An Analysis of 30000 Free WordPress Plugins

WordPress plugins respiratory offers all kinds of customization for site admins. With 55,000+ options to choose from in the free WordPress Plugin Directory, it may be difficult to sort the best from the good. This analysis of free WordPress Plugins will help you to choose the best.

So, here’s an analysis of free must-haves, the WordPress plugins that can help take your site from good to great.

If you visit the WordPress plugins respiratory, you will get a list of Block-Enabled Plugins, Featured Plugins, Beta Plugins, and Popular Plugins.

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WordPress.org Plugins Review

If you explore any one plugin of the respiratory, you could see some common characteristics of popular plugins.

Free WordPress Plugins- Plugin Common Characteristics

The common characteristics that you could see:

Last updated;
Active installations;
Ratings – total number of reviews and the average rating score (1 to 5 stars);
Support – total number of support threads in the forum.

Analysis of WordPress.org Plugins Free

In my analysis, I have not included recently added plugins, because these plugins have no objective data.

My analysis will focus on plugin active installations, the total number of downloads, the number of ratings, number of support threads (in the last month).

Free WordPress Plugins Analysis

Analysis of WordPress plugins is limited to those that are detectable through passive analysis. In this instance, passive analysis is through the examination of a regular web request and parsing the HTML and HTTP headers.

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SEO Plugins

When it comes to improving the SEO of any WordPress site, there are two plugins that come to mind; 1. WordPress SEO by Yoast and 2. All-in-One SEO. The best thing about these plugins is they are open-source software. A new contender has entered the scene – SEO Framework.

Top 50 Plugins With The Highest Number Of Active Installations

Here are the lists of the top 50 plugins with the highest active installations.

Classic Editor – 5+ million active installations.
WooCommerce – 5+ million active installations.
Jetpack by WordPress.com – 5+ million active installations.
Yoast SEO – 5+ million active installations.
Contact Form 7 – 5+ million active installations.
Akismet Anti-Spam – 5+ million active installations.
Elementor Page Builder – 5+ million active installations.
WordPress Importer – 4+ million active installations.
Duplicate Post – 3+ million active installations.
Wordfence Security – Firewall & Malware Scan – 3+ million active installations.
WP Super Cache – 2+ million active installations.
All in One SEO Pack – 2+ million active installations.
Google XML Sitemaps – 2+ million active installations.
TinyMCE Advanced – 2+ million active installations.
Google Analytics Dashboard Plugin for WordPress by MonsterInsights – 2+ million active installations.
Duplicate Page – 1+ million active installations.
Limit Login Attempts Reloaded – 1+ million active installations.
Regenerate Thumbnails – 1+ million active installations.
Advanced Custom Fields – 1+ million active installations.
W3 Total Cache – 1+ million active installations.
WooCommerce Services – 900,000+ active installations.
Mailchimp for WooCommerce – 700,000+ active installations.
WooCommerce Stripe Payment Gateway – 600,000+ active installations.
Facebook for WooCommerce – 600,000+ active installations.
Ocean Extra – 500,000+ active installations.
File Manager – 500,000+ active installations.
Disable Gutenberg – 500,000+ active installations.
Orbit Fox by ThemeIsle – 400,000+ active installations.
Essential Addons for Elementor – 400,000+ active installations.
WooCommerce Blocks – 300,000+ active installations.
Astra Starter Sites – Elementor, Beaver Builder & Gutenberg Templates – 300,000+ active installations.
Header, Footer & Blocks for Elementor – 300,000+ active installations.
Official Facebook Pixel – 300,000+ active installations.
Contact Form 7 Database Addon – CFDB7 – 200,000+ active installations.
Gutenberg – 200,000+ active installations.
PHP Compatibility Checker – 200,000+ active installations.
Premium Addons for Elementor – 200,000+ active installations.
ThemeGrill Demo Importer – 200,000+ active installations.
API KEY for Google Maps – 100,000+ active installations.
Health Check & Troubleshooting – 100,000+ active installations.
MailPoet – emails and newsletters in WordPress – 100,000+ active installations.
Mesmerize Companion – 100,000+ active installations.
Post SMTP Mailer/Email Log – 100,000+ active installations.
WP GDPR Compliance – 100,000+ active installations.
WP Reset – Best WordPress Reset Plugin – 100,000+ active installations.
Contact Form 7 Redirection – 100,000+ active installations.
Conditional Fields for Contact Form 7 – 100,000+ active installations.
Click to Chat for WhatsApp Chat – 100,000+ active installations.
Contact Form, Drag and Drop Form Builder for WordPress – Everest Forms – 100,000+ active installations.
Invisible reCaptcha for WordPress – 100,000+ active installations.

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Top 50 Plugins With The Highest Number Of Ratings

Below are thirty of the most viewed plugins you should consider when building and hosting your WordPress website:

Yoast SEO – 25572 ratings.
All-in-One WP Migration – 6170 ratings.
WordPress Shortcodes Plugin — Shortcodes Ultimate – 5207 ratings.
Elementor Page Builder – 4742 ratings.
Smush – Compress, Optimize and Lazy Load Images – 4720 ratings.
W3 Total Cache – 4387 ratings.
iThemes Security (formerly Better WP Security) – 3825 ratings.
Coming Soon Page, Under Construction & Maintenance Mode by SeedProd – 3816 ratings.
TablePress – 3711 ratings.
Popup Maker – Popup Forms, Opt-ins & More – 3587 ratings.
WordPress Gallery Plugin – NextGEN Gallery – 3424 ratings.
UpdraftPlus WordPress Backup Plugin – 3392 ratings.
W3 Total Cache – 3157 ratings.
WooCommerce – 2968 ratings.
WP Fastest Cache – 2959 ratings.
Smash Balloon Social Photo Feed – 2639 ratings.
Duplicator – WordPress Migration Plugin – 2505 ratings.
Cookie Notice for GDPR & CCPA – 2370 ratings.
Google XML Sitemaps – 2105 ratings.
WP Google Maps – 1946 ratings.
The Events Calendar – 1713 ratings.
WPS Hide Login – 1393 ratings.
Polylang – 1355 ratings.
WP Super Cache – 1239 ratings.
Google Analytics Dashboard Plugin for WordPress by MonsterInsights – 1335 ratings.
MC4WP: Mailchimp for WordPress – 1227 ratings.
Contact Form 7 – 1222 ratings.
WP-Optimize – Clean, Compress, Cache. – 1118 ratings.
Essential Addons for Elementor – 1199 ratings.
Advanced Custom Fields – 1081 ratings.
Google Analytics Dashboard for WP by ExactMetrics (formerly GADWP) – 1052 ratings.
Advanced Custom Fields – 1034 ratings.
LiteSpeed Cache – 1032 ratings.
Ninja Forms Contact Form – The Drag and Drop Form Builder for WordPress – 1033 ratings.
Contact Form 7 Database Addon – CFDB7 – 943 ratings.
All In One WP Security & Firewall – 942 ratings.
BackWPup – WordPress Backup Plugin – 941 ratings.
WP Super Cache – 913 ratings.
AddToAny Share Buttons – 873 ratings.
WordPress SEO Plugin – Rank Math – 846 ratings.
Classic Editor – 762 ratings
Akismet Anti-Spam – 756 ratings.
File Manager – 703 ratings.
MailPoet – emails and newsletters in WordPress – 622 ratings.
Gutenberg – 575 ratings.
Hummingbird – Speed Optimize, Cache, Minify & Defer Critical CSS/Javascript – 544 ratings.
SEOPress – 513 ratings.
Premium Addons for Elementor – 496 ratings.
Disable Gutenberg – 459 ratings.
Google Fonts Typography – 426 ratings.

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Top 50 Authors With The Highest Number Of Published Plugins

@shawfactor – 110 plugins.
@rubengc – 61 plugins.
@algoritmika – 44 plugins.
@nikschavan – 6 plugins.
@access-keys – 56 plugins.
@wponlinesupport – 42 plugins.
@coffee4dev – 35 plugins.
@nsthemes – 32 plugins.
@sellcomet – 11 plugins.
@phoeniixx – 35 plugins.
@josevega – 28 plugins.
@awordpresslife – 27 plugins.
@wpcalc – 37 plugins.
@seosbg – 25 plugins.
@clearcodehq – 24 plugins.
@makewebbetter – 17 plugins.
@feedmymedia – 24 plugins.
@tawhidurrahmandear – 11 plugins.
@everpress – 23 plugins.
@dholovnia – 24 plugins.
@dadevarzan – 20 plugins.
@crmperks – 28 plugins.
@katsushi-kawamori – 48 plugins.
@rajkakadiya – 17 plugins.
@wbcomdesigns – 22 plugins.
@jsmoriss – 32 plugins.
@weblizar – 35 plugins.
@raihancse – 25 plugins.
@quantumcloud – 23 plugins.
@wpclever – 23 plugins.
@venutius – 17 plugins.
@premmerce – 15 plugins.
@logicrays – 16 plugins.
@cyberlord92 – 19 plugins.
@nootheme – 17 plugins.
@samdani – 20 plugins.
@pickplugins – 30 plugins.
@mrt3vn – 25 plugins.
@quadlayers – 18 plugins.
@themebon – 16 plugins.
@dots – 28 plugins.
@azexo – 17 plugins.
@webtoffee – 18 plugins.
@cedcommerce – 26 plugins.
@munger41 – 20 plugins.
@nayon46 – 14 plugins.
@tigroumeow – 25 plugins.
@tareq – 32 plugins.
@Nizam Uddin – 8 plugins.
@boldgrid – 15 plugins.

Top 100 Popular Plugins

The top popular plugins are:

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Top 100 Most Used Words in Plugin Names

WooCommerce
widget
post
custom
form
simple
page
easy
product
image
contact
gateway
payment
google
builder
slider
social
manager
gallery
forms
admin
woo
posts
login
content
integration
lite
user
search
menu
advanced
media
responsive
block
elementor
SEO
shortcode
blocks
button
free
analytics
email
Facebook
popup
order
chat
Gutenberg
video
add
live
feed
disable
share
API
gravity
ultimate
editor
bar
category
theme
auto
pro
link
checkout
products
cart
shipping
list
remove
digital
web
generator
pages
images
widgets
mobile
WC
from
your
shortcodes
text
booking
comments
dashboard
hide
map
display
featured
fields
links
visual
portfolio
add-on
code
redirect
embed
CSS
carousel
youtube
import

Conclusion

With tons of WordPress plugins available, it is difficult to ignore the next popular plugin that claims to change your blogging life. In the case of a website with the perfect features, you might ignore your actual goal—attracting the perfect audience. So ignore the instinct that tells you to install the next excellent plugin, and listen to the voice of reason. Just choose from the necessary plugins that I’ve listed above and take your focus where it should be-towards your audience. I hope you have found the time to express your gratitude to those who have helped you build your own blog(s).