Did you know that the best WordPress plugins are also free? One of the things I love about WordPress is that it is “plug and play”. If you want to add some extra features or functionality to your website, you can do so very easily by adding plugins from your WordPress dashboard.
Do you want to speed up your website? You can choose from several plugins which ‘cache’ your site so that it will load faster for visitors. Do you want to add a different font that’s not offered in your theme? Do all this and a lot more with plugins.
I’ve put together this list of the most useful plugins for WordPress. And they are all free. Some may have premium, paid versions, but you can usually get by just fine with the free version.
Jetpack
Jetpack from WordPress installs just like a single plugin but then you have access to a collection of add-ons. There are add-ons for stats, related posts, search engine optimization, social sharing, protection, backups, speed, email list management and more.
Antispam Bee
This plugin provides protection against spam including comment spam, trackback spam and privacy hints.
Alternative: Akismet (but it’s only free for personal sites users)
Easy Google Fonts
Ever get frustrated because the theme you are using has horrible fonts? This handy plugin enables you to add Google fonts to any theme without coding. It integrates with the WordPress Customizer to give you real-time live previews as you make changes.
WP Super Cache
This caching plugin speeds up your WordPress blog significantly. It generates html files that are served directly by Apache without processing comparatively heavy PHP scripts.
Alternative: W3 Total Cache
SumoMe
SumoMe is a suite of free tools that can be used to grow your website’s traffic. The most fundamental is the bar of sharing buttons that make it easy for people to share your posts with a single click. While there are premium versions, you can start out with free versions of the ,,,
AddFunc Head & Footer Code
There are times when you might need to add a snippet of code to the head section of your web site. For example, to verify ownership of your website for Google webmaster tools, or to add a Facebook Pixel used for tracking your audience and retargeting for advertising. With this plugin, you can add extra code to a single page, or your entire website.
Contact Form 7
Contact Form 7 is a plugin to help you put contact forms on your site. Simple, flexible and customizable.
Broken Link Checker
Are your visitors coming to your site from broken and out-of-date links and landing on 404 errors (page not found)? This plugin will find all of the broken links on your site so you can fix them.
Redirection
This plugin goes a step further than the Broken Link Checker. It will help you to keep track of 404 errors, manage 301 redirections, and tidy up any loose ends your site may have. This is particularly handy when you are migrating your website from one place to another, or changing your site or permalink structure.
Yoast SEO
Yoast SEO is a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) plugin. It provides real-time page analysis functionality that helps you optimize your pages content, images titles, meta descriptions and more. It also provides XML sitemap functionality.
Google Analytics for WordPress by MonsterInsights
This was formerly Google Analytics by Yoast before it was acquired by the team at WPBeginner. You should be using Google Analytics to monitor and measure your website. With this plugin, you don’t need to visit the Google Analytics site every time you want to check your stats. Instead, you can see many of your important analytics from inside your WordPress dashboard.
Editorial Calendar
The Editorial Calendar plugin makes it possible to see all your scheduled posts. Simply drag and drop to change things around and manage your blog.
iThemes Security
This plugin takes the guesswork out of WordPress security. iThemes Security offers 30+ ways to lock down WordPress in an easy-to-use WordPress security plugin.
Duplicator
Many bloggers fail to regularly back up their website. With this plugin, you can duplicate, clone, backup, move and transfer an entire site from one location to another.
Cookie Law Info
A simple way to show how your website complies with the EU Cookie Law. Implied Consent. Style it to match your own website.
