13 WordPress Plugins You Need To Know Exist

With thousands of plugins in the WordPress Plugin Directory, it’s getting harder to know what’s worth your time. Plenty are outdated, abandoned or redundant. But these 13 plugins offer real, proven value. Whether you’re improving performance, adding critical functionality or just making your life easier.

Rank Math SEO

Rank Math has taken the SEO plugin space by storm, combining the best parts of legacy tools like All in One SEO Pack and Yoast while staying fast and modular. It supports everything from basic metadata to rich snippets, sitemaps, 404 monitoring and even content AI recommendations.

Yet Another Related Posts Plugin (YARPP)

Still one of the most useful ways to increase post engagement. YARPP intelligently displays related content using a relevance algorithm based on post titles, content, categories and tags. It’s customizable, performant and actively maintained.

WP-PageNavi

WordPress still defaults to “Older Posts” and “Newer Posts” navigation, which isn’t ideal for content-heavy sites. WP-PageNavi replaces it with numbered pagination, making it easier for users to explore your archives.

UpdraftPlus

An upgrade from the older WP-DB-Backup plugin, UpdraftPlus is the go-to backup solution in the WordPress ecosystem. It supports scheduled backups, remote storage (Google Drive, Dropbox, Amazon S3) and one-click restores.

Fluent Forms

Fluent Forms is fast, flexible and much easier to use than Contact Form 7. It offers drag-and-drop form building, conditional logic, AJAX submissions and tight integrations with CRMs, payment processors and email marketing tools.

If you’re building contact or lead gen forms today, this is one of the best options available.

WP Ajax Edit Comments

This plugin lets users edit their own comments for a limited time after posting. It’s a small UX feature that encourages more thoughtful contributions. It’s still maintained and works well alongside core WordPress features.

You can control the edit window, set permission levels and even moderate edits.

Subscribe to Comments Reloaded

Still a smart way to bring commenters back. This plugin allows users to subscribe to follow-up comments on a post, so they’re notified when someone replies. It supports double opt-in, email management and works with modern comment systems.

Jetpack Stats (via Jetpack)

While Google Analytics remains the gold standard for deep data, Jetpack Stats (powered by Automattic) offers a simple, dashboard-native view of traffic. It’s fast, privacy-conscious and doesn’t require cookies or external scripts.

Max Mega Menu

If you’re building a large site and need multi-level navigation, Max Mega Menu is one of the most flexible options. It turns your existing WordPress menus into responsive, accessible dropdown menus with advanced styling and layout options.

Useful for ecommerce, directories or content-heavy news sites.

Akismet

Still the most effective anti-spam solution for WordPress comments and form submissions. It’s maintained by Automattic and deeply integrated with core WordPress functionality.

WP Rocket

This is the caching plugin I recommend for almost every site I build. It handles everything from page caching to file minification and lazy loading. Unlike older options like WP Super Cache, it’s intuitive and doesn’t require server-level tweaks.

Google XML Sitemaps

Still relevant, still updated. While most SEO plugins now generate sitemaps automatically, Google XML Sitemaps offers more control and transparency. If you’re running a lean install without an SEO suite, this is a clean way to manage your XML sitemap.

Code Snippets

Think of this as a safe way to add functions.php snippets to your site without touching your theme. Code Snippets lets you insert PHP code that runs site-wide or on specific conditions, with version control and rollback features built in.

This replaces the need to manually hack core files or child themes.

Final Thoughts

Not all WordPress plugins are created equal. Some are bloated, abandoned or redundant. But the plugins on this list are either essential, thoughtfully maintained or uniquely valuable in ways other tools aren’t. Most importantly, they’re built to work with the modern WordPress ecosystem.

Here’s a quick rundown of what to consider when choosing plugins:

• Check maintenance history – Look for plugins updated within the last 6 months
• Review support threads – See how active and helpful the devs are
• Avoid duplicates – Don’t run two SEO or caching plugins at once
• Always test before going live – Use a staging environment

WordPress remains one of the most versatile platforms out there and with the right plugins, you can turn it into anything.

If there’s a plugin you love that isn’t on this list, let me know. I’m always looking for tools that solve real problems in smart ways.