Since I’ve been developing WordPress sites, I’ve tested and used countless plugins to meet recurring needs: contact forms, security, performance, custom content… The official repository is full of interesting solutions. The plugins I list here are the ones I use regularly. This selection highlights quality plugins that help build a solid WordPress site.
All these plugins are free, actively maintained, and effective right away. Most also offer paid professional versions with extended features.
How do I select a WordPress plugin?
This approach helps both beginners and more advanced users make an informed first selection.
One plugin = one need
The repository is full of “Swiss army knife” plugins: they do a lot of things at once. I’m not a fan of this approach. In general, the extra features are less polished than those of smaller, specialized plugins.
I always try to choose a plugin that fulfills a specific need.
Well thought-out and non-invasive
The option page
An option page? Yes, but… If the plugin adds its own page to the sidebar of the admin interface, it shouldn’t be yet another useless dashboard or a place to promote unrelated products. The option page should serve advanced usage of the plugin itself. Otherwise, the right place for settings is the global Settings menu.
Stop advertising!
The plugin should not turn your administration interface into an ad board. If a pro version exists, the information belongs only on the plugin’s settings page, not scattered across the dashboard.
There is a charter
The design of the plugin’s settings page should blend seamlessly with WordPress’ native interface, ensuring clear and consistent management without disrupting the user experience.
The icing on the cake
A non-invasive plugin doesn’t clutter the dashboard with irrelevant widgets. I call this a bonus, since these widgets can be disabled in the “Screen Options” menu — but a novice user might not even know this feature exists.
The editor is responsive on the support page
Hesitating between two plugins for the same need? A quick visit to the support tab on their respective repository pages can help. Check how the editor or developer responds to user questions.
If most requests are answered and resolved, that’s a very good sign!
Your database isn’t a trash can
I always like to take a quick look at the database after installing a plugin. If it creates 15 new tables right away, that’s a red flag — it’s probably not a lightweight solution.
Selecting a quality plugin
To summarize, here are some key criteria for selecting a WordPress plugin:
- It meets a specific need.
- It is non-invasive.
- The editor is responsive on the support page.
- It doesn’t bloat the database.
- And of course, it works reliably!
By sticking to these principles and through testing, I’ve built my own checklist of quality WordPress plugins for both simple and advanced sites. Here is my little checklist of WordPress plugin for simple or more advanced websites.
A sturdy, lightweight base
Let’s start with the basics: to build your first website, WordPress is all you need. Especially today with Gutenberg and the site editor. But for all the sites I work on, I set up this first base. The plugins in this base meet all my selection criteria.
Performance
A first selection of plugins that quickly improve your site’s performance for your visitors and in the administration interface. I’ve detailed how they work in my article: A super-fast (and free) WordPress cache without WP Rocket.
Autoptimize
Optimize and aggregate the static resources of your WordPress site (CSS, JS, HTML…).
➡️ Autoptimize by Optimizing Matters
Enabler cover
Activates a page cache to serve HTML files for pages that have already been calculated.
My configuration guide: How to set up Cache Enabler
➡️ Cache Enabler by KeyCDN
SQLite Object Cache
Enables an object caching system with SQLite3 or APCU.
➡️ SQLite Object Cache by Oliver Jones
ZenPress
My first official plugin, I’ve designed it to lighten your WordPress site by disabling legacy features, removing or hiding ads, and applying a set of performance and security best practices right out of the box.
The code is open and accessible to all on github.
➡️ ZenPress – Unbloat, Performance & Security by Quentin Le Duff
Need more performance?
Discover ZenPress, my ultra-lightweight free plugin that removes unnecessary features and ads from your WordPress site, boosts security, and improves performance.
Security
WordPress itself is secure. When a vulnerability is discovered, it’s quickly patched by the core contributors. The majority of security issues come from external factors: plugins, themes, or user practices.
I’ve put together a simple checklist to strengthen your site’s defenses: WordPress security checklist. You can’t eliminate every risk, but you can greatly reduce them.
BBQ Firewall
A small, lightweight firewall that blocks a wide range of malicious requests before they reach your site.
➡️ BBQ Firewall by Jeff Starr
Header Security Advanced
Automatically configures important HTTP response headers (CSP, HSTS, X-Frame, etc.) to improve your site’s security posture.
➡️ Headers Security Advanced & HSTS WP by Andrea Ferro
WPS Hide Login
Moves the WordPress login page to a custom URL. This simple change blocks many automated attacks on /wp-login.php.
➡️ WPS Hide Login by Remy Perona
SEO
WordPress is already SEO-friendly out of the box. To fine-tune details like meta tags and sitemaps, I recommend adding a lightweight SEO plugin.
Slim SEO
A minimalist SEO plugin that covers the essentials—without clutter, ads, or upsells.
Analytics
Most of us like to know how many people visit our site and which pages are the most popular. For that, I recommend starting with a simple, privacy-friendly solution.
Koko Analytics
A lightweight, self-hosted analytics plugin with clear reports on visits and popular pages. Perfect before considering heavier, more invasive tools.
➡️ Koko Analytics by Danny van Kooten
A small base to get you started
This initial list of plugins improves your site without overloading it, while keeping the native WordPress experience intact.
✅ Autoptimize
✅ BBQ Firewall
✅ Cache enabler
✅ Header Security Advanced
✅ Koko Analytics
✅ SQLite Object Cache
✅ Slim SEO
✅ ZenPress
✅ WPS Hide Login
Additional plugins as required
A categorized selection of plugins I’ve tested and approved. Just pick what fits your project! When a plugin doesn’t fully meet my selection criteria, it makes up for it with the quality of its functionality.
Improved quality of life
Plugins that make the site more user-friendly and improve certain native functions.
Admin Menu Editor
Reorganize the admin sidebar to keep things clear as your site grows with custom content and option pages.
➡️ Admin Menu Editor by Janis Elsts
Yoast Duplicate Post
Quickly clone articles, pages, or any content type. Saves time when creating similar layouts.
➡️ Yoast Duplicate Post by Team Yoast
Forms
The first step to interact with your visitors: a simple contact form.
Contact Form 7 (CF7)
A free, lightweight plugin for building simple forms. Ideal for starting out.
➡️ Contact Form 7 by Takayuki Miyoshi
Flamingo
Save and view form submissions from CF7 directly in the WordPress dashboard.
➡️ Flamingo by Takayuki Miyoshi
Forms protection
Forms are often the first attack vector, especially for automated spam (comments, registrations, contact requests…). Here are some tools to protect them.
Akismet
Automattic’s solution to protect WordPress forms. Integrates with CF7, but messages are processed on external servers, which may raise GDPR concerns.
➡️ Akismet Anti-spam by Automattic
Honeypot for Contact Form 7
Adds a hidden honeypot field to CF7 to trap bots. I wrote a guide here: How to configure Honeypot for CF7. Recently it added a promotional dashboard, but the protection remains effective.
➡️ Honeypot for Contact Form 7 by Saad Iqbal
WP Armour
A solid alternative to Akismet. Works fully locally without sending data outside. Downside: it relies on jQuery and loads it on the front-end. If your site already uses jQuery, no issue; if not, it’s extra weight.
➡️ WP Armour – Honeypot Anti Spam by Dnesscarkey
Customized content management
WordPress allows you to create additional content types: “custom post types”. These plugins let you manage extra content and associated fields directly from the administration interface. Make your choice!
The challenger: Pods
This lightweight plugin is a very complete alternative to ACF, well integrated with Gutenberg. Pods also makes it easy to create custom layouts, blocks, and compositions based on its additional fields. A complementary caching plugin designed for low-resource hosting plans is also available.
➡️ Pods – Custom Content Types and Fields by Scott Kingsley Clark
➡️ Pods Alternative Cache by Jory Hogeveen
The reference: ACF
It’s the heavyweight plugin for managing custom content. If you’re more of a “no-code” person, this is the plugin for you.
➡️ Advanced Custom Fields by WP Engine
Maintenance
The maintenance plugins listed here make it easier to manage your site on a day-to-day basis.
Manual backups: All-in-One WP Migration
Extremely easy to use, this plugin lets you manually back up your entire site and easily restore it. It’s also ideal for exporting your site to a local server.
➡️ All-in-One WP Migration and Backup by ServMask
Cleaning the database: Database Cleaner
This plugin doesn’t fully match my dashboard criteria, but it’s an excellent, high-quality tool for fine-tuning your WordPress database, with a clear and well-designed user interface.
➡️ Database Cleaner by Jordy Meow
Update tracking: Easy Updates Manager
WordPress already allows automatic updates for themes and plugins, but Easy Updates Manager centralizes their management with a simple interface for consulting logs. You can also define a different email address from the main administrator to receive these daily reports.
➡️ Easy Updates Manager by David Anderson / Team Updraft
This list of plugins is updated regularly
Just like WordPress, this list will evolve over time, so don’t hesitate to bookmark it for future updates! If you have recommendations for plugins that meet these selection criteria, feel free to share them!
I hope this post has helped you and that you enjoyed reading it. If you have any questions, need support for your WordPress site, or want to contribute, don’t hesitate to contact me or leave a comment 🙂
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