Post Published on January 28, 2013.
Last Updated on October 4, 2020 by davemackey.
Introduction
I like to categorize and organize. So what did I do? I reviewed the first one hundred pages of plugins on WordPress’ Plugin Directory ordered by most popular. From the first number of pages I included essentially every plugin (categorized), but as I moved through additional pages, I included only those which seemed to be interesting, unique, or well-known in some way. Here is the result. I hope you find it useful as you determine what plugins you will install in your WordPress instance.
Those plugins which I use regularly I’ve bolded. Those which I have used regularly in the past I’ve italicized.
Anti-Spam
Forms
- Contact Form 71I used this before Jetpack came along and offered bundled Contact Forms.
- Fast Secure Contact Form
- Contact Form
- Contact Form DB
- Custom Contact Forms
- Easy Contact Forms
- Formidable Forms
- Visual Form Builder
- WordPress Form Manager
- Ninja Forms
- Slick Contact Forms
- Contact Form Manager
SEO
- Google XML Sitemaps
- WordPress SEO by Yoast
- All in One SEO Pack
- Seo Ultimate
- SEO Smart Links
- Add Meta Tags
- Google Sitemap Plugin
- SEO Friendly Images
- All in One Webmaster
- Platinum SEO Pack
- HeadSpace2 SEO
- AuthorSure
- Automatic SEO Links
- SEO Auto Links & Related Posts
Social Media Sharing
- Social Media Widget
- Shareaholic2I used this before Jetpack provided social sharing.
- WP to Twitter3I used this before Jetpack provided integrating sharing to Facebook and Twitter.
- Really Simple Facebook Twitter Share Buttons
- AddThis4I had used this in the past, but had replaced it with ShareThis, etc.
- NextScripts
- Add Link to Facebook
- WP Socializer
- ShareThis5I used this before Jetpack provided integrated sharing.
- Facebook Like Button Plugin
- Facebook Comments
- Sociable
- Social
- Floating Social Media Icon
- WP-Email
Multiple
- Jetpack by WordPress.com
Import/Export
- WordPress Importer
Images
- NextGen Gallery (see also NextGEN Gallery Optimizer)
- Lightbox Plus
- WP Photo Album Plus
- Gallery
- Lightbox Gallery
- jQuery Colorbox
- Grand FIAGallery
- Image Widget
- WOW Slider
- Easing Slider
- Slideshow Gallery
Audio/Video
- Viper’s Video Quicktags
- Smart YouTube Pro
- Blubrry PowerPress Podcasting Plugin
- JW Player for WordPress
- Embed Plus
- MediaElement.js
- WordPress Video Plugin
- Video Embed & Thumbnail Generator
- S0undCloud Shortcode
Administrative
- Broken Link Checker
- Advanced Custom Fields
- All in One Favicon
- WP Maintenance Mode
- Regenerate Thumbnails
- AdMinimize
- Enable Media Replace
- WP-DBManager
- Postie
- ManageWP Worker
- WP-Optimize
- Duplicator
- Thank Me Later
- CloudFlare
- Duplicate Posts
- DB Toolkit
- Admin Menu Editor
- OptionTree
- WP Robots Txt
- Use Google Libraries
- P3 (Plugin Performance Profiler)
- Add From Server
- InfiniteWP Client
- Front-end Editor
- Plugin Organizer
- Kontrol Developer Kit
- Configure SMTP
- One Click Close Comments
- Custom Post Type UI
- Editorial Calendar
- Peter’s Login Redirect
- WordPress MU Domain Mapping
- SB Welcome Email Editor
- Peter’s Collaboration E-mails
- OpenHook
- Bulk Delete
- underConstruction
- Co-Authors Plus
- Simple URLs
- One-Click Child Theme
- wp-FileManager
- After the Deadline
- Peter’s Post Notes
- User Switching
- Advanced Excerpt
- Ultimate Coming Soon Page
- Redirection
- WP Mail SMTP
Statistics
- Google Analytics for WordPress6I still use this on occasion, but WordPress stats included in Jetpack are usually sufficient for me.
- Google Analytics
- Google Analyticator
- WP-SlimStat
- WP-PostViews
WYSIWYG Editor
- Ultimate TinyMCE
- TinyMCE Advanced
- Black Studio TinyMCE Widget
- CKEditor for WordPress
Performance
- W3 Total Cache
- WP Super Cache
- Quick Cache
- WP Smush.it
- Hyper Cache
- BJ Lazy Load
- WP-Minify
Add-On Functionality
- BuddyPress
- bbPress
- WP-Ecommerce
- WooCommerce
- The Events Calendar
- Ready! eCommerce Shopping Cart
- Events Manager
- Polldaddy Polls & Ratings
- WP-Polls
- All-in-One Event Calendar
- eShop
- Connections
- Link Library
- Another WordPress Classifieds Plugin
- Ajax Event Calendar
- Calendar
- JigoShop
- Mingle Forum
- WordPress Poll
- easyReservations
- GigPress
- WP-CRM
- CataBlog
- WP-Invoice
- Participants Database
- Q and A
- Business Directory Plugin
- Booking Calendar
- wpsc Support Tickets
- ClickDesk Live Support
- Quick Chat
- Event Organiser
- Seriously Simple Podcasting
- RSVP Plugin
- ComicEASEL
- Webcomic
- Yet Another Photoblog
- WordPress Simple PayPal Shopping Cart
- WP Symposium
- Job Manager
- WP-Property
- Gravity Forms Directory
Security
- Wordfence Security
- Bulletproof Security
- Better WP Security
- AntiVirus
- Timthumb Vulnerability Scanner
- Login LockDown
- WordPress HTTPS
- No Right Click Images Plugin
Customize Look & Feel
- WP-PageNavi
- WordPress Related Posts
- Display Widgets
- Yet Another Related Posts Plugin
- List Category Posts
- Widget Logic
- WP Google Fonts
- Options Framework
- Breadcrumb NavXT
- WP-PostRatings
- GD Star Rating
- Custom Meta Widget
- Theme My Login
- Special Recent Posts
- Crayon Syntax Highlighter
- MaxButtons
- Theme-Check
- Infinite-Scroll
- WP No Category Base
- Post Layout
- Background Manager
- Gantry Template Framework
- Dynamic “To Top” Plugin
- WordPress Post Tabs
- Collapse-O-Matic
- WP-Paginate
Membership/Roles
- s2Member Framework
- User Role Editor
- Role Scoper
- Members
- Advanced Access Manager
- Simple Facebook Connect
- Google Authenticator
- Social Login
- WordPress Social Login
- Social Login & Social Sharing by JanRain
- User Access Manager
- WP-Members
Comments
- Disqus Comment System
- CommentLuv7I’m not sure if I will continue using this plugin.
- Disable Comments
- WP Ajax Edit Comments
- IntenseDebate Comments
- LiveFyre Realtime Comments
Monetization
- AdRotate
- QuickAdsense
- WP125
- Adsense Insert
- AdSense Manager
- Affiliates
- Ad Injection
- Easy Adsense
- Adsense Extreme
- Ad Squares Widget
- Ad Codes Widget
- Ads Manager WP/BB
- Amazon Product in a Post Plugin
- Amazon Link
- Simple Ads Manager
- Google AdSense Plugin
- Easy Ads
- Paid Memberships Pro
- AdSense Now!
- Easy Digital Downloads
- AdSense
- PayPal Donations
- WP Auto Affiliate Links
- Adminer
- WP-Insert
Backup
- UpDraft Plus Backup
- Online Backup for WordPress
- BackWPup
- WordPress Backup to Dropbox
- BackUpWordPress
- WP-DB-Backup
- Simple Backup
Page Management
- CMS Tree Page View
- Post Types Order
- Quick Page/Post Redirect Plugin
- Exclude Pages
- Related Posts
- WordPress Popular Posts
- Google Doc Embedder
- Advanced Page Manager
- Simple Page Ordering
- My Page Order
- 404-to-start
Mobile
- UppSite
- WordPress Mobile Pack
Newsletters
- Wysija Newsletters
- Constant Contact for WordPress
- Subscribe28This has been replaced by Jetpack’s functionality.
- MailChimp List Subscribe Form
- Newsletter
- Newsletter Sign-Up
Downloads
- WordPress Download Monitor
- WordPress Download Manager
- WP-Filebase Download Manager
Other
- MapPress Easy Google Maps
- Comprehensive Google Map Plugin
- WP Google Maps
- Leaflet Maps Marker
- Print Friendly and PDF Button
- WP-Print
- Pretty Link Lite
- Meteor Slides
- WPtouch
- Page Links To
- Social Slider
- FeedWordPress
- Types
- Relevanssi
- Advanced Code Editor
- White Label CMS
- Google Calendar Events
- Groups
- Portfolio
- Liveblog
- Strictly Auto Tags
- Magic Fields 2
- More Fields
- Custom Field Template
Multilingual
- qTranslate
- Transposh WordPress Translation
PHP
- Exec-PHP
- PHP Code Widget
- Shortcode Exec PHP
- Allow PHP in Posts and Pages
Post Enrichment
- Free Stock Photos Foter
- Contextual Related Posts
- Table of Contents Plus
- Attachments
- Compfight
- Editorial Assistant by Zemanta
Gamification
- CubePoints
- Achievements for WordPress
- Tweetily
- Tweetable
- Twitter Tools
- Xhanch – My Twitter
- Twitter Widget Pro
Available Elsewhere
- CiviCRM
- Simple:Press