WordPress, which started as just a blogging system, has evolved to be used as full content management system (CMS). A fresh installation of WordPress is just enough to get going but eventually you would need to install plugins to extend the functionality of the WordPress. WordPress is Open-Source and there are thousands of plugins and widgets and themes available to extend the functionality of WordPress, some of which are free and some are premium ( paid).
In this post, we shall discuss some of the must-have Free WordPress plugins necessary to get going with any WordPress sites.
If you have been a blogger or a website maintainer, then you would have experience on spams. It is mind boggling. So installing anti-spam plugins is one of the first things one should do before or shortly after the site is live.
Here are some must have free plugins for any WordPress websites:
1) Antispam Bee (Spam Protection / No Captcha)
Say Goodbye to comment spam on your WordPress blog or website. Antispam Bee blocks spam comments and trackbacks effectively and without captchas. It is free of charge, ad-free and compliant with European data privacy standards. – Antispam Bee
Check out detailed features and download Antispam Bee here.
2) Captcha by BestWebSoft (Spam Protection / Captcha)
Captcha plugin by BestWebSoft protects your WordPress website forms from spam entries by means of math logic. It can be used for login, registration, password recovery, comments and popular contact forms.
Check out detailed features and download Captcha by BestWebSoft here.
If you would like to use Google’s reCaptcha, then you can also install Google Captcha (reCAPTCHA) by BestWebSoft
3) ContactForm7 (Contact Forms)
Contact Forms are another essential feature to include on WordPress website to let readers get in touch with you. While there are so many contact form plugins on WordPress, the most popular among them is Contact Form 7. It is really easy to setup and use contact forms using Contact Form 7.
Check out detailed features and download ContactForm7
4) Duplicator (WordPress Backup / Migration Plugin)
Duplicator (WordPress Backup / Migration Plugin) is a must have WordPress plugin which will assist you with WordPress migration from one server to another. Whether you want to upload your WordPress website from your development computer to live server or from one server to another,
Duplicator (WordPress Backup / Migration Plugin) will be handy for you.
Duplicator (WordPress Backup / Migration Plugin) features:
- Move, migrate or clone a WordPress site between domains or hosts
- Pull down a live site to localhost for development
- Manually backup a WordPress site or parts of a site
- Duplicate a live site to a staging area or vice versa
- Bundle up an entire WordPress site for easy reuse or distribution
- Perform a full WordPress migration without struggling with messy import/export sql scripts
Check out detailed features and download Duplicator
5) Regenerate Thumbnails (Media)
Sometimes, the image we upload for use on WordPress site may be much, much larger than what will be actually required for display. Regenerate Thumbnails regenerates the thumbnails of image attachments. This is very handy if thumbnail dimensions have been changed (via Settings -> Media) after previously uploading images or if we have changed to a theme with different featured post image dimensions. It can regenerate the thumbnails for all image uploads, individual image uploads, or specific multiple image uploads.
Check out detailed features and download Regenerate Thumbnails
Easy FancyBox provides flexible and aesthetic light box solution for just about all media links on your website. After activation, all links to JPG, GIF and PNG images are automatically opened in the FancyBox Mac/Gnome-style lightbox that floats over the web page. Easy FancyBox uses the packed FancyBox jQuery extension and is WP 3+ Multi-Site compatible.
Check out detailed features and download Easy FancyBox
7) Display Widgets (Widgets Management)
We all have one widget or the other on WordPress website. And some of these widgets are displayed on some pages, some are not. For example, a “latest post” widget may be displayed in the sidebar of a blog article so that readers can easily navigate to another article by clicking on the “latest post” widget. But we may not want to display the “latest post” widget on the contact form or home page.
Display Widgets helps in managing widgets easily – either show or hide the widgets on every site page. Great for avoiding extra coding and keeping your sidebars clean.
Check out detailed features and download Display Widgets
This plugin allows administrators to globally disable comments on any post type (posts, pages, attachments, etc.) so that these settings cannot be overridden for individual posts. It also removes all comment-related fields from edit and quick-edit screens. On multi-site installations, it can be used to disable comments on the entire network.
This plugin is to be used if you don’t want comments at all on your site (or on certain post types). Don’t use it if you want to selectively disable comments on individual posts
Check out detailed features and download Disable Comments
If you need an SEO plugin for WordPress, get Yoast SEO. Period.
Yoast SEO displays the snippet preview, and you can see what your post or page will look like in the search results, whether your title is too long or too short, and whether your meta description makes sense in the context of a search result. The plugin will help you not only increase rankings but also increase the click through rate for organic search results.
Check out detailed features and download Yoast SEO
If you are not satisfied with Yoast SEO WordPress plugin, you may also try Rank Math WordPress plugin.
10) Jetpack By WordPress.com (Multiple Features)
Jetpack by WordPress.com is another must have plugin on WordPress sites. The plugin description says:
The one plugin you need for stats, related posts, search engine optimization, social sharing, protection, backups, speed, and email list management.
It is a multi function plugin which includes the following tool all in one.
- Traffic and SEO Tools, Security and Backup Services, Content Creation, Discussion and Community
Most of the Jetpack features are free and some are paid features. The free services are broadly classified into:
- Standard Security Tools
- Site Stats and Analytics
- Traffic and Promotion Tools
- Centralized Dashboard
Some useful features of Jetpack includes:
- Related posts
- Carousels, slideshows, and tiled galleries
- Simple embeds from YouTube, Google Documents, Spotify and more – if you like to embed stuffs
- Comment login with Facebook, Twitter, and Google
- Fully-customizable contact forms
Check out detailed features and download Jetpack By WordPress.com
11) Yet Another Related Posts Plugin (YARPP) (Related Posts )
Related posts shows, as the name says, related content on a particular post. Related posts feature is also included in Jetpack plugin, but if you are not using Jetpack, also try Yet Another Related Posts Plugin (YARPP).
Yet Another Related Posts Plugin (YARPP) displays pages, posts, and custom post types related to the current entry, introducing your readers to other relevant content on your site.
Check out detailed features and download Yet Another Related Posts Plugin (YARPP)
12) Sumome (Site Promotion/Marketing)
Sumome has cool tools bundled in one plugin. It has all you need for link building, site promotion, lead generation, social sharing etc. The following are the core features of Sumome:
- List Builder
- Share Tool
- Call to action
- Heat Maps
- Click to Tweet
- Image Sharer
Check out detailed features and download Sumome
13) AddThis (Social Sharing Tool)
If you need a separate plugin for Social Media sharing, then AddThis is all you need. Using AddThis, you can easily share your content to the popular social networks, including Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and more. You can also choose whether to display these share buttons on your homepage, category page, archive page, and other WordPress pages or posts. AddThis doesn’t just provide social sharing buttons but also provide targeting, analytic and targeting features.
From my experience, WordPress AddThis plugin works well. However, if you are facing some challenges you can also setup from Addthis.com yourself and implement the code provided by AddThis.
Check out detailed features and download AddThis
14) TablePress (Tables in WordPress Content)
Most WordPress sites need to use tables, but no doubt tables help display information more organized. If you need tables, TablePress is a must-have plugin for your WordPress site.
TablePress can easily create and manage beautiful tables, and can embed the tables into posts, pages, or text widgets with a simple Shortcode. Tables can be imported and exported from/to Excel, CSV, HTML, and JSON files.
Check out detailed features and download TablePress
15 ) Cookie Law Info (Cookie Law Compliance)
Once a WordPress is live, the website may be visited by users from anywhere in the world. “EU Cookie” compliance is advised. Services like Google Adsense also requires EU Cookie law compliance. Here is a link to EU Cookie Law explained.
There are various plugins out there to add Cookie Law compliance information display and consent. Among them “Cookie Law Info” plugin is one which is easy to configure and use. This plugin uses implied consent, adding a subtle banner to your website either in the header or footer, the style is fully customizable so it fits in with your existing website.
Check out detailed features and download Cookie Law Info
16) Huge IT Responsive Slider (Sliders)
Sliders add appeal to websites and also adds aesthetics to website look and feel. Creating sliders with Huge-IT slider plugin is easy – add images from computer, and upload a bunch of new images from Media Library at once. Arrange the Slider according to your taste easily by drag and drop function.
- Add titles and descriptions to the sliders
- Clickable buttons to link to content
- Auto generated shortcodes for making it easier to add it to the custom location
- Supports Images and Videos from YouTube and Vimeo
Check out detailed features and download Huge IT Responsive Slider
The list of plugins above are the most basic ‘must have WordPress plugins’ one might need to add basic functionality your WordPress website to get going. There could be more plugin requirements based on functionality required out of WordPress website.
What are your must have free WordPress plugins for your WordPress website?
Do let us know in the comments.
