The best WordPress plugins 2022

The open-source software WordPress is among the best content management solutions available worldwide. The CMS lets you create your own blog and build a well-designed website with little to no previous knowledge and low time investments. Part of what makes the former blog software so popular, despite its wide range of feature, is its large pool of available plugins.

Description

Developer

WordPress Version

(Active) installation

Cost

Akismet

Protection against spam comments

Automatic

5.0+

5+ million

From $9 / month

All In One WP Security & Firewall

Comprehensive security suite

Tips and Tricks HQ

5.0+

900,000+

Free

AIOSEO

SEO suite

Semper Plugins

4.9+

2+ million

From $49.50 / month

Antispam Bee

Protection against spam comments

pluginkollektiv

4.5+

700,000+

Free

bbPress

Integration of forum

The bbPress Contributors

5.0+

700,000+

Free

Broken Link Checker

Review of internal and external links

WPMU DEV

4.6+

700,000+

Free

Contact Form 7

Contact form

Takayuki Miyoshi

5.7+

5+ million

Free

Gravity Forms

Contact form and data management

Rocketgenius

5.8+

9,000 +

From $59

iThemes Security Pro

Security suite

iThemes

5.7+

1+ million

From $80 / year

Loginizer

Brute force security

Softaculous

3.0+

1+ million

Free

LuckyWP Table Of Contents

Contents

LuckyWP

4.7+

70,000+

Free

MemberPress

Member area

Caseproof

5.5+

Unknown

From $279 / year

MonsterInsights

Analytics

MonsterInsights, LLC

4.8.0+

3+ million

From $199 / year

Ninja Forms

Contact form

Saturday Drive

5.6+

20+ million

Free

OptinMonster

Marketing toolkit

OptinMonster Team

4.7.0+

1+ million

From $14 / month

Rank Math SEO

Search engine optimization

Rank Math

5.6+

1+ million

From $129 / year

Really Simple SSL

SSL/TLS security

Really Simple Plugins

4.9+

5+ million

Free

Restrict Content Pro

Paywall

iThemes

3.9+

10,000+

From $129 / year

SearchWP

WordPress search improvement

SearchWP, LLC

5.0+

30,000+

From $99 / year

Slider, Gallery and Carousel by MetaSlider

Galleries and sliders for images

MetaSlider

3.5+

700,000+

Free

Squirrly SEO Pro

SEO suite

Squirrly Limited

4.3+

100,000+

From $29.00 / month

TablePress

Creation and management of tables

Tobias Bäthge

5.6+

800,000+

Free

Taqyeem

Feedback/rating function

TieLabs

5.2+

1,800+ (sales)

$29 / month

The Events Calendar

Calendar

The Events Calendar

5.6+

800,000+

From $99 / year

Ultimate Member

Member area

Ultimate Member

5.0+

200,000+

Free

WooCommerce

Store platform

Automattic

5.6+

5+ million

Free

Wordfence Pro

Security suite

Defiant Inc.

3.9+

4+ million

From $99 / year

WP Fastest Cache Premium

Caching

Emre Vona

3.3+

1+ million

$49.99 / month

WP Meta SEO

Meta information and linking

JoomUnited

4.7+

20,000+

Free

WPML

Multiple languages

OnTheGoSystems Limited

5.8+

Around 1 million

From $39

WP Rocket

Caching and Lazy Loading

WP Rocket

5.3+

2 million

From $49 / year

WPtouch Pro

Mobile optimization

WPtouch

3.8+

500,000+

From $79 / year

W3 Total Cache

Caching

BoldGrid

3.8+

1+ million

Free

YARPP

Article or page recommendations

Shareaholic

3.7+

100,000+

Free

Yoast SEO Free

SEO suite

Team Yoast

5.6+

5+ million

Free

The useful WordPress extensions can be installed quickly and add numerous features to the platform: the selection ranges from extensions for search engine optimization and higher security to e-commerce tools and social media plugins.

The best free WordPress plugins

WordPress extensions are created by a huge community of developers. Whether an extension is offered for download free of charge or at premium is a decision that’s usually made by its respective developer. Often, two versions of a plugin are available, whereby the free version is limited in terms of functions, so that the user can only have the full range of functions when purchasing the full extension. In the following sections, we will show you our top 15 free WordPress plugins.

Tip

Launch your own blog with Managed WordPress Hosting from IONOS. The special hosting package comes pre-installed with the most important and successful WordPress plugins, so you don’t have to worry about optimization, maintenance or security of the server. IONOS takes care of it for you!

The best free WordPress plugins for search engine optimization

Yoast SEO Free

A SEO plugin should be part of every WordPress project. Even hobby bloggers are aware that websites are only read if they can be quickly found on Google. Yoast SEO is one of the best WordPress plugins to improve your Google search engine ranking.

Website of WordPress-Plugins Yoast; Source: https://yoast.com/

With the free edition of the extension, it is easy to prepare your WordPress project for Google and automatically assess the readability of your copy. Although you are limited to one basic main keyword in the free edition, you can plan more extensive keyword strategies with Yoast SEO Premium.

Advantages

Disadvantages

Readability analysis

Free version restricted to one keyword

Many automatic SEO optimizations via canonical URLs or meta tags

Support only available with premium edition

WP Meta SEO

WP Meta SEO allows you to make your WordPress website more search engine-friendly too. The plugin lets you influence the most important factors of onpage optimization directly from the WordPress backend by not only editing titles and meta descriptions, but also managing internal links and permalinks or creating an XML sitemap.

Website of WordPress extension WP Meta SEO; Source: https://www.joomunited.com/wordpress-products/wp-meta-seo

The free version of WP Meta SEO supports the integration of pictures. The WordPress extension ensures that images are integrated at the right size, but also provides image SEO features to help your website rank higher in image searches.

Advantages

Disadvantages

Extensive image SEO function

Support and updates only available in premium version

HTML and XML sitemaps

Sitemaps only automatable in premium version

Tip

You can find more tips for the search engine-friendly design of your WordPress project in our guide “WordPress SEO for beginners”.

W3 Total Cache

Caching is a great option to keep loading times of your WordPress project as low as possible, which is guaranteed to impress your visitors and Google. Pages that have been loaded once are cached so that no new database query is made when they are called up again. The WordPress extension W3 Total Cache helps with the implementation. It generates static HTML pages and thus ensures shorter loading times. This improves the performance of your pages and keeps website visitors satisfied.

Developer website of W3 Total Cache (BoldGrid); Source: https://www.boldgrid.com/w3-total-cache/

Advantages

Disadvantages

Supports object caching

No lazy load option (only lazy load for Google Maps in premium Pro edition)

Full features available in free edition

Configuration of WordPress plugins via backend could be easier

Tip

You can find alternatives to W3 Total Cache in our dedicated article on the best WordPress caching plugins. We’ll also show you how to speed up your WordPress sites!

Broken Link Checker

Non-functioning links are a nuisanceand can get you in trouble. When your readers are frustrated it sends a negative signal to search engines. But checking all your links manually is no longer feasible if you’ve got a large web project. That’s where the Broken Link Checker can help.

wordpress.org: Plugin overview of Broken Link Checker; Source: https://wordpress.org/plugins/broken-link-checker/

The WordPress extension automatically tests****all your internal and external links on the website and even in the commentaries and reports broken links. The extension can even detect missing images or redirects. Website operators receive a message via the dashboard or email to replace or deactivate broken links, images, or redirects.

Advantages

Disadvantages

Easy to configure

Few opportunities for personalisation

Replace or deactivate links directly from within the plugin menu

Antispam Bee

Most bloggers will have had to deal with spammy comments in the comment section. They’re not helpful for a smooth user experience and neither for search engine rankings. You can use plugins like Antispam Bee to put an end to annoying spam. The WordPress plugin blocks spam bots before they can gain access to forms or comment fields. Optionally, the extension can also check archived pages of a blog for spam.

wordpress.org: Plugin overview of Antispam Bee; https://wordpress.org/plugins/antispam-bee/

The dashboard features the daily updated spam statistics such as values ​​for the detection rate and the total of blocked comments. Another advantage of Antispam Bee is that it complies with European data protection guidelines in case your website operates in the EU.

Advantages

Disadvantages

100% data protection guideline compliance

Very effective spam protection

The best free WordPress extensions for content creation

LuckyWP Table of Contents

Tables of contents are a tried and tested means of structuring a blog or the pages of a website. They help the reader to grasp the structure of written content more quickly and serve as classification aids for search engine crawlers. A WordPress extension that automatically creates a table of contents on the desired page is LuckyWP Table of Contents.

Information page of LuckyWP Table of Contents on developer website; Source: https://theluckywp.com/product/table-of-contents/

For this purpose, the plugin uses the defined headings (H1, H2, H3, etc.). From the settings, a user can also determine the design and positioning of the content or specify the number of headings from which the plugin should create a directory.

Advantages

Disadvantages

Easy to use

Last update was over a year ago

Creates table of content optionally via short code, Gutenberg block or widget

Yet Another Related Posts Plugin (YARPP)

Yet Another Related Posts Plugin (YARPP) sounds complicated, but this WordPress plugin offers a simple and practical option for listing topical posts or pages below written articles. This is one simple trick to extend the stay of your site visitors – get them to check out relevant additional content.

Official Website of Yet Another Related Posts Plugin (YARPP); Source: https://yarpp.com/

Some knowledge of CSS is recommended to adjust the recommendations YARPP makes optically.

Advantages

Disadvantages

Easy to use

Very resource-intensive for larger projects

High-performance algorithm to automatically find relevant content or pages

Slider, Gallery, and Carousel by MetaSlider

Want to showcase a series of images or photos? Then Gallery plugins like Slider, Gallery, and Carousel by MetaSlider are the perfect solution. The practical WordPress extension helps you publish your images as galleries, sliders, or carousels on your website.

MetaSlider website; Source: https://www.metaslider.com/

Use drag and drop to select images and photos from your WordPress media library and then drag them into the desired MetaSlider template, which you can also reposition in your project. You can then use the plugin to define suitable meta information and links.

Advantages

Disadvantages

Good support

Integration of YouTube and Vimeo clips in slides, galleries and carousels not available in free edition

SEO support included

hbspt.cta.load(8230984, '9abc238c-4be4-4d5c-ac48-e1eec99a66ce', {"useNewLoader":"true","region":"na1"});

TablePress

TablePress is a free plugin suitable for creating tables in WordPress websites. Users can add content to tables such as text, photos, links and code like JavaScript. Import and design of tables is possible with CSS.

Find important information and view a demo via TablePress’s website; Source: https://tablepress.org/

Advantages

Disadvantages

Easy table creation and management

Mass file import/export possible

The best free WordPress plugins to integrate forums and online shops

bbPress

bbPress turns your project into an individually adaptable forum or adds one to the existing website. It is up to the operator whether the forum should be accessible to any visitor or whether registration is necessary to read or write posts. The WordPress forum plugin also allows certain topics to be highlighted (“sticky”) or closed (“closed”).

bbPress website; Source: https://bbpress.org/

Setting up a forum with bbPress is easy to do via a central admin account. In just a few clicks the desired community area is installed and adapted to suit your design.

Advantages

Disadvantages

Multi-site support

Optics of standard layout are old-fashioned

Over 100 extensions to personalise bbPress forums available

WooCommerce

Thanks to the WordPress shop plugins WooCommerce, an online store is easy to realise. New sellers with smaller product ranges can benefit from being able to manage all important e-commerce processes, such as managing the product range, shipping, or purchase processing, via the familiar WordPress interface.

WooCommerce website: homepage; Source: https://woocommerce.com/

The navigation and design of your own WooCommerce WordPress web shop is fully customisable – the installation assistant generates a basic navigation pane with four menu items: ‘Shop’, ‘Shopping cart’, ‘Checkout’ and ‘My account’. To meet the needs of large, professional online shops, developer Automattic also offers (paid) premium functions for the WordPress shop plugin. You can find out more about setting up a WordPress shop with WooCommerce in our article ‘Create an online store with WordPress ’.

Tip

Use WooCommerce Hosting from IONOS to choose the right package for your project and get going with WordPress and WooCommerce right away. Start your online shop today! SSL certification, DDoS security and quick page load speeds are included!

Advantages

Disadvantages

Quick, easy installation of web shop

Large member community

Ultimate Member

Whether forums or online shops: a web project that includes user registration as a central element depends on excellent user management. The WordPress extension Ultimate Member replaces such standard user management and makes the registration of users or customers on your site child’s play.

Screenshot of ultimatemember.com website; Source: https://ultimatemember.com/

Use Ultimate Member to create registration, login fields, and customisable user profiles – directly in the frontend. Directories for registered users can also be set up if necessary.

Advantages

Disadvantages

All-round package for sustainable user management

Prone to cyber attacks

High user friendliness thanks to drag-and-drop tool with pre-defined fields

Support could be improved for free version

Contact Form 7

To ensure the success of your online business project, it is essential that you are available to answer user questions or help with problems. Since WordPress does not provide a default form for this, the use of a WordPress contact form plugin like Contact Form 7 is highly recommended.

Website of Contact Form 7 in WordPress plugin directory; Source: https://wordpress.org/plugins/contact-form-7/

The extension is quick and easy to integration and provides all the functions you need. The contact form can be adjusted to match the design of your website more closely, but a basic knowledge of CSS is required for this.

Advantages

Disadvantages

Respects user privacy (in standard configuration)

Visual adjustment requires CSS know-how

Can be extended (for example, addition of spam bot security)

Ninja Forms

Another plugin with a cute name, but plenty of practical features is Ninja Forms. With Ninja Forms, you can add (contact) forms to your WordPress website to collect user data such as names, mail addresses, and phone numbers. Payment options can be added to your forms. This way your website visitors can make payments via PayPal, credit card, etc. more easily

The homepage of WordPress plugin Ninja Forms lists all its pros; Source: https://ninjaforms.com/

Advantages

Disadvantages

Easy to use (even for beginners)

Diverse (contact) form design options

The best free WordPress extensions for added security

Really Simple SSL

For security reasons and for an optimal rating on Google, it is vital to encrypt the data transmission on your website using SSL/TLS or HTTPS. The Really Simple SSL plugin supports you in this endeavour. All you need is a valid certificate.

Website of Really Simple SSL; Source: https://really-simple-ssl.com/

Once you’ve got your certificate and installed Really Simple SSL, you can activate SSL/TLS in one click. Additional security through HTTP Strict Transport Security is only available with the Pro edition.

Advantages

Disadvantages

Automatic checking of the current security status

Plugin must be activated permanently

Compatible with all certificates

Loginizer

Brute force attacks are among the most popular methods used by cyber criminals because of their simplicity. The free basic version of WordPress extension Loginizer protects your website effectively against this type of attack.

Screenshot of Loginizer website; Source: https://www.loginizer.com/

If you activate Loginizer in your WordPress project, the plugin automatically blocks all IP addresses for 15 minutes from which more than three incorrect login attempts have been made. In the event of multiple blockings, this period is increased to 24 hours. You can also remove IP addresses from the blacklist manually.

Advantages

Disadvantages

Effective protection against brute force attacks

Sometimes disproportionately resource-intensive

Clear log file with failed login attempts

All In One WP Security & Firewall

Though WordPress has become more secure over the years, its growing popularity is attracting an increasing number of cyber criminals. With the free WordPress extension All In One WP Security & Firewall you can raise the security level of your site to a new level – thanks to features such as firewall, brute force protection, security scanner, and spam protection.

Website of All In One WordPress Security and Firewall plugin; Source: https://www.tipsandtricks-hq.com/wordpress-security-and-firewall-plugin

For critical security elements like the admin username or file share(s), the premium plugin provides an overview with an on and off switch. In the extension’s dashboard, you can view a specific security score for your site(s), to monitor the status of your project.

Advantages

Disadvantages

Huge range of security features

Beginner-friendly thanks to simple explanations

The best premium WordPress plugins

Following the recommendations for the 15 best free WordPress plugins, we’ll now show you the 15 best premium plugins. Because users pay a fee, these plugins usually offer a wider range of functions and provide special customer support from the manufacturer.

The best premium WordPress plugins for search engine optimization

WPtouch Pro

The premium WordPress plugin WPtouch Pro optimises the layout and functionality of your website for mobile devices. The use of this extension ensures that a mobile-friendly version of the desktop version is offered via the same URL – the original version remains unchanged. Optionally, the entire content can be transferred one-by-one or adapted manually. For example, it is possible to generate alternative menus or landing pages that are better suited for the various mobile devices.

Screenshot of WPtouch Pro website; Source: https://www.wptouch.com/

WPtouch Pro is among the mobile solutions supported by Google, which is why the website is automatically marked as “mobile-friendly”. Depending on the chosen package, you can use the plugin for 1, 5, 20 or 50 WordPress projects.

Advantages

Disadvantages

Mobile solution supported by Google

Subscription for one project doesn’t include all themes

Does not require prior programming skills

WP Rocket

WP Rocket is often the first choice for experts when it comes to improving performance for a better Google ranking. The premium WordPress plugin ensures, among other things, that all website pages are loaded into the cache, which means that they can be delivered more quickly. For this purpose, a “preload” bot simulates a visit to the website at regular intervals.

Website of premium WordPress plugins WP Rocket; Source: https://wp-rocket.me/

WP Rocket also reduces load times by automatically compressing all static files such as HTML, JavaScript, and CSS documents. Thanks to the LazyLoad feature, a visitor’s browser only loads all integrated images when they reach the user’s viewport.

Advantages

Disadvantages

Database optimisation

No free test version available

Lazy loading feature

Squirrly SEO Pro

Squirrly SEO Pro makes search engine optimisation of your WordPress project a breeze. The WordPress premium plugin provides a multitude of useful and powerful SEO features such as regular keyword suggestions, a blogging assistant, content marketing analytics or the “Focus Pages” function, which automatically highlights the most promising pages on your website or your shops for optimisation.

Website of WordPress premium plugin Squirrly SEO; Source: https://plugin.squirrly.co/

The “Business” and “Agency” packages let you activate additional Squirrly features such as advanced analysis, in-depth keyword research or an overview of the top-ranking websites in your sector.

Advantages

Disadvantages

Powerful features for keyword research

In-depth keyword research only available in “Business” edition

SEO recommendations in real-time

WP Fastest Cache Premium

When it comes to caching, hardly any plugin in the premium segment can compete with WP Fastest Cache. The plugin generates static HTML content via Mod_Rewrite to optimise the loading time of your web project. If you publish new content, the existing cache of relevant pages is automatically deleted. You can also exclude pages from caching if necessary.

Screenshot of WP Fastest Cache website; Source: https://www.wpfastestcache.com/

WP Fastest Cache Premium provides a diverse set of features, beyond just caching. The premium WordPress plugin also assists with SEO through merging and minimising of CSS and JavaScript code and conversion of images in WebP.

Advantages

Disadvantages

Features for image optimisation included

No official documentation available

Selected pages can be excluded from caching

AIOSEO

The WordPress premium plugin AIOSEO boasts a whole range of features to help optimise WordPress for search engines. Users can create custom SEO user roles to manage access to features, improve their local SEO ranking, and even rank in Google’s video widget thanks to video SEO sitemaps. It’s a good tool for business owners, designers, and bloggers. Best of all, no coding skills are required to get going.

Screenshot of AIOSEO website; Source: https://aioseo.com/

AIOSEO is available in four package options: Basic (1 site), Plus (3 sites), Pro (10 sites), and Elite (100 sites).

Advantages

Disadvantages

Intuitive, clear user interface

Priority support only for Pro and Elite packages

Advanced SEO modules and WooCommerce SEO integration

Rank Math SEO

Rank Math SEO provides access to numerous features that help users optimize their website for search engines. From rank tracking that reveals how pages are doing in search engine rankings, to a content AI that provides suggestions for keywords, and more. The WordPress plugin provides three paid upgrades – Pro, Business, and Agency. There is also a free version, but it lacks pretty much all of the useful features.

The website of Rank Math SEO provides an overview of all the important information. Users can view a demo; Source: https://rankmath.com/

Advantages

Disadvantages

Many practical SEO features

Free version has very few features

Well structured

The best premium WordPress plugins for marketing and analytics

OptinMonster

Long-term success of a web project is difficult to achieve without returning visitors. Successful lead management is important when looking after a website. Operators of online shops and blogs are dependent on the best tools to regularly attract new customers and readers. One of the best solutions in this regard is the premium WordPress plugin OptinMonster.

Website of premium WordPress plugins OptinMonster; Source: https://optinmonster.com/

Thanks to the integrated drag-and-drop editor, it’s quick and easy to create appealing forms within a few minutes. Forms can be used to collect user email addresses, for example. Simple A / B testing and detailed statistics allow you to measure and analyse the success of different variants.

Advantages

Disadvantages

Uncomplicated campaign creation in a few minutes

Few integrations of third-party tools

Excellent support

Taqyeem

A feedback or rating function on your website or below individual articles is a good opportunity to measure the satisfaction of your site visitors. In e-commerce, reviews also serve as product recommendations for potential buyers. In addition, ratings that can be presented in Google search results, adding value for search engine users. Taqyeem by Egypt-based company TieLabs provides one of the most successful and best WordPress plugins to integrate user rating systems and present product reviews (e.g., in the context of test reports).

Screenshots of Taqyeem website; Source: https://tielabs.com/product/taqyeem-plugin/

Ratings can be customised with the premium plugin, thanks to more than 500 Google Web Fonts, various typography options and three rating schemes (stars, points, and percentages).

Advantages

Disadvantages

High quality reviews including buttons

Extensions available at extra charge

Three different rating schemes available

MonsterInsights

If you want to measure the success of your web project numerically, the premium WordPress plugin MonsterInsights offers the right basis for this. In combination with Google Analytics, the extension shows you all relevant figures in real-time – whether page views, bounce rate, average length of stay or user devices – all as part of one clear dashboard. E-commerce tracking for WooCommerce, Easy Digital Downloads, LifterLMS, and MemberPress is also possible.

Website of MonsterInsights; Source: https://www.monsterinsights.com/

Other areas of your WordPress project can also be tracked with MonsterInsights. These include file downloads, contact forms, links, and tags as well as the development of SEO score and focus keyword. The WordPress extension regularly displays clear reports for each tracking category. Caseproof also offers a free plugin version called MonsterInsights Lite, which has fewer features but is a good option for testing the tool before committing to a paid upgrade.

Advantages

Disadvantages

Extensive tracking options for every type of web project

Fairly expensive

No registration with third-party services required

SearchWP

Since native search in WordPress is far from optimal and makes finding older website content difficult, the SearchWP was created. But the plugin isn’t just helpful for upgrading the search function on your website. With a Pro upgrade, for example, you'll have access to Metrics ­– a feature that shows you which keywords users are searching for. This information is useful for adapting and optimizing your website content. Online store owners should take note because it may help them to spot which products attract the most interest.

SearchWP's website highlights the most common WordPress search problems that can be fixed with SearchWP; Source: https://searchwp.com/

Advantages

Disadvantages

Improved search function

Insight into user search behaviors

The best premium WordPress plugins for content creation

WPML

If you plan to make your web content available in different countries, you’ll usually require different language versions to provide visitors with the best possible user experience. The premium WordPress plugin WPML from OnTheGoSystems provides some excellent functions to accomplish this such as translation aids for articles, pages, taxonomy, and menus as well as an automatic browser speech recognition. The basic package offers all the features for a multilingual blog.

Screenshot of WordPress plugins WPML; Source: https://wpml.org/

The more expensive “Multilingual CMS” package gives users access to additional translation options to translate widgets or texts from themes, plugins and other WordPress extensions. To coordinate work on multilingual projects, WPML provides a translation management tool.

Advantages

Disadvantages

Simple management of over 40 languages

Doesn’t work with all WordPress themes

Translation editor (requires “Multilingual CMS” package)

The Events Calendar

Want to add a calendar to your WordPress website? The The Events Calendar lets you add one quickly. Optionally, you can use the extension to add a calendar with new events or to integrate existing data from Meetup, Eventbrite, Google Calendar, iCalendar, or other sites or apps.

Screenshot of WordPress plugin The Events Calendar; Source: https://theeventscalendar.com

To adapt the calendar optimally according to your ideas, the code of The Events Calendar is particularly developer friendly. In addition, various display options are available to present your events, for example by the day, week, or month or in a list. A free plugin version is available but it lacks essential features like premium support and events manager.

Advantages

Disadvantages

Short-code integration possible

Automatic adjustment of the event times to the respective time zone

Restrict Content Pro

Well-structured membership management is essential to offer premium content. The WordPress extension Restrict Content Pro supports users in the implementation of a paywall and functions for membership organisation. You can create an unlimited number of membership packages, which can easily be assigned different access rights with the tool.

Restrict Content Pro: Screenshot of website; Source: https://restrictcontentpro.com

Restrict Content Pro includes interfaces to payment services such as 2Checkout, Stripe and PayPal.

Advantages

Disadvantages

WooCommerce integration

Many features require additional extensions

Interfaces to payment services such as PayPal

MemberPress

MemberPress is another WordPress premium plugin for managing exclusive website content. Users can define the properties for the various membership packages such as the price, content or the duration of the subscription or test phase. MemberPress then automatically generates the registration page via which visitors purchase the respective offer – including a button for the desired payment option.

Screenshot of MemberPress website; Source: https://memberpress.com/

If desired, the extension sends notifications by email, for example if a new membership has been concluded or a membership has been terminated, a transaction has failed or if a user has changed their package. A detailed overview is available via “Reports”, which shows detailed statistics on all active and previous subscriptions and payments.

Advantages

Disadvantages

Integrations for third-party services such as PayPal, Mailchimp, ConvertKit or Help Scout

Difficult instructions

Includes functions to create coupons

No member directory

Gravity Forms

The Gravity Forms plugin creates forms in no time and embeds them in your website using drag and drop. What's more, you can collect and manage user data this way. Gravity Forms offers three license plans – Basic, Pro and Elite. When upgrading from the Basic version, you get Pro and/or Elite add-ons that allow you to add extensions. Among them is Capsule CRM – a software component that provides you with a customer relationship management system.

The website of WordPress extension Gravity Forms lists purchase options and a demo version; Source: https://www.gravityforms.com

Advantages

Disadvantages

Versatile form creation

Embedding forms is more difficult than with other plugins of the type

Plenty of add-ons to choose from

The best premium WordPress plugins for added security

Akismet

Akismet from Automattic is a premium solution to combat web spam. Launched in 2005, the basic version is available to all users who host their project on WordPress.com by default.

Screenshot of Akismet website; Source: https://akismet.com/

To use the features of the premium WordPress plugin for commercial sites, you need to subscribe to a monthly plan. The two fee-based packages “Plus” and “Enterprise” (or “Enterprise Plus”) include extended statistics and priority support from the manufacturer. The extension is updated regularly to be able to react promptly to current spam trends.

Advantages

Disadvantages

Spam check on an external server (resource-saving)

API key required for use

Extensive spam database

Transmission of the IP addresses to external servers poses data protection issues

Wordfence Pro

With Wordfence you can get your hands on a WordPress security package that protects your project against malware and other cybercriminal attacks 24/7. The heart of the system is the WordPress firewall, which receives regular updates to immediately recognise known harmful malware signatures and remove the relevant malware from the server promptly.

Screenshot WordPress plugin website Wordfence; Source: https://www.wordfence.com/

Additional protection is available in the form of an integrated malware scanner, regular checks of the WordPress core files and vulnerability checks. If necessary, you can use Wordfence Pro to limit the number of login attempts on the server in order to set up basic brute force protection.

Advantages

Disadvantages

Regular updates for firewall and malware scanners

To use the plugin smoothly, you must switch to new WordPress versions as soon as possible

Detects changes made to WordPress core files

iThemes Security Pro

iThemes Security Pro is another premium WordPress plugin dedicated to protecting your WordPress projects. Once the extension has been installed, the individual security features can be monitored from the “Security Dashboard” in the backend and configured as desired. Among other things, iThemes Security Pro offers a malware scanner, 404 error detection to combat bots, and the option to replace the standard URL for user and admin logins.

Website of iThemes Security Pro; Source: https://ithemes.com/security/

iThemes Security Pro provides various features to make the login to your WordPress project as secure as possible for all parties. The plugin ensures that users set strong passwords during registration. The registration itself can be secured via two-factor authentication (mobile app, email, or backup code).

Advantages

Disadvantages

Enables set-up of two-factor authentication

Some features like checking changed files (deactivated) slow down performance

Lets users make strong passwords mandatory for all

What is a WordPress plugin?

Even in the basic version, WordPress provides plenty of important functions to create new pages, link them and add new content. However, you can get much more out of the content management system with the addition of plugins because they significantly expand its functionality. Extensions for shops, security, search engine optimisation or social media links – WordPress extensions make it possible to expand the open source platform so that it is perfectly tailored to the needs of the respective website owner.

A WordPress plugin is an additional program. It extends the code of the web application, and thereby adds a new function. Strictly speaking, every extension or adaptation of the WordPress code is a plugin. An experienced user with programming skills also has the option of manipulating the code to add more features to the functions.php file of their theme. When downloading WordPress extensions, you should always make sure that the source is trustworthy and secure (such as the WordPress repository or the IONOS app centre).

In order to protect your privacy, the video will not load until you click on it.

The best sources for WordPress extensions

To speak of the “best WordPress plugins 2022” is, strictly speaking, a bit difficult. As interests and needs vary greatly from one user to the next, in most cases only one or the other of the plugins presented will be relevant. For this reason, we recommend that you search for the most suitable extensions for your needs. The aforementioned official WordPress repository is accessible directly via the content management system. It is, without a doubt, the most important source for WordPress plugins. As with the IONOS App Center, every new extension listed is checked for its functionality and trustworthiness, to ensure that the WordPress plugin is secure.

But there are several other options to source extensions, especially when it comes to premium WordPress plugins which are not listed in the official directory:

• CodeCanyon: When it comes to highly functional, premium extensions, there is no getting around CodeCanyon. The directory boasts over****4,900 WordPress plugins, and sells extensions for other content management systems such as Joomla or Drupal. The results can be filtered by price, category, popularity, or user ratings.
• MOJO Marketplace: The MOJO Marketplace WordPress plugin directory includes around 60 extensions. The web platform, which provides a live demo for every expansion, also provides more than 700 themes and templates for the content management system.
• accessPress: accessPress offers a mix of 100+ free and premium WordPress plugins for download. Detailed information (description, publication date, price, license, time of the last update, etc.), documentation and a live preview of all the extensions can be accessed.
• GitHub: New WordPress extensions are regularly published on GitHub. Searching for them is a little more complicated, since only the entire developer platform can be searched. However, if you choose to make the effort and look in the over 110,000  available repositories with WordPress extensions, you can find plenty of useful plugins.

How many WordPress plugins can you install?

There is no limit as to the number of extensions you can install for WordPress. The quantity of plugins does not necessarily affect the performance of your website. So, it is quite conceivable that the project will still perform at a fast speed, even when running many extensions. Much more decisive than the number is the quality of the individual WordPress plugin. Under certain circumstances, a single incorrectly programmed extension can significantly worsen performance or cause other problems.

Tip

To avoid technical issues, plugins should always be chosen carefully and checked regularly for their necessity. Otherwise, you may quickly lose sight over the number of extensions you’ve installed. The Managed WordPress hosting lets you track your plugins carefully. Such hosting packages provide a fixed selection of high-quality, functional plugins.

Where does WordPress store extensions?

Because new plugins are installed directly within WordPress, the expansion of the content management system is simplified enormously. Whether a selected package is downloaded via the integrated search or the import function, the user just needs to follow the instructions of the wizard to add and activate the desired plugin. The overview of all implemented WordPress extensions makes managing them all easier. In addition, the CMS automatically classifies the installed plugins in the folder structures by placing all extensions in the wp-content/plugins folder. Language files and translations for the extensions, however, end up in the wp-content/languages folder.

Note

Files relating to a WordPress plugin can be copied manually into the listed folders to install them.

WordPress: Install plugins carefully

There are many free WordPress plugins and new ones are added each day. But too many plugins can clutter your backend. In addition, there is a risk of unpredictable “interactions”. The incompatibility of different programs and components can quickly lead to security gaps. You should only install plugins that you use regularly. Many administrative plugins can be uninstalled after single use. With the Plugin Security Scanner, you can check whether installed plugins pose security gaps.