10 Best WordPress Plugins Your Website Must Have in 2025

WordPress is one of the most commonly used and popular blogging platforms. Millions of businesses use WordPress to build their websites. And to enhance the website’s features WordPress plugins are often used.

Did you know that WordPress is used by 472 million websites or 43.3% of all websites on the internet? With 62.7% of the CMS market, WordPress has a market share that is more than ten times larger than that of its nearest rival.

Additionally, you can choose from more than 60,000 WordPress plugins due to the platform’s massive user base and widespread appeal. This makes it incredibly difficult for novice users to identify the appropriate plugin for their website – because you want to overwhelm your website with unnecessary plugins, that will further complicate your site.  

Choosing the correct plugins is critical for improving your website’s speed, security, and usability. Fortunately, there are a few standout options that you can utilize for your WordPress website.

So, let’s dig in to learn about the importance of plugins, how to choose the right ones, and the 10 best WordPress plugins in 2025. 

Why are plugins important?

Plugins are important because they enhance the functionality and versatility of your WordPress site without requiring extensive coding knowledge. 

Let’s find out more about why plugins are important.

• Enhanced functionality: Add the required features to your website with plugins easily and seamlessly.
• Improved performance: Optimize site speed and efficiency with caching and image optimization plugins.
• Increased security: Protect your site with security plugins that offer malware scanning and firewall protection.
• Customization: Tailor your site to meet your unique needs and preferences without coding.
• Ease of use: Implement complex features easily, saving time and effort.
• Integration: Connect with third-party services such as email marketing, payment gateways, and analytics tools.
• Regular updates: Keep your site current with new features and security patches through plugin updates. 

Things you should know about WordPress plugins 

What is a plugin?

A plugin is a software that enhances a website with a particular feature. They assist users in expanding and customizing functionality without the need for them to know how to code new features. Thousands of both free and premium plugins are available for users to download, and installing plugins is a simple process. 

Nonetheless, a lot of the best plugins are premium, and in order to fully benefit from certain free plugins, you may need to upgrade to a paid version.

WordPress is amazing on its own, but with the addition of plugins, it has evolved into a website platform capable of doing almost anything, and that too brilliantly. 

Some of the common features that you can add through plugins are improved SEO features, analytics, contact forms, website optimization, etc.

What are the differences between a paid and a free plugin?

The main differences between paid and free plugins are in their features, support, reliability, and cost of course. Paid plugins usually offer more advanced features and customization options because developers invest more time and resources in them. They also come with dedicated customer support. 

On the other hand, plugins may be free to use and are accessible to everyone but it has limited features, support, reliability, and compatibility as compared to paid plugins.

While free plugins are budget-friendly and may work well for basic needs, paid plugins offer more features, support, and reliability.

Additional Read:

How to Quickly Integrate Shopify with WordPress – Know It All

How many plugins should you install on your site?

A normal WordPress website will include between 15 and 18 WordPress plugins. However, the answer to how many plugins you should utilize is only as many as you need. The quantity of WordPress plugins does not slow down your website; rather, it is the quality.

So, you need to understand your business requirements, website needs, customer needs, and other relevant things. 

And, there is no restriction that you can’t use more than 18 or 20 plugins. You need to use it properly and follow the best optimization practices to ensure that it will not negatively affect the website, but will add to the features and impact the website positively.   

Regularly review and remove any plugins that are outdated or no longer necessary. Keeping your plugin count low helps reduce its maintenance and optimization efforts – while ultimately maintaining your site’s speed, security, and overall performance.

Top 10 WordPress Plugins You Should Know About! 

There are so many WordPress plugins—more than 60,000—that’s quite a lot, right? Well, to make the search easier for you, you can check out the 10 best WordPress plugins that we will be covering. Keep reading to know more about it.

1. Yoast SEO

If you want your site’s content to appear at the top of search engines, you must have effective on-page search engine optimization (SEO).

Yoast SEO is a free WordPress plugin that assists you in implementing all of the key SEO principles on your website. This plugin allows you to configure SEO titles and meta descriptions, add structured data/Schema markup, manage your social media share cards, and much more. There’s even a premium edition with extra features.

Additionally, it offers helpful analytical tools that you can use to optimize your content for Google, which is helpful if you’re just starting with SEO.

2. WPForms

When running a business, your top priority is to persuade people to contact you about your services.

WPForms, with its intuitive drag-and-drop interface, 10 form fields, and numerous form templates, is without a doubt the greatest form plugin for WordPress. With it, you can build whatever form you like. It provides dynamic forms that adapt to user input, improving the user experience and form efficacy. WPForms supports several payment channels, including Stripe, PayPal, and Square.

You have all the tools you need to create a basic form in the free version. However, if you want more sophisticated multi-page forms, 28 extra fields, and additional connectors like MailChimp, ActiveCampaign, and Sendinblue, you’ll be required to upgrade.

3. Elementor 

Elementor stands as a preeminent WordPress extension, lauded for its ability to empower users to craft exquisite, tailor-made website designs with remarkable ease. 

Its user-friendly drag-and-drop interface democratizes web design, catering even to those with scant coding knowledge.

Boasting an extensive array of pre-fabricated templates and widgets, it allows for swift creation and customization of pages to align with one’s brand identity and vision. 

Moreover, Elementor provides sophisticated design functionalities, such as responsive editing, bespoke CSS, and seamless integration with other WordPress plugins, rendering it a versatile instrument for both beginners and seasoned web artisans.

4. WooCommerce

Over 5 million websites currently use WooCommerce and the WooCommerce eCommerce platform has a market share of 39%. 

You may learn about their organic traffic as well as their purchased keywords, which you can then study and apply to improve your search engine ranks and exposure. 

It includes strong tools to assist you in enhancing your social media, content & PR, SEO, and paid traffic strategies. With all these incredible options at your disposal, you may effectively oppose their company approach with your own marketing campaign.

The best part is probably that WooCommerce’s basic features are free. It is also produced by Automattic, the same company that makes the WordPress CMS, so you know you’re using a dependable, high-quality plugin.

5. Updraftplus 

UpdraftPlus is a formidable WordPress plugin, meticulously designed for the seamless and reliable backup and restoration of your website. 

It grants users the ability to schedule automatic backups of their site files and databases, ensuring perpetual data security. The plugin accommodates an array of remote storage options, such as Google Drive, Dropbox, Amazon S3, and more. 

Permitting users to store backups securely offsite. In the unfortunate event of data loss or site complications, UpdraftPlus facilitates a straightforward restoration process, making it an essential tool for preserving website stability and security.

6. Contact Form 7

When running a business, your top priority is to persuade people to contact you about your services.

Contact Form 7 is the most popular free WordPress contact form plugin. When you have Contact Form 7 installed on your website, visitors can contact you through simplified forms that are equipped with Akismet and reCAPTCHA features to help stop spam and ensure contact with you. Additionally, it supports Ajax, so you can adjust the appearance of your forms and fetch data without having to reload the page.

Contact Form 7 is ideal for WordPress administrators who need a free and simple way to expand their contact lists. With all necessary elements readily available, the plugin simplifies creating and implementing basic forms. 

7. WP Smush

When it comes to slow-loading websites, images are a major contributing factor. For this reason, it’s critical to optimize each picture file on your website to increase speed. However, it might be an exhausting and time-consuming endeavor to do this manually for each image.

Fortunately, there’s help in the form of the WP Smush image optimization plugin, which automatically reduces the size of images on your website as soon as you add them to the media folder. With reduced picture file sizes, your website will continue to load swiftly for visitors, keeping them focused and engaging.

It offers a simple method for optimizing and compressing your WordPress photos. It manages compression while you upload your picture files, so your workflow won’t be disrupted and performance will increase.

8. Jetpack 

Jetpack is a plugin with a set of fantastic features and tools that add a ton of helpful functionality to your website. This plugin combines the functionality of multiple plugins into one. It is also being developed by Automattic, the same company that created WordPress, so you can expect outstanding developers to work on it.

It offers several services to maintain the seamless operation of your website, from enhancing user interaction to bolstering site security. This plugin allows you to add social share buttons, contact forms, CDN services, email subscription forms, better security, and a variety of other features to your website.

All in all, Jetpack serves as a one-stop shop for all things related to your website. It’s an excellent tool for those who are concerned about plugin overload because it manages lead generation, backups, security, and speed all in one place.  

9. Wordfence Security

Wordfence Security is a comprehensive WordPress plugin devised to shield websites from security threats. It boasts an impressive array of features, including a firewall that blocks malicious traffic, malware scanning to detect and eliminate harmful files, and real-time traffic monitoring to identify potential attacks.

Additionally, Wordfence enhances login security with tools like two-factor authentication and CAPTCHA. Its detailed security reports and alerts keep users informed about their site’s security status, making Wordfence an indispensable tool for protecting WordPress websites.

10. WP Rocket

WP Rocket, a renowned premium WordPress caching plugin, is expertly designed to enhance website speed and efficiency. It encompasses a variety of features such as page caching, browser caching, and GZIP compression, all vital for reducing load times. 

Additionally, WP Rocket optimizes databases, seamlessly integrates with content delivery networks (CDNs), and includes lazy loading for both images and videos, significantly boosting site speed. 

Its user-friendly interface allows even those without technical skills to easily configure and activate the plugin, making WP Rocket an essential tool for improving website performance and user experience.

Conclusion:

Adding new features and functionality to WordPress sites is simple because of the variety of plugins. All you have to do is select the one that best meets your demands. WordPress plugins are one of the best aspects of utilizing WordPress to design your website.

You may find a plugin for almost anything, from adding a simple cookie consent notice to your website to transforming it into a fully functional eCommerce store, online course platform, and/or social network.

Well, if you are still confused about which plugin to choose, how to install it, or would like to get a custom plugin for your custom business needs, Pixel Perfect HTML has got you covered.