPress Plugins for Migration
The migration of the WordPress site is important when you want to shift from one server to another. Before you start the migration, you need to check WordPress version (update to the latest version). WP Migration helps to export your WordPress database including the media files, plugins, and themes.
All-in-One WP Migration
You do not require any technical knowledge to perform this operation. You can upload your file to a new location with a simple drag and drop interface.
During the export process, you can perform an unlimited number of find and replace operations. If the serialization problems occur, the plugin will fix it. It makes WP Migration one of the must-have WordPress plugins among the entire list of plugins.
Key Features:
- Bypass All Upload Size Restrictions
- Zero Dependencies
- MYSQL and MYSQLI Support
- No limitations on host /Operating System
Is there a premium version?
Yes
Alternative Plugins:
Wrapping Up
Furthermore, you can also check the Best Free WooCommerce Plugins to add the plugins needed for an eCommerce store. If you know any outstanding plugin that is not listed above, you may comment on this post.
Transfers to New Servers — If you want to move your website to another server, you can use the built-in import tool and transfer all your snippets along with your website. Need to redirect some URLs on your site? Redirection, the best WordPress redirection plugin, is a good choice since it rakes in over 1 million active installs. No matter how many URLs you need to change, this free plugin can help, all without having any technical knowledge.
Here is the list of SEO plugins for WordPress.
Now, are you trying to increase organic traffic on your website? There are tons of WordPress plugins you can use to help you with search engine optimization (SEO).
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