By default, WordPress comes with a fundamental setup. You will need plugins to enhance the functionality to make your blog more professional and conversion-friendly.
The WordPress repository has over 50000 plugins. It’s tough to choose which plugins are suitable for your blog.
To solve this problem, we came up with a list of 10 Best WordPress Plugins For A Blog that are the bare minimum plugins required to set up a money-making blog.
A few bloggers use tons of plugins, while others use just a few. This is purely based on personal choice and requirement.
For Example, if you want to create a WooCommerce store, you may need 25-30 plugins to achieve the basic functionalities.
On the other hand, if you create a simple WordPress blog, you may need about 8-10 plugins only. So it all depends on the type of blog you own and the functionalities you want.
But why should we care about how many plugins we are installing? Is there any issue with installing more plugins? My hosting provider offers unlimited space, so why not use it and install more plugins?
Yes, you can install as many plugins as you like. But there are some problems.
Here are some of the drawbacks of installing more plugins.
- More plugin means more space consumption
- Blogs with more plugins load very slowly
- There are chances of plugin conflicts
- Bandwidth utilization will be very high
- More CPU utilization per page view
- Page size will be larger if there are more plugins
- The WordPress admin dashboard will be super slow
- Loss of search ranking
- Potential loss of visitors and customers
Best WordPress Plugins
This list of 10 WordPress plugins is good for creating a simple blog or personal website with WordPress. You may need different plugins to achieve various functionalities.
This plugin list is not exhaustive, but it’s the bare minimum required for any blog.
Table of Contents
1. Rank Math
RANK MATH PRO
RankMath is a powerful WordPress SEO plugin that helps optimize websites for better search rankings and performance.
By default, WordPress does not have any SEO functionality. You need to install SEO plugins to achieve SEO features. Free plugins are a good place to start, but they have limited functionality.
Yoast is the leader in the WordPress SEO plugin category. But I won’t recommend that. Instead, I would suggest using the Rank Math SEO plugin, which offers much more than Yoast.
On top of that, Rank Math’s free version offers more than the paid versions of other SEO plugins. Rank Math is one of the best WordPress plugins for SEO.
Rank Math’s free version has almost all the features that you need in terms of SEO, but if you want to take your SEO experience to the next level, you should try the premium version of Rank Math.
With Rank Math, you can get rid of several plugins because many features are integrated into the Rank Math plugin itself. A smaller number of plugins means better speed.
Rank Math also has an in-built search console feature that gives you a sneak peek of how your blog appears in search results. You no longer need to go to the Google Search Console.
You also get a broad overview of the ranking keywords. Ideally, such features are rare in SEO plugins, but Rank Math has them all.
Rank Math can connect to Google Analytics and display analytics data directly on the WordPress dashboard. You no longer need to log in to Google Analytics to see how your site is performing.
A few other features include 404 monitors, Redirection manager, Local SEO, WooCommerce SEO, Schema markup, FAQ block, How To block, quick indexing, etc. The list goes on.
2. WP Rocket
WP Rocket
Supercharge your WordPress site with WP Rocket — boost speed, SEO, and user experience in just a click!
Website speed is essential. No doubt about it. Right? As per the latest update, Google is considering Core Web Vitals as a ranking factor.
What does that mean? If your blog takes more time to load, you can lose search ranking, no matter how good the content is.
There are many ways to improve website speed. One key factor is hosting. You should always choose a good hosting like Cloudways if you care about website speed.
The other key factor is Caching. But what is caching, and what does it do?
What cache does is that it stores the static content of your website when someone visits your website for the first time.
When they revisit the same page, the browser does not reload the content from the server; instead, it loads it from the cache. Since there is less load on the server, the website speed improves.
WP Rocket is one of the most reputable and best cache plugins for WordPress. You will notice a significant speed improvement after installing WP Rocket.
Not only does it help with caching, but this plugin also minifies code, preloads fonts, combines JavaScript and CSS files, performs database optimizations, etc. It can also control WP Heartbeat, which is a bottleneck to speed.
WP Rocket does not have a free version. However, I can guarantee you that you won’t regret spending money on WP Rocket.
You can also choose the FlyingPress cache plugin, which is equally good. In fact, in some areas, FlyingPress performs better than WP Rocket. For example, if you want to remove Unused CSS, FlyingPress performs way better than WP Rocket.
FlyingPress also offers a CDN service, FlyingCDN, that can deliver your content from 70+ POPs. Image compression and WebP delivery are also available in FlyingCDN.
Overall, the FlyingPress cache plugin is a better alternative to WP Rocket. Based on how it suits your website, you can choose any one of these plugins.
3. Perfmatters
Perfmatters
Optimize beyond caching with Perfmatters—lightweight performance tuning, and improve your website loading time
Perfmatters is an optimization plugin. It differs from WP Rocket, which is a caching plugin.
Why do we need an optimization plugin?
By default, WordPress loads a lot of junk every time you load a page. For example, WordPress loads JavaScript and CSS files from all plugins on every page, even if the plugin’s feature isn’t used on that page.
That is why your website will load very slowly if you don’t optimize its resources. Cache plugins can perform some optimization, but their main feature is caching.
Optimization plugins like Perfmatters can decide which plugin resources to load on which pages, thereby saving your bandwidth and improving website loading time.
Perfmatters can also defer and delay JavaScript, which will improve the site’s loading time. It can also remove Unused CSS files, reducing the number of HTTP requests per site visit.
One of the best features of Perfmatters is that it can host the Google Analytics code locally so that you can cache it and load it from the CDN. That improves your site’s loading speed further.
When you use Perfmatters with a cache plugin like WP Rocket, this is the best combination for improving your website’s loading speed.
A couple of features of Perfmatters may conflict with cache plugins. Please make sure to turn on those features either on the cache plugin or on Perfmatters.
4. WPVivid
WP Vivid
WPvivid Backup Plugin offers easy WordPress backups, restores, and migrations with cloud storage support and one-click automation
Uncertain things can happen to your WordPress blogs. It can occur due to a new theme, a new plugin, or an update.
It could also be due to a malware attack or poor coding.
It’s always safe to take a backup of your WordPress blog periodically so that you can restore your blog in case of any issues.
When we talk about backup plugins for WordPress, WPVivid is the first choice of many bloggers. It can automatically or on demand create backups of your website.
In case of any issue, you can easily restore your website from the backup.
WPVivid also offers remote backup. What that means is that you can back up your WordPress website to cloud services like Google Drive, Dropbox, etc.
So, even if you lose your WPVivid backup, you can still restore your website from the cloud backup.
WPVivid can also take periodic automatic backups. Once you set the interval, WPVivid will automatically back up your blog.
WPVivid offers a free version that’s more than enough for a typical blog. But if your WordPress backup folder exceeds 500 MB, it is better to use the premium version, which lets you take incremental backups.
5. Shortpixel
Shortpixel
ShortPixel optimizes images automatically, reducing file sizes without quality loss to speed up your WordPress site and boost SEO
Do you know that images contribute to about 70% of website space? The more pictures you have on a page, the slower that page will load.
To improve your website speed, you need to optimize images. Unfortunately, most cache plugins cannot cache or optimize images.
On top of that, traditional CDNs like Cloudflare cannot deliver images through their networks.
Images are a big pain area for bloggers. Agree?
Then what is the solution?
The solution is to use the Image Optimizer plugin. You will get tons of free and paid image optimizer plugins, but Shortpixel Image Optimizer is the best.
When I talk about the best, I mean the most value-for-money plugins that perform regular image optimization.
Shortpixel has a free plugin that gives you 100 MB of credit per month. So, if I consider an image size of about 500 KB, then you can optimize up to 200 images per month with the free plugin.
The free plugin will also create WebP versions of all images and deliver them to the front end.
You can also install one more plugin called Shortpixel Adaptive Images to load your website image files through Shortpixel CDN.
This will drastically reduce the load on your hosting server, and your website will load much faster than before.
If you want to optimize more images, you have to buy a premium subscription plan or buy a one-time credit. For example, you can buy 7000 image credits for $3.99.
The rate is comparatively cheap compared to other similar plugins.
You can also use EWWW Image Optimizer, which offers almost the same features and can load your images from its CDN.
6. Social Snap
Social Snap
Amplify your social reach with Social Snap—smart sharing tools now available at exclusive 30% savings
If you are a new blogger and not getting enough organic traffic, social media is the only way to drive traffic.
WordPress does not have any social sharing buttons by default. You need to install a plugin to achieve this functionality.
Social Snaps is an excellent plugin to share content on social media. You will be able to share content across over 40 social networks.
You will also get an option to share images on Pinterest. This plug-in includes a dedicated “Click To Tweet” widget that lets you share content directly on Twitter.
You can show the social share button at the top or bottom of the content, or anywhere using a shortcode. You can also show sidebar floating widgets using this plugin.
Social Snap has a free version with basic functionalities. You will only get six social networks in the free version. But the premium version has 40 social networks, as I said before.
In the premium version, you can also display floating widgets on mobile devices. You can also see detailed statistics about how often your post was shared to different networks, how frequently users clicked on those links, etc.
You can also use Novashare, which offers the same functionalities but at a cheaper price than Social Snap.
7. WP Coupons And Deals
WP Coupons And Deals
WP Coupons and Deals is a WordPress plugin that lets you showcase coupons, deals, and offers to boost affiliate sales.
If your blog’s primary monetization strategy is affiliate marketing, then you definitely need this plugin, unless your theme already offers the same features.
You always wanted to show different deals and coupons on your blog as simply as possible. Right? This plugin can help you achieve this.
You can create coupons using shortcodes, just like you make a post, and show them in the sidebar, posts, pages, or anywhere you want.
You can also categorize coupons to make it easier for you to manage.
One of the best features of this plugin is that you can create archive pages. Visitors do not need to navigate around different pages to find deals. They can go to the archive page to get all their deals.
8. Super Page Cache For Cloudflare
Super Page Cache
Super Page Cache is a WordPress plugin that boosts site speed by caching pages and improving overall performance.
Do you know that Time To First Byte (TTFB) is the main element to check if your server is fast or slow? TTFB tells how fast your server responds. Google recommends a TTFB of less than 200ms.
Reputed hosting companies like Kinsta and WP Engine offer TTFB in the range of 100-150ms
Can you expect a TTFB of 30-40ms without using a costly hosting plan?
NOT. But with the Super Page Cache For Cloudflare plugin, you can.
You can get 30-40ms TTFB, no matter where you have hosted your website. Sounds interesting? Let’s dig into it.
We all know that the Cloudflare free plan only offers static caching. This means that all static content, such as JavaScript and CSS, is cached and delivered. But how about the dynamic content?
Does Cloudflare cache the HTML that your website generates every time you update a post?
No, at least in the free plan.
But here is a catch. You can cache dynamic content using the Full Page Caching option, even on the Cloudflare free plan. For that, you need to write custom caching rules, which is not very easy.
Super Page Cache For Cloudflare plugins unlock the potential of Cloudflare’s Full Page Caching feature.
It automatically creates caching rules for your website in Cloudflare so that dynamic content can be cached as well. It also lets you set rules to exclude pages you don’t want to cache.
Once dynamic caching is set, your website content will be delivered from Cloudflare POPs rather than your server. That drastically improves the speed.
The best thing about this plugin is that it is entirely FREE. The other solution to achieve similar functionality is to use Cloudflare APO, which costs $5 per month, or Cloudflare Pro, which costs $200 per month.
9. All In One Security (AIOS)
All In One Security
All in One Security is a WordPress plugin that protects your site with firewalls, login security, and malware prevention.
WordPress is the most popular CMS. So it is expected to have security issues.
By default, WordPress does not come with security features. You need to install a third-party plugin to enable security features in WordPress.
Usually, only the paid version of full-fledged security plugins is available. WP All In One Security is the only plugin that is almost 90% free. It has a pro version, but we don’t need it—the free version is more than enough.
WP All-in-One Security can protect your blog from unauthorized user logins, brute-force attacks, spam, and more. It can also protect your database and WordPress directories.
It offers a basic firewall, but if you want advanced protection, this one isn’t enough.
This plugin does not protect you against malware, but it can notify you of file changes so you can take corrective action.
You can change the WordPress login URL, activate two-factor authentication, and add Google reCAPTCHA in the forms using this plugin.
Overall, this plugin offers basic protection to your WordPress website. You may need to add additional security measures to better protect your site.
10. Thirsty Affiliate
Thirsty Affiliate
ThirstyAffiliates is a WordPress plugin that manages, cloaks, and tracks affiliate links to boost earnings and simplify marketing.
Thirsty Affiliate is an affiliate link management plugin that lets you store all your affiliate links and convert them to links on your domain.
For example, when you sign up for an affiliate program, you may get an affiliate link that may look like this:” https://www.astra.com/affiliate/rsgdhnsk157“. Don’t you find this affiliate link very, very hard to remember?
Thirsty Affiliate converts that ugly affiliate link to something like “https://rianstech/go/astra,” which is much easier to remember and good for Google, too.
This plugin can also track link clicks. This means you can check how many clicks a particular link received, the conversion rate, the location, etc. The feature list is imposing.
You can also categorize affiliate links to make them easier to manage.
The free version has minimal features, which is good if you are starting affiliate marketing. However, most of the main features are only available in the pro version.
Conclusion: Essential WordPress Plugins
Are these 10 plugins enough for a blog?
Yes, if you are doing affiliate marketing. No, if you have any other blog.
See, there is no limit on the number of plugins that you should install. Some bloggers are so lazy that they install a plugin for everything.
And some bloggers try to install only a few plugins and still achieve the same functionality. The choice is yours.
Some themes, like Rehub, offer many of the affiliate functionalities that few of the plugins listed above offer. So if you use a good theme, you may need fewer plugins.
However, the list we shared is the bare minimum of plugins you may need to run and earn from an affiliate blog. But you are free to install as many plugins as you like.
A couple of universal plugins include Rank Math, WP Rocket, Perfmatters, Social Snap, WP All In One Security, Super Page Cache for Cloudflare, WP Vivid, and ShortPixel. This means you can use these plugins for any blog. The other two plugins are only specific to affiliate blogs.
FAQ: Essential WordPress Plugin
What Is The Best WordPress SEO Plugin?
Rank Math is the best WordPress SEO Plugin. The free version of Rank Math offers more features than the paid version of any other SEO plugin. The complete list of features can be found here.
What Is The Best WordPress Security Plugin?
Sucuri, WordFence, iThemes Security, and WP All In One Security are some of the best WordPress security plugins.
What Is The Best WordPress Backup Plugin?
WPVivid is the Best WordPress Backup Plugin. With different backup options, you don’t have to worry about your website, as you can easily restore it when there is an issue.
What Is The Best WordPress Caching Plugin?
WP Rocket is the Best WordPress Caching Plugin. However, Flyingpress is equally good. In fact, in some areas, it performs better than WP Rocket. WP Rocket, along with Perfmatters, is the best combination for fast website loading speeds.
