9 Best WordPress Plugins to Optimize Your Website in 2024 (+ Bonus Solutions)

43.2%. 

This is the percentage of websites that use WordPress.

And there’s a good reason for that. WordPress is a powerful content management system that’s easy to use and offers much flexibility. 

Unlike other CMS platforms that specialize in building a particular type of website (e.g., eCommerce), with WordPress, you can create anything from a personal blog to the next Amazon. 

One of the main reasons this is possible is the wide variety of plugins available. There are thousands of options covering almost every feature you might need.

However, being able to choose from more than 60,000 plugins can be overwhelming.

That’s why we’ve compiled a list of the 9 best WordPress plugins that will keep your website ahead in 2024.

 

1. Yoast SEO - Best SEO Plugin for WordPress

Yoast SEO is the most popular search engine optimization plugin in the WordPress directory, with 5+ million active installations. 

And the plugin’s comprehensiveness is the main reason so many people choose it.

Yoast SEO is packed with features that improve a wide range of SEO aspects:

• Title and meta tags;
• XML sitemaps;
• Site breadcrumbs;
• Internal linking.

Furthermore, it ensures your content is top-notch by running its state-of-the-art content, readability, and SEO analysis. 

It has free and premium versions. The first is great for anyone who is just starting and wants to lay their site’s solid SEO foundations. The paid one provides you with many automatizations and more complex SEO features.

Learn more about Yoast SEO →

 

2. NitroPack - Best WordPress Site Speed Plugin

 

Speeding up your website is a complex process that requires all kinds of different optimizations.

The traditional way is to install a different plugin for each optimization. 

Unfortunately, this might lead to compatibility issues and bloating of your site’s code, ending up with worse performance than before. 

Luckily, there’s a better way!

NitroPack is the leading all-in-one site speed optimization solution that combines more than 35+ web performance features:

• Advanced caching;
• Image optimization;
• Built-in CDN;
• Code optimization;
• Critical CSS;
• Defer JavaScript loading;
• And more.

On top of that, it’s a cloud-based tool which means our servers handle all the heavy site speed operations. As a result, your infrastructure isn’t bloated with performance optimization tasks and has all the processing power to keep your online business up and running. 

Furthermore, NitroPack requires no coding or tech skills to use. You can set it up in less than 3 minutes and see a massive improvement in your PSI score, Core Web Vitals, and conversion rates.

See how fast your site could be. Test it now with NitroPack →

3. SuperbThemes - Best WordPress Themes

Picking a WordPress theme goes way beyond how your website will look. You also need to know what stands behind it (code check) and whether it’s built with SEO and web performance in mind. 

SuperbThemes checks all the boxes by offering user-friendly, good-looking, lightning-fast, and SEO-optimized WordPress themes. 

You get to choose from 41 premium themes divided into a long list of categories:

• Blog;
• Business;
• eCommerce;
• Photography;
• Agency;
• Membership;
• And more.

On top of that, after subscribing, you get access to 101 child themes that include advanced add-ons to their premium themes. 

You can also access all of their premium plugins with either of the two available subscriptions. In other words, it’s a deal worth checking. 

Learn more about SuperbThemes →

 

4. MonsterInsights - Best WordPress Analytics Plugin

 

MonsterInsights is the leading Google Analytics plugin for WordPress, with over 3,000,000 installations.

You no longer need to go back and forth between your Google Analytics account and your WordPress dashboard. You’ll be able to track all your analytics reports straight from the latter. 

MonsterInsights is a “no-code” plugin that allows you to set up Universal Analytics or GA4. 

Then, you can see real-time stats right inside WordPress, track clicks on your links, get detailed information for each post and page, and much more. 

Learn more about MonsterInsights →

 

5. OptinMonster - Best WordPress Lead Generation Plugin

 

Want to convert your website visitors into leads? OptinMonster is the way to go.

OptinMonster is the most powerful conversion optimization plugin. It allows you to grow your email list, get more leads and increase sales by adding offers to your site:

• Lightbox popups;
• Floating bars;
• Scroll boxes;
• Gamified wheels;
• And more.

What makes OptinMonster so unique is the wide variety of customization options. 

You can create your offers using 100+ pre-built templates or their drag-drop editor and start from scratch.

For an offer to work, it has to target the right audience. OptinMonster provides advanced targeting and segmentation options to show your perfect offer to the right people at the right time.

To maximize your conversion rates, OptinMonster has an A/B testing feature to eliminate the guesswork and find the best-working offer.

Learn more about OptinMonster →

 

6. Weglot - Best WordPress Translation Plugin

Weglot is one of the best WordPress plugins that can automatically translate your website into 110+ languages without writing a single line of code.

It’s the easiest way to expand your business globally without creating new websites for every market. Weglot makes your primary domain name multilingual under subdomains or subdirectories.

On top of that, its translation software follows multilingual SEO best practices and automatically serves your pages in your audience's language, depending on their browser settings. 

Tell me that’s not cool! 

When overseeing the whole translation process, you can review, edit, and add terms through the Weglot dashboard. 

Learn more about Weglot →

7. AffiliateWP - Best Affiliate WordPress Plugin

Do you want to launch your own affiliate program? Enter AffiliateWP!

AffiliateWP is the best WordPress affiliate management plugin. Over 30,000+ website owners rely on it to grow their revenue.

With its 1-click integration and powerful affiliate management features, AffiliateWP allows you to build your program’s structure and customize its registration, onboarding, approval process, payouts, and more.

When you’re done with the basics, you can expand your program using the growth tools and internationalize it by translating it into 30 languages. 

And as the famous saying goes: “if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it,” AffiliateWP includes advanced tracking of all your coupons, links, and promotions, as well as detailed reports. 

Learn more about AffiliateWP →

 

8. Hostinger - Best WordPress Hosting

Your hosting is the foundation of your entire website.

Regardless of the plugins and themes you decide to use later, if you’re building on quicksand, you’re setting yourself up for failure. That’s why you need to rely on a hosting provider that specializes in WordPress.

Hostinger’s WordPress Hosting is one of the best choices you could make for the success of your online business. It includes anything you would expect from a high-quality hosting plan - free SSL, DDoS protection, uptime guaranteed, and more.

When it comes to the WordPress-specific stuff, it has them as well:

• 1-Click WordPress installer;
• Automatic WordPress updates;
• WordPress staging tool;
• WordPress Pro features like WP-CLI, PHP version control, SSH access, Git integration, and more.

And last but not least – you can rely on 24/7 support via live chat. 

Learn more about Hostinger →

 

9. wpDataTables - Best WordPress Table Plugin

 

wpDataTables is the leading WordPress table plugin that allows you to easily manage and display data tables on WordPress websites. With its intuitive interface and robust functionality, wpDataTables empowers users to create dynamic and interactive tables effortlessly.

Key features:

• Easy import and data management: Import data from various sources, including Excel, Google Sheets, CSV files, and MySQL databases, and manage it efficiently within WordPress.
• Advanced customization options: Make your website stand out with customized tables that feature various styling options, including color schemes, fonts, and responsive design settings.
• Interactive features: You get a fully dynamic user experience with interactive elements such as sorting, filtering, pagination, and conditional formatting.
• Advanced calculations and formulas: Derive insights and analyze data effectively by performing complex calculations and applying formulas directly within tables.
• Integration Capabilities: Seamlessly integrate with popular plugins and platforms, including Formidable Forms, Gravity Forms, and Chart.js, to extend functionality and streamline workflows.

With wpDataTables, you can unlock the full potential of your data by transforming raw information into actionable insights and compelling visualizations.

 

Learn more about wpDataTables →

 

Bonus: Amelia - Best WordPress Booking Plugin

Amelia is a powerful WordPress booking plugin designed to simplify and automate your appointment booking process. With Amelia, you can manage your appointments, events, and reservations effortlessly.

Whether you're a salon owner, healthcare provider, or consultant, Amelia provides you with the necessary tools to automate and enhance your entire appointment scheduling process. Manage your calendars, employees, customers, services, and locations all within one booking solution.  

Key features:

• Flexible appointment management: Customize appointment types, durations, availability, and staff schedules to meet the unique needs of your business, ensuring efficient allocation of resources.
• Automated notifications: Reduce no-shows and improve client communication with automated email and SMS reminders, appointment confirmations, and follow-ups. 
• Events scheduling and management: Configure one-off or recurring events, manage event calendars and attendance in the back end, and provide a simple and user-friendly front-end booking interface to make the registration process easy for your clients.
• Packages of services: Bundle your services together, create packages of appointments, set package prices, and offer discounts to increase sales. 
• Resource scheduling: Efficiently share and manage resources within your business, whether they are physical assets like rooms, equipment, cars, and chairs or intangible resources such as employee availability. Resource availability is updated in real time and based on existing bookings and employee schedules.
• Payment integration: Accept payments for appointments securely through popular payment gateways such as PayPal, Stripe, Mollie, and Razorpay streamlining the booking and payment process for both you and your clients.

With Amelia, you can streamline your appointment booking process, enhance customer satisfaction, and grow your business with ease.

 

Learn more about Amelia →

 

Bonus: Codeable - Best WordPress Developers

Despite the rich list of plugins and themes available, there will come a time when you’ll want to get out of the box and add some customizations to your website. So you might need a developer.

Codeable is the only WordPress freelancer platform that matches customers like you to the best WordPress experts in the world.

Whether you want to:

• Build a custom theme;
• Build a custom plugin;
• Further secure your website;
• Integrate custom APIs.

You can find the right WordPress developer who can make it happen. 

All you have to do is create a project brief, and Codeable will match you with the 5 developers most suitable for your job. 

Then, the platform automatically averages all offers from freelancers who estimate your project to ensure you get the fairest price and the highest quality work. 

Learn more about Codeable →

 

Bonus: SureMembers - Best Membership WordPress Plugin

Building a lucrative content strategy is no easy feat.

But if you're already generating a steady flow of insight on your website, you should ensure every content piece counts.

With SureMembers, you can easily attract, retain, and engage members with exclusive content. Create and manage a membership website on WordPress like a pro with a comprehensive set of tools like:

• Powerful content protection features
• Multiple membership levels and subscription plans
• Member management (incl. member profiles and user registration)
• Member directories, forums, and private messaging
• Robust reporting and analytics capabilities

Deliver exclusive content, courses, digital downloads, and more to your members while keeping it hidden from non-members.

It provides various options for payment gateways, allowing seamless integration with popular platforms like PayPal, Stripe, and Authorize.net, making it convenient for members to sign up and renew their subscriptions.

Learn more about SureMembers →

 

Bonus: WP Umbrella - Best WordPress Multi-Site Management

If you're already running several WordPress sites, you should ensure every visitor experiences a top-tier performance.

With WP Umbrella, you can effortlessly monitor, safeguard, and improve your WordPress sites' performance with a complete set of tools like:

• Centralized dashboard with a helpful summary across websites and single-instance log-in for all of them
• Single, intuitive list for easy updates across plugins, themes, and WordPress core 
• Automated backups and maintenance reports to safeguard your clients' websites
• Comprehensive monitoring that allows instant reaction if anything goes wrong

Ensure your clients' sites are always available and deliver optimal performance to visitors, avoiding loss of revenue due to downtime or slow page loads.

 

Learn more about WP Umbrella →

 

Bonus: Nextend - Best WordPress Social Login Plugin

Help users access your services and products in the fastest way possible.

With Nextend Social Login and Register, all visitors can register and log in to your site using their social profiles (Facebook, Google, X (formerly Twitter), etc.). Leverage features like:

• One-click registration and login via Facebook, Google and X (formerly Twitter)
• Custom redirect URL after the registration (upon first login) using any of the social accounts.
• Custom redirect URL after each login with any of the enabled social accounts.
• Login widget and shortcodes
• Customizable designs to match your site

Keep your site visitors happy and engaged by eliminating the time it takes to fill out a registration form.

 

Learn more about Nextend →

How to Select The Right WordPress Solution for Your Website

A good starting point is to have a checklist of your requirements and their importance.

The “importance” metric is vital because sometimes you won’t find a solution that checks all the boxes. Knowing the things you’re not ready to compromise with will make the decision process faster and easier. 

Another general rule is always to choose premium if you can afford it. The free WordPress themes and plugins are a good option if you’re just starting and operating on a tight budget. 

However, once it suits your budget, convert to premium immediately.

The premium alternatives offer more advanced features, flexibility, security, and support.

Now that you know the basics, here are quick checklists to guide you through the process of selecting a WordPress solution:

How to choose a WordPress plugin

• Make a list of requirements
• Check the number of active installations
• Go through the reviews
• Check “last updated” and compatibility
• Check out the plugin support forums
• Run performance tests before/after installing it
• Go for the premium option (if it suits your budget)

 

How to choose a WordPress theme

• Make a list of requirements
• Check the number of active installations
• Check “last updated” and compatibility
• Go through the reviews
• Don’t compromise with responsiveness, performance, flexibility, accessibility, and support
• Make sure it’s not bloated - less is more when it comes to theme features
• Run performance tests before/after installing it
• Go for the premium option (if it suits your budget)

 

How to choose a WordPress hosting

• Make a list of requirements
• Compare different providers and plans
• Check the included features (e.g., SSL, domain name, DDoS protection, backups, email, etc.)
• Check for server reliability and uptime guarantees
• Learn what the upgrade options are
• Look for dedicated support
• Understand differences in Sign-Up prices vs. Renewal prices
• Run performance tests (if possible)
• Check the reviews

 

How to hire the right WordPress developer

• Make a list of requirements
• Create a detailed job post
• Prepare questions you want to ask them
• View the developer’s portfolio
• Check reviews and testimonials
• Evaluate their pricing, and your budget
• Discuss post-deployment steps and revisions

And one last thing - always play the long game. Compromising for short-term gains will inevitably lead to long-term losses.