20 Must have WordPress Plugins 2025 [Both FREE and Paid]

First of all, I want to discuss something important with you.

We all know that WordPress provides lots of features to make your site awesome but still, there is a lot of features which are missing in it.

So, If you want to add more features to your WordPress blog then Plugins are the best way to do it.

But the main problem is that there are thousands of plugins in WordPress plugin directory.

So, it’s very difficult to decide which plugin is useful for your blog and which is not.

Am I right?

So, to avoid such confusions I finally came up with this article which provides your a complete must have WordPress Plugins for Bloggers ( Free & Paid).

Are you ready to learn about these plugins?

Let’s dive in!

Must Have WordPress Plugins 2025 – (Free & Paid)

With the help of table below, you can easily decide which plugin you want to use.

Please check it below..

1. Jetpack

Jetpack is one of the most popular WordPress plugins which is used by almost all bloggers.

It provides a wide range of functionality to your WordPress blog.

With the help of this plugin, you can not only enhance security, improve site performance of your site but also it offers many user engagement features.

If I talk about its additional features then it can blow your mind because it’s additional features includes: spam free comments, social sharing buttons, related post option, post by email and much more.

It also provides mobile theme option to make it more responsive.

Features of Jetpack Plugin:

Site status and analytics option
Related Post Option
Protect site from brute force attack
Social share plugins
Mobile theme option
Improve site performance
Spam Free Comments

2. WordPress SEO by Yoast

Did you know?

WordPress SEO by Yoast is the best WordPress plugin to do on page SEO.

Even if you have little knowledge of On Page SEO then don’t worry friend.

Because, with the help of this plugin you can easily set the keyword for your blog posts and also it will help you to spread keyword within your blog post wherever necessary.

But wait if you want to use this plugin then you have to configure this plugin.

I have shared a video below which will bring you through the entire process on how to configure WordPress SEO by Yoast.

Features of WordPress SEO by Yoast:

Very easy to use
Help you to set keyword, title and meta description (i.e. blog post description) easily.
help you to spread keyword wherever necessary.
Good plugin to be expert in On Page SEO.

3. All In One Schema.org Rich Snippets

It’s the best and essential plugin to show rich snippet in Google search result.

All In One Schema.org Rich Snippets plugin helps you to show star rating in Google search as shown in the image above.

It will highlight your article on Google when someone searchs for your targeted keyword and encourages people to click on your article and hence improve your ranking.

So, I must suggest you use this plugin especially to make your article more helpful.

Believe me, it’ll increase your CTR.

Features of this plugin:

Very easy to use
Make your article more helpful.
Highlight your article on Google search result.
Increase your CTR on Google.

4. W3 Total Cache Plugin

The speed of WordPress Site is one of the main factors to get good ranking in Google and other search engines.

So, it is crucial to improve your site speed.

But the main question every blogger want to know that how to improve site speed?

The answer is simple.

You can use a FREE plugin called W3 Total cache plugin. With the help of this plugin, you can easily boost your WordPress site speed.

But it’s a little complex to configure this plugin.

So, I have a step by step tutorial here on configuring W3 Total cache plugin.

I hope it will help you.

Features of this plugin:

Speed up your WordPress blog
FREE CDN (Content delivery Network) service.
Caching every aspect of your site.

5. WP Smush – Image Optimization Plugin

When we talk about SEO then Image Optimization is one of the main factors.

Why?

Because, If you optimize your image and reduce it’s size then it will help you to boost your ranking in search engine.

So, It’s very important that your blog images should be of as small size as possible.

I know you may have a question in mind that how to do it?

Don’t worry friend!

You can do it by just installing a FREE plugin called WP Smush – Image Optimization.

Just install and setup this plugin and enjoy.

Features of this plugin:

Reduce image size
Optimize image for SEO
Save space

6. Thrive Architect – Visual Editor for WordPress

Be ready, because now I am going to tell you about one of the most popular plugins of 2025.

It’s Thrive Architect Plugin – A true front-end editor for WordPress.

Thrive Architect is also called :

WYSIWYG = “What You See Is What You Get”

If you want your homepage, blog posts and pages look different from others.

And want to increase your Affiliate Sale then Thrive Architect is the best plugin to do it.

What does this Plugin offers?

Content box, Note Box, Icon Box
Call to Action Box
Tables, Columns, Table of Content
Guarantee Box, Click To Tweet Element
Social Share Buttons, Background Section
Exit Intent Popup
Lead Generation Tools
100+ Landing Page Templates
and much more

7. TablePress Plugin

The biggest problem with WordPress editor that it does not come with the option to add tables within your blog post.

But don’t worry I have a solution for this problem.

You can use a FREE plugin called TablePress, which provides functionality to add tables in WordPress Post and Pages.

And the best thing is that you don’t need any coding knowledge for it.

Features of this plugin

Provide Stylish Tables
Easy to use
Not required any coding knowledge

8. Q2W3 Fixed Widget

As we all know that sidebar is the crucial part of your blog to get more leads and conversion.

But many bloggers unable to take advantage of the sidebar to full potential.

So, you may have doubt what should I do to take full advantage of it.

The answer is simple.

You should make your sidebar sticky so that when your blog reader scroll page then it will continuously appear in the sidebar.

To do that you can use a free plugin known as Q2W3 Fixed Widget.

After installing this plugin you can see an option below your widget setting called “Fixed Widget”.

To make any sidebar sticky just enable this option by clicking on it.

I hope you understood the importance of this plugin.

Features of this plugin

Make your widget sticky
increase your Conversion and lead
Help you to get more clicks on your sidebar

9. Social Warfare Plugin

Do you want more traffic?

If yes, then you must use social share plugin on your blog.

Because Social share buttons is the best way to increase blog traffic fast.

But there is a lot of sharing plugins to choose from.

So, it’s very difficult to decide which one is the best.

Don’t Worry!

If you want to increase your social share then you must select a social share plugin which is attractive, eye-catching and have great design.

Social Warfare plugin fulfill all these requirements which makes it different from others.

As you can see in the image above this plugin provides very attractive social sharing buttons in your blog post.

It helps me a lot to increases my social share and blog traffic.

Features of this plugin:

Attractive social share buttons.
Floating Social share buttons
shows buttons counts
shows total share counts

10. Sumo Me

If you want to grow your WordPress blog fast then I have a good news for you.

Sumo Me is a FREE WordPress Plugin which offers lots of functionalities.

With the help of this plugin, you can add Social Share Buttons, Popups to Generate more leads, Social share buttons on the image and much more.

So, I must suggest you to use this to grow your blog subscribers and traffic rapidly.

Features of this plugin

Complete List Building Tools
Highlighter tool
Floating Social Share Buttons
Social Share Button on Images
and much more.

11. Thirsty Affiliate

If you really want to make money with affiliate marketing then you should properly manage your affiliate links.

And also these links should look natural.

Thirsty Affiliate is a FREE plugin which helps you to manage and cloak your affiliate links.

So, You may think what is link cloaking?

If you cloak your affiliate links then it will look natural.

Don’t worry!

I explain you it with an example:

Uncloaked Affiliate Link:

http://www.vendor.com/products/?product_id=111&affiliate=111

Cloaked Affiliate Link:

http://www.yoursite.com/refer/productname

As you can see above, cloaked affiliate link looks more natural. That’s the reason it attracts more click.

It’s very easy to use this plugin. If you want help then you can read the tutorial of Thirsty Affiliate Plugin here.

The best part of this plugin is that you don’t need to go affiliate program site to get the affiliate link.

You can add affiliate links within your blog post in just a single click.

Features of this plugin

Help you to manage your affiliate links.
Affiliate Link Cloaking
Insert affiliate link within post or page in just one click
Easy to use

12. iTheme Security

We all spend lots of money and effort on our blog.

That’s why it’s crucial to provide security to WordPress blog.

But the main problem is that there is lots of plugins which provides security to WordPress blog.

So, it’s very difficult to decide the best security plugin.

Am I right?

Don’t worry! You can use iThemes Security plugin which is rated no. 1 WordPress security plugin.

I am also using iThemes Security to protect my WordPress blog from hackers.

That’s why I recommend you use this plugin to secure your WordPress blog.

Features of this plugin

Brute force attack protection
Hide login and admin pages.
Strong password enforcement
Two factor authentication for login.
Block users with too many bad login attempts.
and much more.

13. Akismet

Are you facing spam comments problem in your blog?

Then I have a good news for you.

You can use a FREE plugin called Akismet to automatically block all the spam comments.

How this plugin works?

1. Whenever any visitor submit comment on your blog posts
2. then your blog runs each comment through Akismet.
3. Now Akismet tells your blog whether it’s real or spam.

After this process, if Akismet found that comment is spam then it will block that comment automatically.

It means you don’t need to do anything. This plugin will tackle all the problems related to spam comments.

So, I must suggest you use this plugin to protect your site from spam comments.

Features of this plugin

Protect your site from spam comments.
Automatically delete all spam comments.
You don’t need to do anything.

14. Broken Link Checker

Did you know?

Broken links of your website can affect your ranking in Google and other search engines.

That’s why it’s crucial to remove broken links or redirect it to another link.

You can do it by using Broken Link Checker Plugin.

This plugin scans your all blog post, pages etc and inform your about all the broken links on your site.

And the best part is that you don’t need to go each and every page to edit this broken links.

You can edit all these links through this plugin.

Features of this plugin

Check broken links on your site.
Your can edit this links through this plugin.
Very easy to use.

15. Backup Buddy

The most important thing you should do is to take regular backup of your WordPress blog.

Suppose, due to any reason your website crash.

Then your entire hard work will waste within few seconds and you have to start working on your blog from the beginning.

That’s why It’s very important to take regular backup of your WordPress blog.

So that whenever your website data lost then you can easily restore that with just one click.

Backup Buddy it the best plugin ever which automatically takes regular backup of your WordPress Blog.

Also, it provides one-click restore option.

So, I recommend you must use this plugin so that you can protect your WordPress data.

Features of this plugin

Automatically backup facility.
One click restores option.
Recommended by pro bloggers.

16. Google XML Sitemap

If you want that search engine like Google, Bing etc better index your WordPress site.

Then you have to generate the sitemap for your blog.

That’s why Google XML Sitemap is a must have WordPress plugin for all bloggers.

Because it automatically generatesthe sitemap for your website.

It helps Google to understand your site structure.

Must use this plugin and generate your blog sitemap.

Features of this plugin

Generate Sitemap for your website.
Help Google, Bing and other search engine to understand your site structure.

17. MAX CDN

Did you know?

Images and other static data take the longest time to load which may increase your site load time.

So, How to improve site load time?

The answer is simple, You can use MAX CDN which is a content delivery network which delivers all the static file.

In this way, you can improve your site load time and hence blog traffic.

Features of this plugin:

Deliver static data.
Cache your content.
Improve your site speed.
Rated #1 content delivery network.

18. BJ Lazy Load

Did you know?

Lazy Load not only improve your site load time but also it saves a  lot of bandwidth.

You may have a question in your mind that How this plugin works?

Am I right?

Actually, this plugin replaces all your post images, thumbnails, Gravatar images with a placeholder and loads the content as it gets closer to browser window when the user scrolls.

So, if you want that your site loads faster then I highly recommend you to use this plugin.

Features of this plugin

Replace image with the placeholder.
Save bandwidth.
Improve site load time.

19. Contact Form 7

If you want that your blog readers can easily contact you without any trouble then you need a contact form.

In other words, the contact form is the easiest way to get more feedback from your blog readers.

Because they don’t need to open their email account to send your message or feedback.

They can send you the message without leaving your blog.

So, I must suggest you add the contact form on your website.

For this,  you need to install a free plugin called Contact Form 7.

Features of this plugin

Add contact form
you can add or remove fields
stylish looking forms.

20. Thrive Leads

If you want that after publishing your article, It will get the huge amount of traffic immediately.

Then there is only one way to do that Do you want to know how?

It’s quite simple, send your subscribers an email about your latest blog post.

But if you don’t have a good amount of traffic then you can not get a good result from it.

So, if you want to increase your subscriber list in fastest way then Thrive Leads Plugin is the best option to do it.

Because it provides lots of Features like:

Thrive Box (Popup LightBox): A popup overlay above your content. Believe me, it’s very attention-grabbing popup.
Sticky Ribbon: This type of form showing a Ribbon at top of the screen and remains sticky as user scroll down the page.
In-Line Form: It will automatically insert a Form at the bottom of your blog post.
2 Step Opt-in Forms: It will insert button or links in your article which will open a popup lightbox when clicked.
Slide In: This form comes into view from the corner as user scroll down the page. 
Opt-in Widget: If you want to add an opt-in form in the sidebar or any other area then it’s possible with only a few clicks.
Screen Filter Overlay: It’s the best way to make sure you get your blog reader’s full attention on your offer. 
Content Lock: This feature helps you to lock some part of your article behind a sign-up form. When user signs up then it will automatically unlock the hidden content.
Scroll Mat: This form will appear from the top of the page and pushes the content down.
Multiple Choice Form: This form can really boost your conversion rate faster by offering various choice to visitors.

That’s why I always called it Must have lead generation tool for any blogger.

Features of this plugin:

Provides different types of forms which I mentioned above.
A/B Testing Feature.
SmartExit+ (Exit Intent Popup)
Provides different eye-catching animation for forms.
Seamlessly Integrate with your Autoresponder or Email Marketing Services.

Final Words about Must Have WordPress Plugins for 2025

I have shared all the important and must have plugin list in this article.

Also, I have discussed useful blogging tools above.

I hope you will use all these plugins and tools to take your blog to next level.

I try to cover all the important Must have WordPress plugins for bloggers in this article but I am sure I missed something.

Which Plugin you suggest to newbie bloggers?

Please let me know via comment below…

And don’t forget to share this article on Facebook, Twitter and other social media.