Once you have setup WordPress theme in your website now comes to add essential free WordPress plugins in blog and website. WordPress is renowned for its versatility and user-friendliness, making it a popular choice for bloggers and website owners worldwide. One of the reasons behind its popularity is the vast library of plugins that enhance functionality and streamline various tasks.

Free WordPress plugins are the software components that are added in the WordPress CMS to enhance features and functionality of WordPress website or blog. They range from small tools to large scale extensions that also boosts on page SEO. There are around 50000 free plugins in WordPress[dot]org and thousands of custom plugins written by third party developers. Though they all can not be used in WordPress site but in this article I’ll explore a selection of must-have free WordPress plugins that can take your blog website to the next level.

1. Yoast SEO and All In One SEO

Yoast SEO, All In One SEO, and Rank Math SEO are all free WordPress plugins that optimize your blog for Search Engines, it is a comprehensive SEO plugin that helps improve your blog’s search engine rankings. It assists in optimizing on-page content, meta tags, and XML sitemaps, making it easier for search engines to understand and rank your content.

2. Akismet Anti-Spam

Akismet anti spam free WordPress plugin combats comment and contact form spam, It keeps spam comments and form submissions at bay which is crucial for a clean and user-friendly blog. Akismet automatically detects and filters out spam, ensuring that your blog’s comments section remains clutter-free.

3. Jetpack Free WordPress Plugins

Jetpack free WordPress plugin supercharges your website’s performance, it is a multifunctional plugin that offers a range of features, including website statistics, visitor statistics, downtime monitoring, security enhancements, and image optimization. It’s like having a Swiss Army knife for your WordPress site.

4. Wordfence Security Free WordPress Plugins

Wordfence Security plugin enhances your blog’s security, security is paramount for any website. Wordfence Security free WordPress plugin provides robust protection against malware, malicious attacks, and unauthorized logins. It also offers a firewall and login attempt monitoring.

5. UpdraftPlus WordPress Backup Plugin

UpdraftPlus safeguards your blog’s data, regular backups are a safety net for your blog. UpdraftPlus simplifies the backup process, allowing you to schedule automatic backups and store them in cloud services like Dropbox, Google Drive, or Amazon S3.

6. W3 Total Cache Free WordPress Plugins

W3 Total Cache optimizes website speed, a fast-loading website is crucial for retaining visitors. W3 Total Cache is a free WordPress plugin that improves your blog’s performance by caching pages and reducing load times. This can lead to better user experiences and improved SEO rankings.

7. Smush – Lazy Load Images, Optimize & Compress Images

Smush is used to optimize images for faster loading, large image files can slow down your website. Smush optimizes and compresses images automatically, reducing their size without compromising quality. It also supports lazy loading for images, which enhances performance.

8. WPForms Lite Free WordPress Plugins

WPForms Lite is used to create user-friendly contact forms, building contact forms should be hassle-free. WPForms Lite is a user-friendly plugin that enables you to create custom forms with a drag-and-drop interface. It’s perfect for contact forms, surveys, and more.

9. Classic Editor

Classic Editor is used to retain the classic WordPress editing experience, if you prefer the classic WordPress editor over the block editor (Gutenberg), the Classic Editor plugin lets you revert to the familiar interface. It’s especially useful if you have an established workflow with the old editor.

10. Editorial Calendar Free WordPress Plugins

Editorial Calendar is used to manage your content, it gives you an overview of your blog and when each post will be published. You can drag and drop to move posts, edit posts right in the calendar, and manage your entire blog.

11. Social Icons Widgets and Block By WPZoom

Social Icons Widgets and Block By WPZoom is a free WordPress plugin which is used to add quickly social icons with links to your profiles from different social networks. It has several icon sets, which gives you the possibility to use the widget for more than just linking to your social media profiles.

12. Broken Link Checker Free WordPress Plugins

Broken link checker is used to find the broken links in your website at the super fast speed, it runs automatically in the background to check broken links in your site and it is limitless. Broken links kill your SEO, site health and user experience so it is a must use plugin in your WordPress site.

13. Easy Table of Contents and Tables of Content Plus

Easy table to contents and Tables of content plus are free WordPress plugins enables in your article to generate table of content based on the headings tags. The later one table of contents are similar to Wikipedia.

14. WP Super Cache Free WordPress Plugins

WP super cache is caching plugin which is used to generate static html files from your dynamic WordPress blog. These static HTML files are used by plugins webserver to serve to users instead of processing the heavier and more expensive WordPress PHP scripts.

15. ShortPixel Image Optimizer

Shortpixel image optimizer is used to boost SEO by optimizing images and PDF documents. It compresses the images and PDF documents to serve them faster.

Apart from above free WordPress plugins, there is a short list of important plugins you can use in your WordPress blog if needed-

16. Contact Form 7: A versatile contact form plugin.

17. Elementor Page Builder: A powerful page builder with a live preview.

18. WooCommerce: Transforms your WordPress site into an online store.

19. Google Analytics Dashboard Plugin for WordPress by MonsterInsights: Integrates Google Analytics into your site.

20. Redirection: Helps manage URL redirects and 404 errors.

21. Regenerate Thumbnails: Regenerates image thumbnails when you change your theme.

22. WP-Optimize – Clean, Compress, Cache: Cleans up your database and optimizes performance.

23. Black Studio TinyMCE Widget: Adds a visual editor widget to your site.

24. TablePress: Allows you to create and manage tables easily.

25. Google XML Sitemaps: Generates a sitemap to improve SEO.

26. WP Mail SMTP by WPForms: Ensures reliable email delivery.

27. TinyMCE Advanced: Enhances the WordPress visual editor.

28. Loginizer: Enhances login security.

29. Limit Login Attempts Reloaded: Protects your site by limiting login attempts.

30. Post Type Switcher: Easily change post types.

31. Yoast Duplicate Post: Quickly clone posts and pages.

32. WP Security Audit Log: Keeps an audit trail of all changes and user activity.

33. WP Smush: Compresses and optimizes images for speed.

34. Really Simple SSL: Converts your site to HTTPS.

35. Disable Comments: Allows you to disable comments globally.

36. Disable XML-RPC Pingback: Enhances security by disabling XML-RPC pingback functionality.

37. WP Google Maps: Easily add Google Maps to your site.

38. Mailchimp for WooCommerce: Integrates WooCommerce with Mailchimp.

39. WP Fastest Cache: A caching plugin for speed optimization.

40. WP Sticky Sidebar (formerly “Q2W3 Fixed Widget for WordPress”): Keeps widgets in your sidebar visible as you scroll.

41. WP-PageNavi: Adds a more advanced paging navigation to your site.

42. WP User Avatar: Allows users to upload avatars.

43. EWWW Image Optimizer: Optimizes images for faster loading times.

44. WP Rollback: Easily roll back plugin and theme updates.

45. WP Video Lightbox: Adds responsive lightbox functionality to your videos.

46. Easy Google Fonts: Customize your site’s typography.

47. Widget Importer & Exporter: Import and export widgets between WordPress installations.

48. WordPress Popular Posts: Displays popular posts based on views or comments.

49. Code Snippets: Add custom code snippets without editing theme files.

50. Duplicate Page: Quickly duplicate pages and posts.

51. WP Statistics: Provides detailed statistics about your site’s traffic.

52. Insert Headers and Footers: Easily add code snippets to your site’s header or footer.

53. MC4WP: Mailchimp for WordPress: Integrates Mailchimp with your site.

54. WP Maintenance Mode: Displays a maintenance mode page to visitors.

55. WP Live Chat Support: Adds live chat functionality to your site.

56. WP-PostRatings: Allows visitors to rate your posts.

57. WP Multibyte Patch: Fixes issues with character encoding.

58. WP RSS Aggregator: Import RSS feeds as WordPress posts.

59. CM Tooltip Glossary: Adds a glossary of terms to your site.

60. MailPoet Newsletters (formerly “WYSIJA Newsletters”): Create newsletters and manage subscribers.

61. WP Google Search: Integrates Google Custom Search with your site.

62. Advanced Custom Fields: Customizes the WordPress edit screens with fields.

63. All In One WP Security & Firewall: Enhances your site’s security.

64. Login LockDown: Adds login attempt limiting and monitoring.

65. iThemes Security (formerly Better WP Security): A comprehensive security plugin.

66. WP Accessibility: Improves accessibility of your site.

67. Content Views – Post Grid & List for WordPress: Creates beautiful post grids and lists.

68. WP Smush: Compresses and optimizes images.

69. EWWW Image Optimizer: Optimizes images for speed.

70. NextGEN Gallery: A popular gallery plugin.

71. Coming Soon Page & Maintenance Mode by SeedProd: Displays a coming soon or maintenance mode page.

72. Disable Comments: Allows you to disable comments.

73. Disqus Comment System: Integrates Disqus comments with your site.

74. User Switching: Allows administrators to switch between user accounts.

75. Adminimize: Simplifies the WordPress admin interface.

76. Easy WP SMTP: Configures your site to send emails via SMTP.

77. Breadcrumb NavXT: Adds breadcrumb navigation to your site.

78. Sucuri Security – Auditing, Malware Scanner and Security Hardening: Enhances site security.

79. Google Captcha (reCAPTCHA) by BestWebSoft: Adds reCAPTCHA to your forms.

80. BulletProof Security: A security plugin with firewall protection.

81. Instagram Feed: Displays Instagram feeds on your site.

82. Contact Form by WPForms – Drag & Drop Form Builder for WordPress: A user-friendly form builder.

83. WPTouch Mobile Plugin: Creates a mobile-friendly version of your site.

84. WP-DB-Backup: Backs up your WordPress database.

85. Blog Designer: Customizes blog layouts.

86. Easy Testimonials: Adds testimonials to your site.

87. Gallery – Photo Gallery and Images Gallery: A feature-rich gallery plugin.

88. Shortcodes Ultimate: Adds a variety of shortcodes for content enhancement.

89. WP Simple Booking Calendar: Allows booking and reservations.

90. SEO Redirection Plugin: Manages URL redirects.

91. LiveChat: Adds live chat functionality.

93. Amazon Auto Links: Monetizes your site by automatically linking Amazon products.

94. WP User Frontend – Membership, Profile, Registration & Post Submission Plugin for WordPress: Allows user registration and front-end post submissions.

95. Redirection for Contact Form 7: Manages redirects for Contact Form 7 submissions.

96. WP Store Locator: Adds a store locator to your site.

97. NextGEN Gallery: A powerful gallery plugin for managing and displaying images.

98. Disable Comments: Allows you to disable comments globally on your site.