Must-Have Free WordPress Plugins for WordPress
Most “reviews” for WP plugins i see on the Internet, are nothing but copy-paste from WordPress.org or just paid ads, usually from people that have never installed and use them.
This is my ultimate list of really good and totally free plugins for WordPress. Plugins that i have installed and used for a long time in several WP installations. Plugins that work as expected, with no errors and their support is really good.
I have also included some small jewels-plugins that will make your life as a webmaster easier and your WordPress better.
In no particular order:
Last Updated: January 2023
| Plugin | Description | Pro/Paid Upgade |
|---|---|---|
| NinjaFirewall (WP Edition) | NinjaFirewall (WP Edition) is a true Web Application Firewall. | Yes |
| WP Fastest Cache | Fastest Cache (free/lite version) caching plugin. Some basic optimizing features are also included in the lite/free version. | Yes |
| wpForo Forum | wpForo Forums is the best WordPress forum plugin. Full-fledged yet easy and light forum solution for your WordPress website. Comes with modern and responsive forum layouts and styles. | No. Commercial addons available. |
| Ad Inserter | Ad management plugin with many advanced advertising features to insert ad codes at optimal positions. | Yes |
| GD Mail Queue | The plugin adds a mail queue system that can intercept all the emails sent through the wp_mail function, and depending on the predefined rules (number of recipients) sent the email into the queue, with each recipient getting own email. | Yes |
| Seo Framework | The fastest and only feature-complete SEO plugin that follows the guidelines and rules imposed by WordPress and search engines. 100% FREE. | No |
| Related Posts by Taxonomy | Quickly increase your readers’ engagement by adding related posts in the sidebar or after post content with a widget or shortcode. (for advanced webmasters) | No |
| Top 10 Popular posts | Top 10 is an easy to use, yet, powerful WordPress plugin that will count the number of page views of your posts, pages and any custom post types. | No |
| Antispam Bee | Say Goodbye to comment spam on your WordPress blog or website. | No |
| ARI Fancy Lightbox | It uses Fancybox popup to bring lightbox effect to WordPress sites. | Yes |
| Ban Hammer | Ban Hammer helps you do that by preventing unwanted users from registering. | No |
| No Cache AJAX Widgets | Make your widgets to work with any caching plugin. | No |
| Simple CSS | Simple CSS gives you an awesome admin editor and a live preview editor in the Customizer so you can easily add your CSS. | No |
