WordPress Plugins You Probably Need

The following is a list of plugins I like to use.  Please note I’m writing this in 2019, so there may be better options out there now.  There are many plugins out there that do the same thing; however, these are the ones I like to use based on functionality, layout, and ease of use.

Always Activated, All the Time

1. Advanced Custom Fields Pro (https://www.advancedcustomfields.com/ )
   If you’re a WordPress developer, odds are you have a dedicated shrine somewhere devoted to Elliott Condon and the team that brings us Advanced Custom Fields Pro.  For the longest time, he allowed unlimited use of a developer’s license with free updates until eternity.  This has recently changed; however, it was an act of generosity for which all developers with the old pro license are forever grateful.  Simply put, this allows custom fields beyond the standard WordPress editor on your page editing screen that can be output in your template.  With useful tools like repeater fields, flexible content fields, and commonly used items like a color and date picker, it is simply the best for WordPress developers and users alike.
2. ACF: Better Search (https://wordpress.org/plugins/acf-better-search/)
   This is necessary if you’re using the above Advanced Custom Fields Pro.  This is because WordPress’s search function will, by default, only search within content entered in the default WordPress editor.  In order to get the WordPress search function to work with content entered in custom fields, you need to activate this plugin.  No other setup is required beyond that.
3. All in One WP Security & Firewall (https://wordpress.org/plugins/all-in-one-wp-security-and-firewall/)
   This is a very convenient plugin that basically protects your website from malicious entry by hackers at the admin login screen.  It allows you to rename the login page, limit login attempts, add a captcha, and instantly lock down entry attempts using common usernames.  It will also log entry attempts with IP addresses in addition to many other features.  Best of all, it is completely free!
4. W3 Total Cache (https://wordpress.org/plugins/w3-total-cache/ )
   This plugin caches your pages so your website runs faster – it is as simple as that!  There are a number of good caching plugins out there and I simply do not know if this one is the best.  However, it’s the one I’m used to and will automatically minimize resource files and lazy load pictures without the premium package.  With the premium version, you can get even faster with the use of CDNs.
5. Perfmatters (https://perfmatters.io/)
   This is a great plugin that has cool features like pre-loading a page when you simply hover over the link.  It also lets you decide what plugin resources you want to load and specify that for each page.  One caveat is that it’s paid.  For freelancers, I’d recommend getting a developer license and letting this be your secret weapon for why your websites run faster.  For employees, make your boss get a license.
6. All in One SEO Pack (https://wordpress.org/plugins/all-in-one-seo-pack/)
   With its free version it allows you to add custom titles and snippets to your pages while offering the ability to add things like sitemaps that search engines like to see.  I’ve used both this one and Yoast and simply find the interface of this one easier to use.  Other users may feel different; however, they both due the same thing.  NOTE:  Do not activate more than 1 SEO plugin concurrently on your site or it may hurt your search results due to pages having multiple title tags and meta descriptions.
7. Classic Editor (https://wordpress.org/plugins/classic-editor/)
   This plugin became necessary once WordPress 5 shipped with the new Gutenberg Block Editing System.  I believe WordPress needed something to compete with content editing systems like Elementor or Slider Revolution.  However, I simply prefer the old way and in order to do things the old way, you need this plugin.  Kind of annoying as Gutenberg is simply not that good, in my opinion.
8. Page-list (https://wordpress.org/plugins/page-list/)
   This makes a quick site map on your website using a shortcode.  This shortcode is highly customizable, allowing you to exclude certain pages and posts or list pages while respecting the page and / or category hierarchy specified in the WordPress dashboard.  This is useful on 404 pages and other pages dedicated to showing a raw list of available pages and posts.
9. Contact Form 7 (https://wordpress.org/plugins/contact-form-7/)
   I will admit straight away that this is not the best plugin for forms.  However, it does the basics and will successfully integrate with Google recaptcha, which will prevent spam.  Best of all, it is free!  That in itself makes it my preference for most websites where forms are NOT extensively used.  So, if you have a form on your website with the simple intention of making contact with the website admins, then this one is very good.  WP Forms Lite, another free plugin, is also very good.  If the client wants to pay for it, though, I’d go with WP Forms.
10. Contact Form DB (https://cfdbplugin.com/)
    This is used in conjunction with the plugin above.  By default, Contact Form 7 will only e-mail contact form submissions.  However, sometimes sending mail from the server fails for one reason or another.  So, this will keep a copy in your WordPress database so you’ll never lose a submission.
11. Updraft Plus Backups / Restore (https://wordpress.org/plugins/updraftplus/)
    This keeps file and database backups on your server and, optionally, in a cloud storage device.  Furthermore, it will make backups on a schedule so that you do not have to actively request that a backup be made.  A premium version will allow you to schedule backups during low-traffic hours, which is pretty useful.  However, not necessary in most cases.
12. ewww Image Optimizer (https://wordpress.org/plugins/ewww-image-optimizer/)
    This is useful for compressing images and stripping metadata in order to reduce file sizes.  It’s free edition compresses and resizes upon upload and there is a bulk optimizer.  So, in order to use it for free some resizing beforehand may need to be done.  Furthermore, it’s lazy load feature doesn’t work that well with some horizontally-aligned layouts.

Maintenance and Other Administrative Plugins

These plugins I keep deactivated most of the time, but installed on WordPress sites.  They are only activated when I need to perform certain maintenance duties in the back end.  For those duties, I find these plugins are the best to use.

1. Search & Replace (https://wordpress.org/plugins/search-and-replace/)
   Very useful plugin for when you need to bulk edit items in your WordPress database.  For most people, this will be used to update URLs.  In addition to letting you do a dry run before actually making changes to your database, you can target specific database tables.
2. WP Optimize (https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-optimize/)
   A useful plugin to run every once in a while after you have made major changes or a high number of revisions to your site.  It will detect things like orphaned meta data (data formerly attached to posts) and can clean up post revisions and other things that tend to get bulky after heavy editing.
3. WP Link Status Pro (https://codecanyon.net/item/wp-link-status-pro-fix-broken-links-manage-redirections/14741706)
   A paid plugin, I feel its low price is worth it if you have a content-heavy site with many external links.  External links can change at any time, so I like this plugin to run scans and check.  It groups broken links by error type, which makes it especially useful for only addressing relevant errors.
4. All in One WP Migration (https://wordpress.org/plugins/all-in-one-wp-migration/)
   For sites under 1GB in size, the free version of this plugin is extremely useful when moving WordPress installations from one server to another.  I use the pro version myself because many of the sites I work with are much greater in size.  It is simply the easiest to use and will replace the site URLs for you beforehand to avoid having to use a hosts file to correct it later.  I also use this plugin when I want to make staging site or if I want to make a backup.  TIP:  Use FTP to move files around as many hosting servers will have trouble downloading such large files through https alone.
5. Reveal IDs (https://wordpress.org/plugins/reveal-ids-for-wp-admin-25/)
   This is mostly useful for developers.  Many WordPress functions to retrieve things like taxonomies or attachments will accept a post ID as an argument.  For this reason, it would be useful to know the post or taxonomy ID.  This plugin simply shows you this in the WordPress dashboard as an added column.  It also works well for custom post types.

Plugins for End Users

As a developer myself, I wouldn’t need to use plugins to make common website features like buttons, tables, slideshows, galleries, etc.  However, these kind of things can be a challenge for end users.  Many plugins make it easy to add these sort of things using shortcodes.  Here are some I like to put on sites when shipped to end users that are easy to understand.

1. Max Buttons (https://wordpress.org/plugins/maxbuttons/)
   This is good for making basic buttons and can specify text and background colors for default and rollover.  With the versatile shortcode, you use the same button and simply change button text or destination URL.
2. Ninja Tables (https://wordpress.org/plugins/ninja-tables/)
   This is the best utility I’ve found for inserting tables into posts.  I’ve found their interface for styling tables the most intuitive.  The only downside is that necessary features, such as reordering table rows, require the paid pro version.  There are workarounds for this in the free version, but it’s a pain.
3. Spacer (https://wordpress.org/plugins/spacer/)
   It is surprisingly hard to place a gap in your content using the classic editor.  For precise designs, it may be necessary to have precisely defined spacing.  So, this simply adds a gap with the ability to specify height in pixels.
4. MetaSlider (https://wordpress.org/plugins/ml-slider/)
   There are tons of slider plugins out there.  If you need a stunning slideshow, have the money and the time to invest into learning their intricate editing systems, I say go ahead and buy one of the better ones, such as Revolution Slider.  However, Metaslider is very good and free.  I also like it because it’s much quicker to get going and will include indicators, slider arrows, and overlays.
5. Collapse-O-Matic (https://wordpress.org/plugins/jquery-collapse-o-matic/)
   This will very quickly create an accordion on your page through the normal WordPress editor.  It’s not the easiest to use, as it involves an understanding of shortcodes.  There are also some compatibility issues when using this on sites with custom link click behavior.  However, this can be worked around through the settings; however, like mentioned above you have to know what you’re doing to get it working as it’s not terribly intuitive.
6. Duplicator (https://wordpress.org/plugins/duplicator/)
   This plugin creates clones of pages quickly.  This is best used when web pages follow the same basic format with slight changes among them.  It is also convenient for creating staging pages on live websites.
7. Filebird (https://wordpress.org/plugins/filebird/)
   This is a great File Managing plugin that doesn’t change the URLS of your media items as it categorizes them.
8. Redirection (https://wordpress.org/plugins/redirection/)
   When web pages within a website change URLs, it is good SEO practice to provide a 301 redirect to let search engines know that the content at the old URL can now be found at the new URL.  It is also good for users to avoid hitting a 404 page.  For developers like me, I almost always handle redirection in the .htaccess file.  However, for most end users this works well.  I’ve found, however, that redirection sometimes has issues when using a cache plugin.

Special Use Plugins

These are plugins I like for specific-use cases.  I would only put them onto websites if the website needed them.

• WooCommerce (https://woocommerce.com/)
  This is pretty much the default e-commerce plugin for WordPress.  I’m not a huge fan of it, personally, as it doesn’t scale well due to the fact that item data is stored in the standard postmeta table – meaning that item details are in one long 3-column table.  So, no database columns optimized for the data its holding.  E-commerce solutions need other developers to connect the many other pieces from 3rd-party suppliers that make e-commerce work.  These are things like payment portals and shipping managers from FedEx, Authorize.net, etc.  So, in a way WooCommerce won the format war for WordPress-based e-commerce.  Once this was clear, all the other functionality was provided by independent developers.  So, WooCommerce is the one to use simply because it’s the best supported.
• Download Monitor(https://wordpress.org/plugins/download-monitor/) or Simple Download Monitor(https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-download-monitor/)
  These two plugins are used to manage downloads and are best used when you need downloads to appear on multiple pages or if your download undergoes many version changes.  You can edit your download in one place and have those downloads updated in your front end wherever the short code is used.  You can also obfuscate download locations, limit download numbers, and do a number of security operations.  Both plugins, made by different outfits, basically do the same thing and use the freemium model where the basic functionality is free, but extensions cost money.  I prefer Download Monitor because it’s more widely used and thus better supported.  Simple Download Monitor adds in the ability to easily add thumbnails to your download link, though.
• Client Portal (https://wordpress.org/plugins/client-portal/)
  This plugin allows you to add a user login that allows each user to have a dedicated page.  Every time I’ve used this, it is in tandem with Download Monitor in order to give specified users the access to specified downloads.  The private page, however, can be used to provide whatever content desired.  My only issue with this is that it uses the single.php template by default to display the private page.  So, if the layout of that template isn’t right for your private page, a developer would be needed to instruct the installation to use something else.
• Profile Builder (https://wordpress.org/plugins/profile-builder/)
  Used in conjunction with Client Portal, this plugin provides the front-end pieces of user login handling.  It’s made by the same people that make Client Portal and almost always used in conjunction with it.  I’m not sure why this is not simply rolled into the plugin above as I feel it would be more logical.
• Media from FTP (https://wordpress.org/plugins/media-from-ftp/)
  At times, items you want to upload may be too large and exceed the limits allowed for file transfer through the web browser.  Of course, one could always change the limits in the PHP settings.  However, FTP is more reliable anyways and preferred.  With this plugin, you can upload to a server location within the wp-content folder (preferably within uploads) and add it to the media library.  WordPress beginners believe this is automatic.  Maybe it should be, but it’s not.
• Breadcrumb NavXT (https://wordpress.org/plugins/breadcrumb-navxt/)
  For websites with deep hierarchies, breadcrumbs show the website visitor where they are.  For example, it may look like Home > Projects > This Year > Current Page.  For websites with less than 3 levels deep of hierarchy, this may be unnecessary.  So, I only include this where hierarchies are deep.