Top 7 Plugins Every WordPress Site Should Include
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7 of the Latest,“Must-have” Plugins for any WordPress Website.
This is our list of necessary plugins that focuses on the main pillars of any WordPress site: performance, SEO, security, AI, builders, UX, etc. – those items that are especially relevant if you’re running a business site or content-heavy platform:
CATEGORY: CACHING & OPTIMIZATION
1. FlyingPress (https://flyingpress.com/)
Why: This plugin is FAST! It’s a lightweight, powerful, and performance-focused plugin that handles caching, image optimization, lazy loading, and critical CSS generation all in one. Unlike other alternatives, FlyingPress allows for granular control with minimal server overhead (it’s running on this site RIGHT NOW).
April 2025 Boost: It is also now enhanced with AI-driven resource loading, FlyingPress intelligently prioritizes assets based on user behavior and device type. It also integrates directly with modern CDNs and core web vital’s insights for near-instant page loads.
Alternatives? A lot of sites still run WP Rocket. It’s good for caching and has what they call “AI-enhanced lazy loading.” But we’re not really about that life and prefer FlyingPress all day, every day.
CATEGORY: SITE SECURITY
2. Wordfence Security (https://www.wordfence.com/)
Why: I can’t tell you how many sites have theme issues, admin/login issues, and more because this plugin was installed. So, I’d definitely recommend you try and achieve security hardening outside of the WordPress platform itself. However, let’s say you’re clueless, trying to do this on your own, and need more than basic platform protections. Wordfence adds a real-time firewall, live traffic monitoring, and malware scanning directly inside your WordPress dashboard. And to add to that “just for dummies” mantra, it doesn’t just flag threats, it blocks them before they reach your site.
April 2025 Boost: You’ll now get predictive threat detection powered by AI that identifies suspicious behavior before known signatures are added. The plugin also integrates with updated threat feeds and can auto-block IPs involved in large-scale bot attacks (protecting your SEO rankings from malicious traffic spikes).
Alternatives? Sure, but nah. If you have to have security set up like this (inside of wordpress itself), just use this plugin.
CATEGORY: AIO (A.I. Optimization) / SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
3. Yoast SEO Premium (Yoast.com)
Why: You control your content vs. Google mis-categorizing or misreading it. Yoast SEO Premium gives you full visibility into how your site performs in search and helps you optimize every post with real-time content analysis (which – lets be honest – they should just delete the content analysis feature – it’s worthless). However, I like the internal linking suggestions and advanced schema options.
April 2025 Boost: This year, you’ll benefit from upgraded AI guidance that aligns content with AI-generated answers like ChatGPT summaries. The plugin now offers direct feedback on passage-based ranking potential and helps you optimize for featured snippets without needing separate tools.
Alternatives? Some people prefer Rank Math SEO. I’m not a fan because one wrong step and the schema for your entire site can get wonky (we just had a new client where Rank Math is causing the entire site to look like a news/opinion website… news flash – pun intended – it’s not). So it’s less user friendly, but definitely the #2 option for us.
CATEGORY: SITE/PAGE BUILDER
4. WP Bakery / Visual Composer (https://wpbakery.com/)
Why: You don’t have to use WordPress Guttenberg (CRAP) editor, and you can bypass code. WPBakery gives you drag-and-drop control over layouts, sections, and design elements inside WordPress. While they still haven’t worked out building better module (think of CTAs you want to use across the site), it’s still the best builder from a UX/UI (and compatibility) perspective.
April 2025 Boost: You’ll also see expanded compatibility with modern themes, faster load rendering, and new AI-assisted layout suggestions for faster prototyping.
Alternatives? Everyone knows Elementor. And I think it’s even more used than WP Bakery. But it’s code implementation behind the scenes still leaves a lot to be desired. NOTE: they said they’ve fixed it and it’s SEO optimized… but their builder still has really silly UI/UX nuggets that just shouldn’t exist. I feel like if you’re a wannabe WordPress Pro Developer (trying to prove you’re awesome), you use elementor, but real pros use WP Bakery for it’s ease of use. Still, Elementoramis is still a good second option.
CATEGORY: UTILITY
5. Classic Editor & Classic Widgets
Why: You don’t always need the newest tool to get the job done right (New isn’t always better). These plugins keep WordPress editing predictable, fast, and familiar. If you’re managing high-output content, complex layouts, or using WP Bakery as your builder, these plugins allow you to reduce friction and keep your workflow efficient (without the distractions of experimental interfaces). And let’s be honest, Guttenberg SUCKS!
April 2025 Boost: Both plugins continue receiving support to bypass Gutenberg block limitations and allow full compatibility with third-party tools.
Alternatives? Don’t… Just Don’t.
CATEGORY: UTILITY
6. Disable Comments (https://wordpress.org/plugins/disable-comments/)
Why: You don’t need every page to be a conversation. And this plugin allows you to control conversational elements across the site (not just comments on blog posts). When your site exists to inform, convert, or sell, comments can slow you down, clutter your layout, and attract spam. This plugin gives you one-click control to turn off comments globally or selectively, so you can focus attention where it matters.
April 2025 Boost: The latest version improves performance by removing native comment-related scripts and database calls entirely, which helps reduce load times and tightens security. You can now also disable comments across custom post types and integrations, streamlining admin workflows for large-scale or multi-author sites.
Alternatives? Nope, why? Just use this plugin. It’s free and great!
CATEGORY: FORMS
7. Ninja Forms (https://ninjaforms.com/)
Why: They have GREAT support. I once found a bug with one of their releases, and sent it on. Not only did I get a reply the same day, they told me they scheduled it to be fixed on their next release. Functionality wise, it’s just like many other offerings, but I do also like that they have a marketplace with extensions as well. You can also customize every field, hook into third-party tools, and manage submissions directly inside your dashboard.
April 2025 Boost: So far this year the updates focus on smarter workflows. You can now trigger conditional logic based on AI-enhanced field inputs, auto-validate for spam patterns without CAPTCHA, and sync data to CRMs or marketing platforms faster through prebuilt connectors (what I mentioned in the why area).
Alternatives? Sure, at #2 is wpforms lite, at #3 there’s gravity forms, and a lot of people go with contact form 7 (which we stopped using because it’s over bloated and slows down sites – but to be fair we stopped using it ages ago and they might have fixed that).
WordPress Plugins Galore – Seeing the Forest for the Trees
There’s so many more plugins we use… think about the need to track basic user actions in wordpress admin (use Stream), or replace the silly gravatar functionality with a picture from the media library (use Simple Local Avatars), or what about redirects, popups, reading time calculators, etc.?
Well, it’s important to try and find what works best for you!
To find your own plugin library that you love.
But know, that at a minimum, start with these 7 plugins and you’ll always have a great starting point!
