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

• Akismet
• SI Captcha Anti-Spam
• Really Simple Captcha
• Spam Free WordPress
• Captcha
• WP-reCAPTCHA
• Bad Behavior

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.
• Facebook
• 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

 Twitter

• Tweetily
• Tweetable
• Twitter Tools
• Xhanch – My Twitter
• Twitter Widget Pro

 Available Elsewhere

• CiviCRM
• Simple:Press