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Tag: wordpress

  • 8 Best WordPress Maintenance Services to Help Run Your Website in 2023

    Regularly maintaining your WordPress website is essential to ensure it is error-free and performs optimally. However, the process can take a lot of time and, in some cases, require a certain amount of technical knowledge. Fortunately, various WordPress maintenance services are available to help manage your site. Using one can save a lot of time […]

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    The post 8 Best WordPress Maintenance Services to Help Run Your Website in 2023 appeared first on Hostinger Tutorials.

  • 7 Best Managed WordPress Hosting Options in 2023 (Compared)

    There’s no shortage of managed WordPress hosting companies on the market. However, features and prices vary significantly from one web host to another. If you haven’t used managed hosting before, it can be hard to determine which companies offer the best services for your money.

    In this post, we’ll introduce you to some of the best managed WordPress hosting companies. We’ll discuss the features they offer, their prices, and why you should consider using each host. Let’s get to it!

    What is Managed WordPress Hosting?

    Before we get to business, let’s briefly recap what managed WordPress hosting is. Managed hosting plans offer in-house services to maintain, optimize and secure your website for better performance.

    With most managed hosting plans, you get access to features such as:

    Those are just some of the features that most managed WordPress web hosts offer. Some companies might provide you with more advanced functionality and performance, usually at higher prices.

    Overall, managed WordPress hosting focuses on giving you the best possible performance for the CMS (content management system). If you’re a WordPress enthusiast, you can optimize and maintain your websites yourself on any sort of host out there. However, managed plans take care of most maintenance and security tasks and let you focus on growing your site.

    7 Best Managed WordPress Hosting Companies

    This section will introduce you to the best managed WordPress hosting companies on the market. We’ll evaluate each company according to its performance, features, and price. We’ll break down what makes each web host unique and who should consider using it!

    1. SiteGround

    best managed wordpress hosting

    SiteGround is well-known for offering some of the cheapest managed WordPress hosting plans. It has packages starting at $3.99 per month, drastically lower than what most competitors offer.

    Although SiteGround tends to score well in performance, it has mixed reviews for WordPress support. If you can look past that or have experience fixing issues with WordPress, SiteGround offers an impressive list of features for its price point.

    SiteGround is another one of the web hosts that we recommend for Divi users. That means you can sign up for a plan and launch WordPress websites with Divi pre-installed.

    Key Features for SiteGround:

    • Base plans start with 10 GB of storage space and unmetered* traffic
    • Daily backups
    • Free CDN integration
    • Free SSL certificates
    • WP-CLI support
    • Custom caching configuration
    • Automatic WordPress updates

    *We do want to note that there’s usually no such thing as unmetered traffic. There are always bandwidth restrictions (even if they’re not explicitly laid out).

    SiteGround is for you if…

    • You want to test what a managed WordPress hosting service can offer before committing to a lengthy contract.
    • You’re on a budget.
    • You’re comfortable troubleshooting WordPress issues on your own.

    ➡️ Read Our Complete SiteGround Hosting Review.

    SiteGround
    Starting Price $12.99/mo
    Storage 10 GB
    Bandwidth 10 GB
    Monthly Visitors 10,000
    Free Domain ✔️
    24/7 Support ✔️
    Trustpilot Rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
    Read the reviews
    Visit Siteground

    2. Flywheel

    best managed wordpress hosting

    Flywheel offers several types of WordPress plans, including managed options. With Flywheel, you can choose from various packages geared toward personal projects, business websites, and web development/design agencies.

    One of Flywheel’s key selling points is its fantastic hosting control panel. In our experience, the Flywheel admin dashboard is one of the most user-friendly options available. That feature can be handy if you manage a large number of sites.

    When it comes to agencies, Flywheel offers intuitive tools for handing off websites and billing clients directly for hosting. You can even create WordPress “blueprints,” which are backups for spinning up new websites.

    Flywheel is one of the web hosts we recommend for Divi users. With Flywheel, you can launch new WordPress sites with Divi pre-installed and connected to your Elegant Themes account. That way, you can get right to work on building your next website.

    Flywheel also offers one of the best local WordPress development tools. Local by Flywheel is free to use, and it can connect with your Flywheel account (if you have one).

    Key Features for Flywheel:

    • Base plans start with 5 GB of storage and 20 GB of bandwidth
    • Custom caching configurations
    • Integrated Content Delivery Network (CDN)
    • Free access to a collection of StudioPress themes
    • Free SSL certificates
    • Staging functionality
    • Daily backups
    • Free website migrations
    • Automatic plugin updates

    Flywheel is for you if…

    • You prioritize features, ease of use, and an intuitive hosting control panel.
    • You’re hosting a single site or have a generous budget for multiple websites.
    • You work as a developer or in an agency.

    ➡️ Read Our Complete Flywheel Hosting Review.

    Flywheel
    Starting Price $13.00/mo
    Storage 5 GB
    Bandwidth 20 GB
    Monthly Visitors 5,000
    Free Domain ❌
    24/7 Support ✔️
    Trustpilot Rating ⭐⭐⭐
    Read the reviews
    Visit Flywheel

    3. Cloudways

    best managed wordpress hosting

    One of the biggest challenges of using Virtual Private Servers (VPSs) is that, usually, they’re not very user-friendly. Configuring a VPS can be challenging if you don’t have server management experience. That applies even to providers that offer one-click setup options for WordPress and other software.

    Cloudways bypasses that problem by offering a managed WordPress hosting layer on top of the most popular VPS providers. With Cloudways, you can spin up servers on Digital Ocean, Amazon Web Services, Vultr, Google Cloud, and Linode.

    With a Cloudways plan, you get expert WordPress support, automatic backups, easy scaling options, and server optimization. Plus, you won’t have to interact with VPSs using the command line since Cloudways offers a user-friendly hosting control panel.

    If you want to use Divi with Cloudways hosting, you can easily. Our partnership with Cloudways means that you can create WordPress websites with Divi in a matter of minutes.

    Key Features for Cloudways:

    • Base specifications vary depending on which cloud provider you use
    • Automated backups
    • Custom caching configuration
    • Staging functionality
    • Team management tools
    • Application monitoring
    • CDN add-on available
    • Free migrations

    Cloudways is for you if…

    • You like the fantastic performance that VPSs offer but are not comfortable with server management.
    • You’re on a budget.
    • You value high performance.

    Price: Cloudway prices vary depending on which VPS provider you use alongside the platform. For Digital Ocean, Linode, and Vultr, you have plans starting at $12-13 per month that offer 1 GB of RAM, 1 core CPU, 32 GB of storage, and 1 TB of bandwidth.

    If you want an AWS or Google Cloud server, base prices rise to around $33-36 per month for roughly double the resources (2 GB of ram, 1 core CPU, 20 GB of storage, and 2 GB of bandwidth).

    ➡️ Read Our Complete Cloudways Hosting Review.

    Cloudways
    Starting Price $12.00/mo
    Storage 25 GB
    Bandwidth 1 TB
    Monthly Visitors N/A
    Free Domain ❌
    24/7 Support ✔️
    Trustpilot Rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
    Read the reviews
    Visit Cloudways

    4. Pressable

    best managed wordpress hosting

    Pressable is run by Automattic, the same company behind WordPress. It’s worth noting Pressable isn’t the only WordPress hosting venture by Automattic, as the company also created WordPress VIP.

    With Pressable, you can host your WordPress website on the same servers that support WordPress.com. That means you get access to top-of-the-line performance without the limitations of using self-hosted WordPress.

    On top of all the perks that managed web hosts usually offer, most Pressable plans come with a premium Jetpack license. That means you’ll get automated plugin updates, malware scans, backups powered by VaultPress, and more.

    Pressable is a Divi partner. That means you can launch WordPress websites with Divi pre-installed, and you get discounts if you sign up through our Pressable partner page.

    Key Features for Pressable: 

    • Base plans start with 5 GB of storage and support for 5,000 visitors
    • Free Jetpack premium license (starting with the Personal plan)
    • Daily backups
    • Integrated CDN
    • Free WordPress migrations
    • Free access to the WP101 library
    • Staging functionality
    • Automatic WordPress updates
    • Hack recovery assistance
    • Free SSL certificates

    Pressable is for you if…

    • You want an all-around solid managed WordPress hosting option.
    • You’re a fan of Jetpack or want access to WP101.
    • You want a hands-off approach to running your site.

    ➡️ Read Our Complete Pressable Hosting Review.

    Pressable
    Starting Price $19.00/mo
    Storage 10 GB
    Bandwidth N/A
    Monthly Visitors 5,000
    Free Domain ❌
    24/7 Support ✔️
    Trustpilot Rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
    Read the reviews
    Visit Pressable

    5. WP Engine

    best managed wordpress hosting

    WP Engine isn’t only the most popular managed WordPress hosting platform globally. It also owns Flywheel. Whereas Flywheel is geared toward agencies and personal projects, WP Engine focuses on medium and large business solutions.

    With WP Engine, you’ll get some of the best WordPress performance that you can find. The platform also offers many plans, with regular and “plus” managed hosting categories. WP Engine also provides “security-enhanced” and e-commerce-managed plans.

    One downside to WP Engine is that its plan selection can be confusing. However, picking the right WP Engine subscription shouldn’t be a problem with the proper guidance.

    Key Features for WP Engine:

    • Base plans offer 10 GB of storage and 50 GB of bandwidth
    • Custom caching configuration
    • Free CDN integration
    • Free migrations
    • Daily backups
    • Free SSL certificates
    • Staging functionality
    • Automated plugin updates*
    • Automatic roll-backs if the platform detects security issues*
    • DDoS protection*

    *These features are only available with the Managed Hosting Plus and Secure Hosting tiers.

    WP Engine is for you if…

    • You plan to host multiple WordPress websites.
    • You have a larger budget.
    • Your business is medium to large.

    Price: If you look at WP Engine’s plans, you’ll notice they’re divided into four categories. Starting at $20 per month, the base managed hosting plans don’t offer the functionality we like to see in a provider at this price point.

    ➡️ Read Our Full WP Engine Hosting Review.

    WP Engine
    Starting Price $20.00/mo
    Storage 10 GB
    Bandwidth 50 GB
    Monthly Visitors 25,000
    Free Domain ❌
    24/7 Support Chat Only
    Trustpilot Rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
    Read the reviews
    Visit WP Engine

    6. Kinsta

    best managed wordpress hosting

    Kinsta is a managed WordPress web host that uses the Google Cloud infrastructure for client websites. With Kinsta, you get access to some of the best-managed hosting performance on the market.

    One of the most significant selling points of using Kinsta is that every plan can access the same features. You get all of the perks of managed WordPress hosting and integration with Cloudflare Enterprise. Kinsta also offers its own local WordPress development tool, called DevKinsta.

    Kinsta’s prices are on the expensive end. The web host offers a “budget” option for personal and small business sites. However, most of Kinsta’s plans are geared toward enterprises, and they offer ten different tiers and custom options.

    Key Features for Kinsta:

    • Base plan offers 10 GB of storage and support for 25,000 visits
    • Free integration with Cloudflare Enterprise CDN
    • SSL setup
    • Staging functionality
    • Free migrations
    • Automatic daily backups
    • Malware removal
    • White-labeled caching plugin

    Kinsta is for you if…

    • You plan to host multiple WordPress websites.
    • Your budget is larger.
    • You run a large business or enterprise.

    Price: Kinsta’s Starter plan costs $30 per month. If you plan on hosting a single website, there are far cheaper options available that offer similar features and performance.

    ➡️ Read Our Complete Kinsta Hosting Review.

    Kinsta
    Starting Price $35.00/mo
    Storage 10 GB
    Bandwidth 100 GB
    Monthly Visitors 25,000
    Free Domain ❌
    24/7 Support Chat Only
    Trustpilot Rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐
    Read the reviews
    Visit Kinsta

    7. WPX

    best managed wordpress hosting

    WPX is a managed WordPress hosting provider known for its exceptional speed and reliability. The company offers a range of plans tailored to different needs, including shared and dedicated hosting options.

    One of the standout features of WPX is its lightning-fast load times, thanks in part to its use of the latest hardware and software technologies. The platform also includes free CDN integration and custom caching configuration, which further boosts website speed and performance.

    WPX offers several hosting plans to choose from, with the most affordable starting at $20.83 per month. Despite its low cost, this plan includes unlimited storage and bandwidth, making it a great option for small to medium-sized websites.

    One potential downside of WPX is that it does not offer a separate e-commerce hosting plan, so businesses with online stores may need to look elsewhere.

    Key Features for WPX:

    • Fast and reliable WordPress hosting
    • Great support, 99% of chat requests are answered within one minute
    • Free website migration
    • Lightning-fast CDN

    WPX is for you if…

    • You need a fast and reliable WordPress hosting provider for your website.
    • You want a provider that offers easy website migrations and backups.
    • You have a budget that can accommodate a slightly higher price point for premium features and excellent customer support.
    WPX
    Starting Price $20.83/mo
    Storage 15 GB
    Bandwidth 200 GB
    Monthly Visitors N/A
    Free Domain ❌
    24/7 Support ✔️
    Trustpilot Rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
    Read the reviews
    Visit WPX

    Comparing Our Top 3 Picks for Managed WordPress Hosting

    Picking a web host isn’t easy. Hosting providers constantly try to outdo each other with prices and promises. With managed WordPress hosting, you have many options, all claiming to offer the best performance on the market. Let’s compare our 3 top picks below.

    🥇 Siteground 🥈 Flywheel 🥉 Cloudways
    Starting Price $12.99/mo $13.00/mo $12.00/mo
    Storage 10 GB 5 GB 25 GB
    Bandwidth 10 GB 20 GB 1 TB
    Monthly Visitors 10,000 5,000 N/A
    Free Domain ✔️ ❌ ❌
    24/7 Support ✔️ ✔️ ✔️
    Trustpilot Rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
    Read Siteground reviews
    ⭐⭐⭐
    Read Flywheel reviews
    ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
    Read Cloudways reviews
    Visit Siteground Visit Flywheel Visit Cloudways

    Whether you choose SiteGround, Flywheel, or Cloudways, chances are high that you’ll enjoy their hosting environment. In the end, it comes down to what your specific criteria are and how your budget aligns with those criteria.

    Final Thoughts on the Best Managed WordPress Hosting

    If you’re having a hard time choosing between the best managed WordPress hosting options, here are our thoughts on the top six providers:

    1. Flywheel: This is a fantastic web host if you’re a solo developer or a WordPress agency.
    2. SiteGround: With SiteGround, you get some of the cheapest managed WordPress hosting plans on the market.
    3. Pressable: With Pressable, you can host your site on WordPress.com servers and take advantage of managed functionality.
    4. Cloudways: If you want to use a VPS with managed hosting functionality, Cloudways enables you to choose from the best providers.
    5. WP Engine: With WP Engine, you get top-of-the-line performance and features, but it’s not a cheap option.
    6. Kinsta: This web host offers some of the best performance on the market and a sizable collection of enterprise plans.
    7. WPX: WPX is an excellent choice if you prioritize website speed and uptime. Their plans are affordable and come with top-notch customer support.

    More Hosting Reviews

    While those are our top picks, we have reviewed several other managed WordPress hosting companies as well. If you would like to learn more about other hosting companies, take a look at the following reviews.

    1. HostGator WordPress Hosting Review – HostGator’s biggest edge is its pricing. Their WordPress hosting is very affordable, but that affordability comes with some tradeoffs.
    2. Bluehost WordPress Hosting Review –  Bluehost is a staple of the WordPress community and is very active within the ecosystem. Their hosting panel is easy to use, but from our experience, their hosting performance doesn’t match up to our top hosting picks.
    3. GoDaddy WordPress Hosting Review – GoDaddy’s hosting quality seems to vary. It has gotten better over the years and the company continues to double-down on the WordPress ecosystem. They are building back their reputation.
    4. Media Template WordPress Hosting Review – One of the original managed hosting companies, Media Temple has years of experience in the field.
    5. Convesio WordPress Hosting Review – Convesio is all about scalability. If you are looking to scale up, they could be a good option for you.

    Do you have any questions about managed WordPress hosting? Let’s talk about them in the comments section below!

    Featured image via ZinetroN / shutterstock.com

    The post 7 Best Managed WordPress Hosting Options in 2023 (Compared) appeared first on Elegant Themes Blog.

  • WordPress Contributors Propose New Interactivity API for Frontend Blocks

    Over the past year a group of WordPress contributors have been working on making it easier for developers to build interactive blocks. These are the kinds of experiences that allow visitors to submit a form and get feedback without reloading the page, load paginated content without refreshing, and improve e-commerce stores with more dynamic responses based on visitor interaction.

    A new proposal for an Interactivity API aims to provide a standard way for developers to add interactivity to the frontend, making it faster to build these experiences without reinventing the wheel every time.

    Automattic-sponsored core contributor Mario Santos cast the vision for what the new API will deliver:

    What if effortlessly creating performant, fluid, and idiomatic frontend interactivity on block-based WordPress sites was possible? Imagine plugins providing interactions like “heart this post” or “add to cart” without page reloads. Picture instant search, commenting, and native full-page transitions as best-in-class built-ins without complex scaffolding or external tools. Envision achieving this in any block theme by default without sacrificing PHP server rendering and the plugin ecosystem for a JS runtime. Visualize block developers easily declaring and extending such behaviors in a way that is immediately familiar and compatible with the block ecosystem.

    Santos published a demo video accompanied by a live interactive demo where visitors can favorite movies and have the favorite count instantly updated in the block in the header. Pagination and search update the content without refreshing the page. The code for the demo is available on GitHub.

    The Interactivity API is being created for use on the frontend of block-based websites but contributors may also explore the possibility of reusing some of its directives inside the editor. They are taking a similar approach to Alpine.js with “directives” that extend HTML with special attributes, except designed specifically for WordPress and backwards compatible with its APIs.

    “The API is designed for the world of blocks and takes WordPress history of being closely attached to web standards to heart,” Santos said.

    “As directives are added to the HTML, they work great with dynamic blocks and PHP.”

    Having a standard in place means that WordPress developers don’t have to roll their own solutions for things like tooling, inter-block communication, and frontend performance. They would be primarily responsible for the block logic, making creating interactive blocks easier and more approachable for less experienced developers.

    Contributors on the project have selected Preact to build the directives system due to its HTML-friendliness, small size, performance, extensibility, and compatibility with React.

    The Interactivity API is currently in the stage of gathering feedback to incorporate in development as well as expanding technical documentation.

    “Although it is now distributed as a plugin, it aims to be added as an experimental feature to Gutenberg,” Santos said. “The goal is to include it in Core once enough feedback has been gathered, and it’s clear that it’s the right direction.”

    Initial reactions to the proposed API have been mostly positive, as developers have previously had to build their own solutions for interactivity in the absence of a standard.

    “The Interactivity API is one of the most interesting proposals for WordPress frontend UX & DX that I’ve seen in awhile,” WordPress Core contributor Weston Ruter said.

    “As someone who has been experimenting a lot with using AlpineJS, HTMX, Unpoly, StimulusJS, etc. for interactivity on the frontend, having a blessed solution in WP core would be most welcome,” another developer (@r1ckd33zy) commented.

    WordPress developer and WPGraphQL contributor David Levine seemed less enthused about the approach outlined in the proposal. “Great idea but shortsighted execution,” Levine said. “We need an actual block data layer, not to further pollute our markup for our scripts to parse. This just exacerbates the same problems that got us into this mess.”

    A few others in the comments of the post have been critical of the approach and others have questions about long term challenges of maintaining this approach.

    “This is a pretty out-there which is quite a different approach to anything I’ve seen before,” WordPress core contributor Joe Hoyle said. “That does give me caution, as it’s very wp specific / centric. I think with the block editor there’s opportunity to align more with industry innovation around front-end tooling. I think it’s really great work and very creative; but again I’m not yet sure it’s the right direction. It could be that there’s no long term solution to bring an ‘nextjs’-ification to WordPress, but I’m not sure I’m looking at it.”

    The proposal includes examples of how to create interactive blocks using the API and developers have opened a lively discussion on the approach. Contributors on the Interactivity API are planning to host two sessions on April 17, 2023 (one at 08:00UTC and another at 17:00UTC) that will include a live product demo followed by a Q&A. Check out the proposal for more details and the Interactivity API GitHub repo to see some experiments the team has been working on so far.

  • 31 Best WordPress Plugins in 2023 (Everything You Need)

    WordPress is the world’s most popular content management system (CMS), powering over 43% of all websites. With such a vast user base, many plugins are available to help you build the WordPress website of your dreams. In this post, we’ve compiled a definitive list of the absolute best WordPress plugins for your site.

    Let’s get started.

    What is a WordPress Plugin?

    A WordPress plugin is software that adds specific features to a website. They help users customize and extend functionality without coding. Plugins are easy to install, with thousands available for free or purchase. Examples include adding social media buttons, optimizing site speed, creating forms, and managing backups.

    What Types of WordPress Plugins Are Must-Haves?

    While every WordPress site has specific needs, most (if not all) websites need a few plugins to be successful. Some popular choices include security, SEO, cache, backup, contact form, and social media plugins. These plugins can help optimize website performance, protect against security threats, and improve user engagement.

    The Best WordPress Plugins

    We considered several factors when researching the best WordPress plugins for our list. Firstly, we looked at the number of installs and reviews, as positive feedback indicates community approval. Secondly, we sought options that are regularly updated and compatible with the latest version of WordPress. Lastly, we prioritized security and checked that plugins were developed by reputable sources.

    Our list of the best WordPress plugins includes must-have plugins and great options for specific types of WordPress sites. With such a wide range of plugins available, there is something to meet every website’s unique needs. So, without further delay, let’s dive into our list of the best WordPress plugins.

    1. Rank Math

    Although WordPress is SEO-friendly, installing a good SEO plugin is essential to rank high in SERPs. Our top pick is Rank Math, which is a great choice for any website. It offers features like WooCommerce SEO, 404 monitoring, front-end on-page SEO interface, link building suggestions, and cutting-edge keyword optimization, making it one of the best WordPress plugins available. Additionally, for Divi users, it provides seamless integration with the Visual Builder.

    Key Features for Rank Math:

    • Simplified dashboard
    • Front-end on-page SEO
    • Advanced keyword optimization
    • Link building recommendations

    Rank Math advanced modules

    Moreover, Rank Math provides a range of modules to enhance its features. These include support for Advanced Custom Fields, integration with AMP, connection with Google Search Console, the configuration of 301 and 302 redirects, and support for structured data through schema markup.

    Rank Math is for you if…

    • You’re a Divi user.
    • You need an all-in-one solution for SEO.

    Pricing: Free, with paid plans starting at $59 per year.

    Get Rank Math

    2. UpdraftPlus

    UpdraftPlus best backup plugin

    Up next on our list of best WordPress plugins is UpdraftPlus, one of the top backup plugins available. It offers a one-click, reliable backup solution. It features cloud storage with support for Dropbox, Google Drive, Amazon S3, and other popular services.

    Key Features for UpdraftPlus:

    • Backups to local or cloud storage providers
    • One-click site restoration
    • Database encryption (premium)
    • Website migration (premium)

    Updraft Migrator

    In addition to serving as a top backup plugin, UpdraftPlus also functions as an excellent migration plugin. It allows you to restore a previous version of the same site and use it as a clone on a different WordPress installation. However, it’s worth noting that this feature is only available as an add-on. You must upgrade if you require a plugin that performs both backups and migrations.

    UpdraftPlus is for you if…

    • You desire cloud storage options for backup and migrations.
    • You’re looking for a trusted solution millions of other WordPress users use.

    Pricing: Free, with premium licenses starting at $70 per year.

    Get UpdraftPlus

    3. EWWW Image Optimizer

    EWWW Image Optimizer plugin

    If you want to optimize your website’s images, using an image optimization plugin is one of the best ways to do it. While WordPress does have a built-in feature for reducing image file size, it may not be sufficient. To ensure optimal image optimization, we recommend using EWWW Image Optimizer. This plugin automatically resizes images and removes metadata to free up space and speed up your website. Additionally, it includes lazy loading functionality and enables you to convert PNGs and JPGs to WebP.

    Key Features for EWWW image optimizer:

    • Complete control over image quality and compression levels
    • Reduces file size of existing images
    • Compresses new uploads automatically
    • WebP image format support

    image resize settings

    Furthermore, EWWW Image Optimizer empowers you by giving you control over the amount of compression you want for your images. This feature gives you greater flexibility to manage image quality and optimize it to your desired level.

    EWWW image optimizer is for you if…

    • You want lossless image compression without sacrificing image quality.
    • You have an image-heavy website that needs a speed boost.

    Pricing: Free, with premium plans starting at $7 per month.

    Get EWWW image optimizer

    4. WP Rocket

    WP Rocket WordPress plugin

    WP Rocket is a user-friendly WordPress cache plugin that can significantly improve website speed and performance. With easy-to-use features such as page caching, browser caching, image optimization, CSS and javascript modification and concatenation, WP Rocket can help website owners improve their website’s time to first byte (TTFB) without requiring technical skills or knowledge.

    Key Features for WP Rocket:

    • Browser and page caching, along with GZIP compression
    • CSS Javascript minification, reducing HTTP requests
    • Database optimization
    • Lazy loading

    WP Rocket database optimization

    By creating static HTML pages for your website, WP Rocket can serve them to visitors, resulting in faster page load times. It also enables GZIP compression, which reduces the file size of your website files, and lazy loading, which loads images and videos only when a visitor scrolls down to them. WP Rocket also cleans up unnecessary data in your WordPress database, like post revisions, auto drafts, and spam comments, improving website performance overall.

    While WP Rocket isn’t a free plugin, its ease of use is worth the $59 price tag. Caching plugins can be challenging to configure, making errors easy. However, WP Rocket removes all the learning curves, making it easy for anyone to use. So, if you’re looking for a reliable and user-friendly speed and optimization plugin to improve your website’s loading times, WP Rocket is worth considering.

    WP Rocket is for you if…

    • You want an easy-to-use, well-rounded caching solution for your website.
    • You need to speed up your site.

    Pricing: Premium licenses start at $59 per year.

    Get WP Rocket

    5. Divi Builder

    Divi by Elegant Themes

    Up next is Divi Builder, one of the best WordPress plugins for creating custom layouts and designs for your website. Users can create pages and post using the plugin with over 200 design modules such as text, images, buttons, sliders, tabs, videos, and more. Modules can be placed on your pages via a no-code, drag-and-drop interface with Divi’s front-end Visual Builder.

    The Divi Builder also offers advanced features such as the ability to save and reuse layouts, global elements, and provides a variety of pre-made design layouts to get started quickly. Divi Builder functions as an excellent, all-around page builder.

    Key Features for Divi Builder:

    • Drag and drop, no-code Visual Builder
    • 200+ customizable design elements
    • Theme Builder for custom layouts
    • 2200+ design layouts

    Divi Theme Builder

    Additional features include the Theme Builder, which enables you to create custom page templates for posts, products, categories, tags, and more. Divi Builder integrates with the best WordPress plugins and can be used within any WordPress theme, making it the most versatile plugin on the market.

    Divi Builder is for you if…

    • You want to create beautiful, functional web pages without coding.
    • You need a quick way to build a website.

    Pricing: Memberships start at $89 per year.

    Get Divi Builder

    6. WP Forms

    WPForms plugin

    WP Forms, with its simple drag-and-drop interface, 10 form fields, and multiple form templates, is hands down the best form plugin for WordPress. You can build any form you choose with it. In addition to these features, WP Forms comes with conditional logic, geolocation, captcha, and email automation with Constant Contact and Uncanny Automator right out of the box. WP Forms offers multiple payment gateways like Stripe, PayPal, and Square.

    Key Features for WP Forms:

    • Drag and drop interface
    • Multiple form templates
    • Conditional logic
    • Multiple payment gateways
    • Multi-page forms (pro)
    • Integration with Divi

    WP Forms additional fields

    The free version comes with everything you need to build a simple form, but for more complicated multi-page forms, 28 additional fields, and more integrations such as MailChimp, ActiveCampaign, and Sendinblue, you’ll need to upgrade.

    WP Forms is for you if…

    • You want a simple drag-and-drop interface
    • You require an easy way to connect your email automation software

    Pricing: Free, with a premium license for $49.50 per year.

    Get WP Forms

    7. LoginWP

    LoginWP plugin

    LoginWP is a popular redirect plugin that allows site owners to redirect users to different pages after logging in or out of your website. With the plugin, you can improve the user experience and streamline the login process for users, as they can be redirected directly to their desired page after logging in. You can also create custom login forms and add custom fields with ProfilePress, as well as custom logos and messages.

    Key Features for LoginWP:

    • Redirect users after login/log out
    • Create custom redirect rules
    • Integration with popular WordPress plugins like LearnDash, MemberPress, and WooCommerce

    LoginWP settings

    LoginWP offers advanced customization options, including custom login parameters such as redirecting users based on their IP address or to a special page after their first login. The pro version of the plugin integrates with popular WordPress plugins such as LearnDash and MemberPress, allowing users to redirect visitors to specific pages. LoginWP is one of the best WordPress plugins for a streamlined and personalized user experience.

    LoginWP is for you if…

    • You need a simple way to redirect users after logging in or out.
    • You must set up custom redirect rules for a membership or learning management system(LMS).

    Pricing: Free, with premium licenses starting at $49 per year.

    Get LoginWP

    8. MonsterInsights

    MonsterInsights plugin

    Next on our list of best WordPress plugins is MonsterInsights, the top-rated Google Analytics plugin available. It seamlessly integrates with WordPress, providing a user-friendly interface with reports on traffic sources, top-performing posts, site visits, and phone/email click tracking. It also includes form conversion tracking and many other features to help you understand your website’s performance.

    Key Features for MonsterInsights:

    • Simple reports dashboard
    • Event tracking
    • Track 404 errors
    • Detail demographic reports

    MonsterInsights page speed analysis

    In addition to providing website analytics, MonsterInsights offers insights into your website’s performance speed for desktop and mobile devices. This can help identify any issues and provide tips for fixing them.

    MonsterInsights is for you if…

    • You want access to Google Analytics in the WordPress dashboard
    • You want to track specific events, such as phone and email links

    Pricing: Free, with premium licenses starting at $99.50 per year.

    Get MonsterInsights

    9. iThemes Security

    ithemes security plugin

    A good security plugin is essential to keeping your WordPress site safe and secure for your users. iThemes Security is one of the best WordPress plugins for this purpose, protecting your site against hackers, brute force, and other attacks. Its configuration is easy, and most users can get set up in just a few minutes using the configuration wizard.

    Key Features for iThemes Security:

    • Force users to have strong passwords
    • Two-factor authentication
    • Automated site scans

    iThemes security settings

    iThemes Security provides customized security options based on your website type. Whether it’s an eCommerce, network, non-profit, blog, portfolio, or brochure site, iThemes Security offers tailored protection to fit your specific needs. This way, you get the necessary level of security without any unnecessary extra weight that may come with features you don’t need.

    However, if you require a higher level of protection, iThemes Security’s premium license is your solution. This license provides automatic vulnerability patching, malware and site error checks, automatic plugin, and theme updates, identification of attempted login devices, and the ability to export your configuration to other sites you own.

    iThemes Security is for you if…

    • You need a robust security solution for your WordPress site.
    • You want a customized setup for your blog.

    Pricing: Free, with premium licenses starting at $99 annually.

    Get iThemes Security

    10. WP Optimize

    WP Optimize plugin

    Up next is the top database optimization plugin, WP Optimize. This powerful tool is designed to help website owners enhance their website’s performance by optimizing their database and removing unnecessary data. WP-Optimize can perform many tasks, including removing comments and post revisions, optimizing database tables, and compressing images.

    Key Features for WP Optimize:

    • Schedule database cleanups
    • Minify CSS and Javascript
    • Remove unwanted comments, including spam
    • Optimize database tables

    WP Optimize settings

    In addition, WP Optimize offers advanced features that allow you to schedule regular database cleanups, cache your site’s pages and posts, lazy load images, and minify CSS, JS, and HTML. These caching features improve your website’s speed and performance, ensuring visitors have a fast browsing experience.

    WP Optimize is for you if…

    • You need both a database optimization tool and caching plugin.
    • Your site could use a speed boost.

    Pricing: Free, with premium licenses starting at $49 per year.

    Get WP Optimize

    11. CleanTalk

    CleanTalk antispam wordpress plugin

    Up next is CleanTalk, one of the best WordPress plugins for spam control. It uses various techniques to quickly identify and block spam, including content analysis, IP analysis, and user behavior analysis. Like other spam plugins, it checks comments and registrations against its database of known spammers. It provides real-time protection against new and emerging spamming techniques.

    Key Features for CleanTalk:

    • Easy setup
    • No Captchas or other user verification methods
    • Real-time spam protection
    • Detailed reports on spam activity

    One of the standout features of CleanTalk is its ability to encode contact data, making it inaccessible to spam crawlers. This means that email addresses and other sensitive information included in your website’s content will remain protected.

    CleanTalk spam settings

    CleanTalk is the best WordPress plugin for controlling spam in all forms on your website, including registration, comment, and contact forms. It also works seamlessly with third-party opt-in forms like Mailchimp signups, ensuring your website stays spam-free.

    CleanTalk is for you if…

    • You need a comprehensive spam control plugin.
    • You want to be able to protect all types of forms on your site.

    Pricing: Free, with premium plans starting at $12 per year.

    Get CleanTalk

    12. Blubrry PowerPress

    PowerPress Podcasting plugin by Blubrry

    Blubrry is the perfect solution for turning your WordPress site into a powerful podcasting platform. This comprehensive plugin comes packed with features that make podcasting a breeze. With built-in SEO settings, including schema and episode metadata, you can easily optimize your podcast for search engines. You can also customize your RSS feed prefixes for greater control over your podcast’s presentation. And with a range of podcast players, you can tailor the listening experience to suit your audience’s needs.

    Key Features for Blubrry PowerPress:

    • Host podcast episodes in WordPress
    • Get insight into podcast statistics
    • Built-in SEO tools
    • Multiple audio and video formats supported
    • Subscribe tools

    Blubrry podcast player

    Whether you prefer a simple player or one that allows your visitors to download episodes, see show notes, or subscribe to services, Blubrry has you covered. Additionally, you can feature videos locally or on your Blubrry or YouTube account, all within their dedicated video player. With Blubrry, you’ll have everything you need to create and promote your podcast in one convenient package.

    Blubrry PowerPress is for you if…

    • You need an easy way to host podcasts on your WordPress website.
    • Tracking your podcast’s performance is a must.

    Pricing: Free, with premium licenses starting at $12 monthly.

    Get Blubrry PowerPress

    13. Advanced Ads

    Advanced Ads plugin

    Our next addition to our best WordPress plugins list allows you to effortlessly insert ads from platforms like Google AdSense, Google Ad Manager, media.net, and Amazon ads. Advanced Ads simplifies the ad placement process on your WordPress site by automatically detecting and choosing the best spot for maximum visibility.

    Key Features for Advanced Ads:

    • Works with multiple outlets
    • Various placement option
    • Easy start wizard
    • Custom display conditions

    Advanced Ads start wizard

    It’s a breeze to create your first ad with Advanced Ads. The straightforward start wizard prompts you to select the placement location and the type of ad you wish to showcase. Moreover, you can set display conditions – whether to display the ad on all pages or specific ones or even target specific groups of people.

    Advanced Ads is for you if…

    • You need an easy way to embed Google ads on your website.
    • You want to choose the placement for your ads.

    Pricing: Free, with premium licenses starting at €49 per year.

    Get Advanced Ads

    14. Pretty Links

    Next, Pretty Links is a popular affiliate marketing plugin for WordPress that allows users to create custom, branded links for their websites. These links are often shorter and more memorable than the original URLs, making them easier to share on social media. They are part of a good marketing strategy to grow your business.

    Key Features for Pretty Links:

    • Makes links more attractive
    • Easy to use
    • Google Analytics integration
    • Link tracking and management

    Pretty Links tracking

    Pretty Links also offers link tracking and management features in the WordPress dashboard, allowing users to monitor clicks and other Google Analytics statistics related to their links. This can help measure a marketing campaign’s effectiveness or track a particular page’s success on a website. However, you’ll need to upgrade to the pro version to get access to reporting features.

    Pretty Links is for you if…

    • You want to customize affiliate links.
    • You need the ability to track links for effectiveness.

    Pricing: Free, with premium licenses starting at $99.50 per year.

    Get Pretty Links

    15. Blog2Social

    Blog2Social

    If you’re looking to publish your content across both WordPress and social media efficiently, Blog2Social is the perfect plugin for you. This amazing social media plugin allows you to connect your social media platforms and schedule your WordPress posts to appear on networks like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and LinkedIn. With Blog2Social, you can easily streamline your content creation process and reach your audience across multiple platforms.

    Key Features for Blog2Social:

    • Schedule WordPress posts to social media platforms
    • Auto-post capabilities
    • Re-share posts
    • Social sharing calendar

    Blog2Social calendar

    Suppose you’re looking for a way to plan and organize your social media content easily. In that case, Blog2Social’s social calendar is a powerful tool that allows you to schedule your posts to be published on specific dates and times. This feature is crucial for any effective omnichannel marketing strategy and can save you a lot of time and effort. However, it’s important to note that the social calendar feature is only available with a premium license.

    Blog2Social is for you if…

    • You want an easy way to share WordPress posts on social media.
    • You are looking for ways to save time in managing multiple outlets.

    Pricing: Free, with premium plans starting at $7 per month (billed annually).

    Get Blog2Social

    16. Social Post Feed

    Looking to integrate your Facebook profile into your WordPress site? Look no further than Social Post Feed, our next entry on our list of best WordPress plugins. This powerful Facebook plugin allows you to display your Facebook feeds directly on your website, whether from pages or groups.

    social post feed display options

    With Social Post Feed, you can create unlimited feeds across your website, allowing users to like posts. And, if users want to leave a comment, they’ll be redirected to Facebook. Plus, you have many customization options to change the feed display type, adjust colors, and more.

    Key Features for Social Post Feed:

    • Embed Facebook feed on WordPress
    • Multiple display and feed options
    • No iframes, which helps with SEO
    • Display pages or groups in a feed

    One of the best things about Social Post Feed is that it helps with SEO by not using iframes. Search engines can crawl the posts on your website, significantly boosting your content. So, if you’re looking for an easy way to integrate your Facebook profile into your WordPress site, Social Post Feed is worth checking out.

    Social Post Feed is for you if…

    • You want to integrate Facebook into your WordPress website.
    • You’d like to have more than one feed present.

    Pricing: Free, with premium plans starting at $49 per year.

    Get Social Post Feed

    17. FluentCRM

    FluentCRM Plugin Homepage Feb 2023

    FluentCRM is an impressive WordPress CRM plugin that offers a complete customer relationship management (CRM) solution for WordPress site owners. With FluentCRM, managing your customer database, creating targeted email campaigns, and automating your sales and marketing workflows, all from within your WordPress dashboard becomes a breeze. This makes it simple to fully leverage the benefits of using a CRM, ultimately leading to better customer relationships and business growth.

    Key Features for FluentCRM:

    • Create targeted email campaigns
    • Manage customer database
    • Automate sales workflows
    • Segment contacts and track leads

    FluentCRM email campaign

    FluentCRM has various features designed to help you streamline your customer management and marketing efforts, including contact segmentation, email automation, lead tracking, activity logging, and reporting. You can also create and send email campaigns with the Gutenberg block interface, use automation workflows to nurture leads and track your conversions and revenue. In addition, FluentCRM integrates seamlessly with some of the best WordPress plugins and third-party tools, including WooCommerce, LearnDash, Zapier, and more.

    FluentCRM is for you if…

    • You need a simple way to manage customers and leads.
    • You want to integrate CRM software with other plugins such as WooCommerce.

    Pricing: Free, with premium licenses starting at $129 annually.

    Get FluentCRM

    18. OptinMonster

    OptinMonster ecommerce plugin

    OptinMonster is a multi-faceted tool that ranks among our best WordPress plugins and serves as a great popup plugin, email optin plugin, and countdown plugin. With a range of customizable templates, advanced targeting options, and powerful analytics and reporting, OptinMonster provides a comprehensive suite of tools for improving website performance and driving user engagement.

    Key Features for OptinMonster:

    • Create popups, email opt-ins, and countdown timers
    • Drag and drop popup builder
    • 100’s of pre-made designs
    • Integrates with popular email marketings tools
    • Robust analytics and reporting tools
    • Integration with SeedProd

    optinmonster dashboard

    OptinMonster offers a vast array of design options for your popup with its extensive template library. You can customize the templates to suit your brand’s unique style and branding by adding fonts, colors, and images. But that’s not all – OptinMonster also seamlessly integrates with SeedProd, enabling you to create landing pages along side your popups. This feature allows you to create a comprehensive marketing strategy that can help increase your conversion rates and grow your business.

    OptinMonster is for you if…

    • You want to create branded popups for your site easily.
    • You require integration with SeedProd.

    Pricing: Free, with premium licenses starting at $16 per month (billed annually).

    Get OptinMonster

    19. Envira Gallery

    Envira Gallery plugin

    Next up, we have one of the top image gallery plugins available – Envira Gallery. This powerful plugin enables you to upload images and videos effortlessly and provides a user-friendly drag-and-drop interface to rearrange photos. With Envira Gallery, you can customize a wide range of settings, such as the number of gallery columns, enable lazy loading for faster page loading times, display images in a lightbox, and set custom image dimensions to fit your specific needs.

    Key Features for Envira Gallery:

    • Unlimited amount of image galleries
    • Display images in Lightbox
    • Advanced customization options
    • Create video galleries, add social sharing buttons, and Ajax pagination (pro only)

    Envira Gallery pro options

    While the free version of the plugin is fantastic for creating image galleries, the pro version takes things to the next level with a host of additional features. With Envira Gallery Pro, you can easily create video galleries and add social sharing icons for popular platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and more. You’ll also enjoy extensive customization options, including mobile responsive configurations, Ajax pagination, album creation, and the ability to add tags to enhance SEO.

    Envira Gallery is for you if…

    • You want an easy way to feature image galleries on your website.
    • You’re building a portfolio website and need the ability to create albums.

    Pricing: Free, with premium plans starting at $26 per year.

    Get Envira Gallery

    20. WPML

    WPML translation plugin

    WordPress Multilingual (WPML) is a translation plugin for WordPress that allows websites to be translated into over 65 languages. With WPML, site owners can create multilingual content, enabling visitors to switch between languages as needed. It offers a range of features to help manage multilingual content, including translation management, translation string translation, and a language switcher widget.

    Key Features for WPML:

    • Choose different languages on individual posts and pages
    • Automatic Translation editor (pro only)
    • String Translation (pro only)
    • Translation management (pro only)
    • Translate custom post types, menus, images, taxonomies, media, and more

    WPML seamlessly integrates with various other plugins and themes, including popular options like Divi. With WPML, businesses and individuals can easily translate all website content, from pages and posts to menus and taxonomies, and create custom language variants, like Canadian French or Mexican Spanish, using the language editor. While WPML is a premium plugin, its robust features and ease of use make it the best WordPress plugin for translation needs and well worth the investment.

    WPML is for you if…

    • You operate a multi-national WordPress site that requires easy translation.
    • You want to create custom language variants.

    Pricing: $39 per year.

    Get WPML

    21. WP Mail SMTP

    WP Mail SMTP plugin

    WP Mail SMTP is a top choice for SMTP plugins, offering a reliable and secure way to send email through WordPress. Unlike the default mail function within WordPress – PHP mail() – WP Mail SMTP ensures consistent delivery of your site’s mail. WP Mail SMTP can reroute emails through a more secure and reliable delivery method, ultimately enhancing the reliability and security of your email communication within WordPress.

    Key Features for WP Mail SMTP:

    • Easy setup wizard
    • Support for most major email providers
    • Email tracking for site-wide and WooCommerce-specific emails
    • Multisite support

    WP Mail SMTP setup wizard

    WP Mail SMTP’s configuration wizard simplifies setting up SMTP by allowing users to send emails through their desired provider in a few easy steps. In addition, it supports a variety of email service providers, including SendLayer, Sendinblue, Gmail, Mailgun, SendGrid, and Zoho Mail. WP Mail SMTP also supports multisite installations and offers email tracking reports for site-wide and WooCommerce emails.

    WP Mail SMTP is for you if…

    • You need an SMTP plugin with advanced features.
    • You require multisite support.

    Pricing: Free, with a pro license starting at $49 per year.

    Get WP Mail SMTP

    22. WP Activity Log

    WP Activity Log is a powerful WordPress plugin that helps you monitor and track changes on your website, including content updates, user logins and logouts, and more. It is not only an excellent activity plugin but also a robust security plugin. This is because it keeps a detailed log of post and page changes, user notifications, and updates, which can help you quickly identify and respond to potential security threats.

    Key Features for WP Activity Log:

    • Track user activity in real-time
    • Detailed notifications and reports
    • Identification of users and their IP addresses

    WP Activity Log report

    With WP Activity Log, you can easily trace the exact time, user, and IP address of each event recorded in the log. This feature enables you to undo any changes that may have caused problems on your website. Overall, WP Activity Log is an indispensable tool for maintaining the security and integrity of your WordPress website, especially if you have multiple users or handle sensitive data.

    WP Activity Log is for you if…

    • You have multiple users on your site and want to keep track of changes.
    • You need both an activity and a security plugin.

    Pricing: Free, with premium licenses starting at $99 annually.

    Get WP Activity Log

    23. Strong Testimonials

    Strong testimonials plugin

    One of the best WordPress testimonial plugins available is Strong Testimonials. It allows you to quickly and easily showcase your customer’s feedback, with various display options that allow you to customize backgrounds, fonts, and colors. The plugin has a simple interface that is easy to use and comes with standard features such as a form builder and editor. Additionally, you can manually rearrange testimonials to suit your needs.

    Key Features for Strong Testimonials:

    • Multiple layout formats
    • Create testimonial forms
    • Design options for colors, fonts, and images
    • Translation ready with WPML, Polylang, and WPGlobus

    Strong Testimonials views

    Strong Testimonials offers seamless integration with language plugins, which means you can display testimonials in multiple languages effortlessly. In addition, you can choose from various display types like a grid, masonry, carousel, and slider layouts, giving you more options to showcase your testimonials effectively.

    And if that’s not enough, the pro version takes things up a notch by allowing you to automatically import testimonials from Facebook, Google, Yelp, and other sources. This feature saves you time and effort and ensures your testimonials are always up-to-date.

    Strong Testimonials is for you if…

    • You want to display customer testimonials on your site to boost sales and engagement.
    • You want multiple display options for testimonials.

    Pricing: Free, with premium licenses starting at $29 per year.

    Get Strong Testimonials

    24. GiveWP

    GiveWP donation plugin

    GiveWP is a donation plugin for WordPress that provides the ability to accept donations for non-profits, charities, and other organizations. You can customize donation forms, manage donors and donations, and accept payments through PayPal, Stripe, and Authorize.net. Features such as donation goals, reporting, and email notifications help you keep track of donations and engage with your supporters effectively.

    Key Features for GiveWP:

    • Multiple payment gateways
    • Set up donation goals
    • Comprehensive reports
    • Custom email notifications
    • Create custom donation forms

    GiveWP setup wizard

    GiveWP offers a hassle-free setup process with its wizard that helps you create your donation site and form effortlessly. It also supports recurring donations, provides pdf receipts, and allows custom fields in donation forms, making the donation process smooth and convenient for donors and organizations. Overall, GiveWP is one of the best WordPress plugins to set up and manage donations on your website.

    GiveWP is for you if…

    • You want a convenient way to accept donations on your site.
    • You want control over the look and feel of donation forms.

    Pricing: Free, with premium plans starting at $149 annually.

    Get GiveWP

    25. Easy Digital Downloads

    Easy Digital Downloads plugin

    Up next, we have an essential plugin for selling digital products – Easy Digital Downloads, considered one of the best ecommerce plugins available. Whether you plan to sell ebooks, music, graphics, or any other digital products, EDD is a must-have. With this plugin, you can easily create custom digital product pages, access valuable information on sales and earnings through detailed reporting, and use EDD’s built-in shopping cart feature to accept payments. Additionally, integrating an affiliate program is a breeze thanks to its compatibility with Affiliate WP.

    Key Features for Easy Digital Downloads:

    • Sell digital products
    • Dedicated ecommerce platform
    • Detailed sales and customer reporting
    • Integrates with other popular plugins

    Moreover, upgrading to the pro version of Easy Digital Downloads opens a new world of possibilities with its plethora of add-ons. This includes recurring payments, ideal for subscription-based products, integration with Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign, MailPoet, and others for streamlined customer email management, front-end submissions to create a multi-vendor marketplace, and reviews to boost sales with the power of social proof.

    Easy Digital Downloads is for you if…

    • You want to sell digital products on your website.
    • You need detailed reporting on your customer base.

    Pricing: Free, with premium versions starting at $99.50 annually.

    Get Easy Digital Downloads

    26. Echo Knowledge Base

    Echo Knowledge Base plugin

    Our following plugin, Echo Knowledge Base, allows you to create a knowledge base for your WordPress site. It includes more than two dozen templates, as well as over 500 icons in which to build it. Plus, it’s set up for multi-language support, making it an ideal solution for websites with international audiences.

    Key Features for Echo Knowledge Base:

    • Multiple customization options
    • Setup for multi-language support
    • Wide range of templates to choose from

    Echo Setup wizard

    Setting up your knowledge base is a breeze thanks to Echo’s configuration wizard, which guides you through creating a custom post type, choosing a template, and selecting your preferred navigation style. This user-friendly setup process means you don’t need any technical expertise to get started. The premium version offers additional features for editing links and incorporating ratings and reviews.

    Overall, Echo Knowledge Base is a powerful and versatile wiki plugin that simplifies creating a comprehensive knowledge base for your WordPress site.

    Echo Knowledge Base is for you if…

    • You want to set up a wiki on your website.
    • You need extensive customization options.

    Pricing: Free, with premium plans starting at $46 per year.

    Get Echo Knowledge Base

    27. MemberPress

    MemberPress plugin

    Our next entry for the best WordPress plugins is MemberPress. It functions as both a membership plugin and an excellent learning management system (LMS) plugin. With MemberPress, you can create a fully functional membership site, perfect for content dripping, setting up paywalls, creating courses and quizzes, offering file downloads, and managing multiple membership levels.

    Key Features for MemberPress:

    • Create multiple membership levels
    • Support for payment providers such as Apple Pay, Google Pay, and credit cards
    • Create courses and quizzes
    • Content Dripping
    • Digital downloads
    • Integration with Divi

    MemberPress Divi integration

    In addition to its core features, MemberPress offers several other functionalities. These include the creation of customizable pricing pages using Divi, access to comprehensive reporting for valuable insights on memberships, revenue, and engagement metrics, a built-in affiliate program through Easy Affiliate to incentivize members to refer new customers, and integration with popular email marketing services such as AWeber, Mailchimp, and many more.

    MemberPress is for you if…

    • You need a comprehensive solution for creating a membership website.
    • You want to accept payments, drip content, and set up an affiliate program.

    Pricing: Premium licenses are available for $179.50 annually.

    Get MemberPress

    28. FunnelKit

    Funnelkit plugin

    Funnelkit is a user-friendly lead generation plugin that provides many templates and tools to create and customize high-converting marketing pages. With no coding or design skills, users can easily create opt-in pages, sales pages, thank-you pages, webinar registration pages, and more. The plugin features a drag-and-drop editor that allows users to customize elements such as text, images, video, buttons, and forms.

    Key Features for FunnelKit:

    • Drag and drop page editor without coding
    • A/B testing
    • Analytics and tracking metrics
    • Customizable templates for popular themes

    FunnelKit premade designs

    Funnelkit offers A/B testing in addition to its simple visual editor. This feature enables users to test which version of a page performs better. Moreover, Funnelkit provides premade designs and modules for popular themes like Divi, Elementor, Oxygen, and Gutenberg, which makes integration with your existing theme a breeze.

    FunnelKit is for you if…

    • You want to create high-converting marketing pages easily.
    • You are a Divi user that wants to utilize premade design templates.

    Pricing: Free, with pro plans beginning at $99.50 per year.

    Get FunnelKit

    29. Realtyna WPL

    Realtyna WPL is a comprehensive real estate plugin for WordPress that allows users to create and customize their real estate website to match their brand and business needs. It provides various options for managing property listings, including features like location-based searches, customizable fields, property photos and videos, and other advanced search options.

    Key Features for Realtyna WPL:

    • Location-based searches
    • Create and manage property listings without the need for IDX software
    • Customizable search parameters
    • Property photos and videos
    • Lead generation and CRM tools
    • Allows other real estate agents to create listings

    Adding a new listing using the WPL Real Estate plugin

    In addition to its robust real estate website creation and customization capabilities, Realtyna WPL provides users with advanced real estate management tools. These include property management, lead generation, and CRM, allowing other real estate agents to create listings. One key benefit of Realtyna WPL is that it eliminates the need for a costly IDX plugin, making it a cost-effective solution for managing real estate listings and driving business growth.

    Realtyna WPL is for you if…

    • You operate a real estate business.
    • You want to manage listings and properties without an IDX plugin.

    Pricing: Free, with pro licenses, for a one-time fee of $199.

    Get Realtyna WPL

    30. Geo Directory

    GeoDirectory Directory Plugin

    Our next entry on the list of best WordPress plugins is Geo Directory. It allows users to create a location-based business directory, similar to Yelp, where visitors can search for businesses using an interactive map interface. With Geo Directory, users can easily manage business listings, locations, and categories, making it an ideal solution for companies and organizations looking to create a robust directory website.

    Key Features for Geo Directory:

    • Interactive map
    • Customizable search
    • User-submitted reviews
    • Monetization features such as paid and featured listings (pro)
    • SEO friendly
    • Customization options to match site branding
    • User-friendly
    • Integration with Ninja Forms, UsersWP, and AyeCode Connect

    Geo Directory search page

    Geo Directory offers customizable search options for users, with various filters such as location, category, rating, and more. This allows visitors to find businesses quickly and easily. Additionally, the pro version provides monetization options, including paid and featured listings, to help companies to generate revenue and improve their online visibility. Geo Directory also integrates with popular plugins such as Ninja Forms and Users WP, allowing users to register and log in to create their own business listings.

    Geo Directory is for you if…

    • You need to create an online business directory website.
    • Want to feature listings in an interactive map.

    Pricing: Free, with premium plans starting at $199 per year.

    Get Geo Directory

    31. MC4WP: Mailchimp for WordPress

    Our last plugin, MC4WP: Mailchimp for WordPress, allows you to seamlessly integrate your Mailchimp account with your WordPress website. You can effortlessly create and add sign-up forms to your site to capture email addresses and manage your subscribers and campaigns directly from your WordPress dashboard. It’s one of the best WordPress plugins for boosting your email marketing efforts and growing your audience.

    Key Features for Mailchimp:

    • Easily create custom signup forms
    • Manage email subscribers and campaigns in WordPress
    • Integration with other popular form plugins

    Mailchimp integrations

    MC4WP seamlessly integrates with other popular form plugins on your site, such as Gravity Forms, Ninja Forms, WooCommerce, and AffiliateWP, to name a few. This means that you can easily capture email addresses on various forms across your website, expanding your reach and engagement with your audience.

    Mailchimp is for you if…

    • You want an easy way to manage your email subscribers.
    • You need to integrate Mailchimp into various other forms on your site.

    Pricing: Free, with premium licenses starting at $59 annually.

    Get Mailchimp

    Final Thoughts on the Best WordPress Plugins

    WordPress offers many plugins, making it hard to identify the most important ones for a website. However, two plugins provide many benefits for any WordPress site. Firstly, a reliable SEO plugin like Rank Math enhances a website’s visibility and search engine ranking. Secondly, a good backup plugin such as UpdraftPlus ensures the security and reliability of a website’s data. Therefore, both plugins are good choices to help your site get discovered and stay safe and secure.

    Our Complete List of the Best WordPress Plugins

    Here’s a complete look at our picks for the best WordPress plugins you can get for your website:

    Plugin Price Free Option
    🥇 Rank Math $59 per year ✔️ Visit
    🥈 UpdraftPlus $70 per year ✔️ Visit
    🥉 EWWW Image Optimizer $7 per month ✔️ Visit
    4 WP Rocket $59 per year ❌ Visit
    5 Divi Builder $89 per year ❌ Visit
    6 WP Forms $49.50 per year ✔️ Visit
    7 LoginWP $49 per year ✔️ Visit
    8 MonsterInsights $99.50 per year ✔️ Visit
    9 iThemes Security $99 per year ✔️ Visit
    10 WP Optimize $49 per year ✔️ Visit
    11 CleanTalk $12 per year ✔️ Visit
    12 Blubrry PowerPress $12 per month ✔️ Visit
    13 Advanced Ads €49 per year ✔️ Visit
    14 Pretty Links $99.50 per year ✔️ Visit
    15 Blog2Social $7 per month (billed annually) ✔️ Visit
    16 Social Post Feed $49 per year ✔️ Visit
    17 FluentCRM $129 per year ✔️ Visit
    18 OptinMonster $16 per month (billed annually) ✔️ Visit
    19 Envira Gallery $26 per year ✔️ Visit
    20 WPML $39 per year ❌ Visit
    21 WP Mail SMTP $49 per year ✔️ Visit
    22 WP Activity Log $99 per year ✔️ Visit
    23 Strong Testimonials $29 per year ✔️ Visit
    24 GiveWP $149 per year ✔️ Visit
    25 Easy Digital Downloads $99.50 per year ✔️ Visit
    26 Echo Knowledge Base $46 per year ✔️ Visit
    27 MemberPress $179.50 per year ❌ Visit
    28 FunnelKit $99.50 per year ✔️ Visit
    29 Realtyna WPL $199 (one-time fee) ✔️ Visit
    30 Geo Directory $199 per year ✔️ Visit
    31 MC4WP: Mailchimp for WordPress $59 per year ✔️ Visit

    Want more plugins? Check out more of our plugin review posts for any plugin you’re looking for.

    The post 31 Best WordPress Plugins in 2023 (Everything You Need) appeared first on Elegant Themes Blog.

  • 7 Best Cookie Plugins for WordPress in 2023 (Compared)

    When building your website, you’ll want to think about how you store your visitors’ browsing data. Because data is such a sensitive matter, some rules go along with it. Using a cookie plugin on your WordPress website can help you meet and manage the requirements effortlessly. In this post, we’ll share the 7 best cookie plugins out there, so you can easily find the plugin that best matches your needs!

    What are Cookie Plugins for WordPress?

    Cookie plugins help website owners comply with cookie laws and regulations. When a cookie plugin is enabled, it will notify visitors about the use of cookies on a website. This usually happens in the form of a banner or corner popup. This banner or popup will allow your visitor to accept or reject cookies. Cookie plugins can also track user behavior, personalize content, and perform other actions.

    Here are some benefits of using a cookie plugin on your website:

    1. Legal Compliance: Cookie plugins can ensure websites comply with these regulations (Ex: GDPR.)
    2. Improved User Experience: Cookies can provide personalized content and recommendations based on browsing history.
    3. Analytics and Insights: Cookie plugins can provide website owners insight into user behavior. This can include pages they visit, the time they spend on the site, and their actions.
    4. Customization: Many cookie plugins for WordPress offer customization options, allowing website owners to tailor the plugin’s functionality to their specific needs.

    The Best Cookie Plugins for WordPress

    Ensuring your website uses cookies properly is super important, especially considering the rules and regulations behind them. So let’s look at the best cookie plugins available in 2023.

    1. CookieYes

    CookieYes Logo Banner

    CookieYes is a WordPress plugin with over a million active users and a 5-star rating. Its primary purpose is to enable website owners to comply with GDPR, CCPA, and other privacy regulations. In addition, the plugin provides a range of customizable cookie consent banner templates, automatic cookie scanning, and support for popular cookie consent solutions.

    Key Features for CookieYes:

    • Customizable cookie consent banner templates
    • Automatic cookie scanning and categorization
    • Cookie blocker for third-party cookies
    • Cookie expiration settings
    • Support for popular cookie consent solutions

    CookieYes Cookie Banner

    Additionally, CookieYes provides website owners with a comprehensive cookie consent solution, a range of customizable consent banner templates, and support for multiple languages. In addition, you can customize the font, color, and position of the banner on your page.

    The plugin also automatically scans and categorizes cookies, making managing and controlling them easy. Additionally, website owners can set granular cookie settings and permissions to ensure compliance with all applicable regulations.

    Best For:

    CookieYes is an excellent option for customizing your cookie banner. It also allows you to choose from more than 30+ languages. With CookieYes, you get pretty good control over the cookies you collect through your website. You can also easily access a detailed cookie report and schedule monthly cookie scanning.

    Pricing: Free. Pro version starts at $100/yr.

    Get CookieYes

    2. Complianz

    Compllianz Banner ad

    Complianz is a WordPress plugin for cookie consent developed by the same company behind the popular Really Simple SSL plugin (which helps migrate WordPress sites from HTTP to HTTPS.)

    This plugin supports GDPR, CCPA, and other cookie consent regulations. Moreover, it allows visitors to apply different consent behaviors based on location, ensuring compliance and optimal user experience for each location.

    Key Features for Complianz:

    • Automatic cookie scanning and categorization
    • Customizable cookie consent banner templates
    • Granular control over cookie settings and permissions
    • Support for a wide range of privacy regulations
    • Integration with popular third-party services

    Completion bar in complainz

    My favorite feature of this plugin is its comprehensive and easy-to-use setup wizard, which guides users through ensuring privacy compliance, making it an excellent choice for those new to privacy compliance.

    Best For:

    Complianz is an excellent choice for website owners who want to provide visitors with a transparent and secure browsing experience while ensuring compliance with privacy regulations.

    Pricing: Free. Pro version starts at $49.00/yr

    Get Complainz

    3. GDPR Cookie Compliance

    GDPR Cookie Compliance

    GDPR Cookie Compliance is a widely used cookie plugin available for free with the option to upgrade to a premium version offering additional features (Like most other plugins on the list.) Although named after the GDPR, the plugin is compatible with other cookie regulations, including CCPA, PIPEDA, and LGPD.

    The free version of the plugin focuses primarily on creating a cookie consent banner that can be triggered based on user actions, such as scrolling or clicking on a link. However, the premium version provides more advanced compliance management features, such as consent logs and cookie blocking until acceptance.

    Key Features for GDPR Cookie Compliance:

    • Customizable cookie consent banner
    • Blocking scripts and cookies until consent is obtained
    • Automatic cookie scanner

    GDPR Cookie Compliance

    The key feature of this plugin is its customizable cookie consent banner, which can be styled to match your website’s design and branding. The banner can be triggered based on user actions, such as scrolling or clicking on a link, and can include options for accepting or rejecting cookies.

    The plugin also provides the option to block scripts and cookies until consent is obtained, which can help ensure compliance with cookie regulations. GDPR Cookie Compliance includes an automatic cookie scanner that detects cookies on your website and generates a cookie declaration, making it easy to provide transparent information about the cookies used on your site.

    Best For:

    GDPR Cookie Compliance is best for website owners who want a simple and effective way to comply with cookie regulations. It’s particularly well-suited for small businesses and bloggers who want a lightweight solution that won’t slow down their website. For those who wish for additional features, such as lead generation tools, OptinMonster is a great choice.

    Pricing: Free. The premium version starts at $59/yr

    Get GDPR Cookie Compliance

    4. Cookie Notice & Compliance for GDPR / CCPA

    Cookie Notice & Cookie Compliance

    Cookie Notice & Compliance for GDPR / CCPA is a well-known WordPress cookie plugin with a nearly perfect 4.9-star rating from almost 2,900 reviews. The plugin is divided into two main parts, Cookie Notice and Cookie Compliance.

    First, Cookie Notice is a straightforward banner that informs website visitors about the usage of cookies on your site and allows them to provide consent in various ways. On the other hand, Cookie Compliance is a full-featured Consent Management Platform (CMP) that adheres to guidelines from more than 100 countries and offers users detailed options for managing their privacy. For instance, users can permit some cookies but block others.

    Still, Cookie Notice features are fully self-contained within the plugin, while the Cookie Compliance features require a connection to the developer’s web application. However, the plugin provides the flexibility to use only the Cookie Notice features if you prefer,

    Key Features for Cookie Notice & Compliance for GDPR / CCPA:

    • Easy to set up cookie consent banner
    • Customizable banner designs
    • Advanced consent management features
    • Supports CCPA, LGPD, PECR, and other regulations

    Cookie Notice & Cookie Compliance

    One of the standout features of Cookie Notice & Compliance for GDPR / CCPA is its advanced consent management functionality. The plugin allows website owners to block cookies until users provide consent, and it also offers options for revoking consent and managing user preferences.

    Best For:

    First, Cookie Notice & Compliance for GDPR / CCPA is best for website owners who need a comprehensive cookie compliance solution that supports multiple regulations. However, the plugin’s basic features are suitable for those looking for a free solution.

    Pricing:  Free, with premium licenses starting at $13.00/yr.

    Get Cookie Notice and Compliance For GDPR / CCPA

    5. Iubenda

    Iubenda

    Iubenda is an all-in-one solution that streamlines compliance for your website by providing cookie consent banners and notices, as well as privacy and cookie policy pages. In addition, it allows you to create terms and conditions pages.

    The main aim of this plugin is to simplify the process of ensuring your website complies with different regulations, including the GDPR, the ePrivacy directive, the LGPD, the CCPA, and more.

    Key Features for Iubenda:

    • Privacy and cookie policy generator
    • Legal guidance and support for compliance with data protection laws
    • Customizable cookie consent banner
    • Policy update management and tracking

    Iubenda Cookie settings

    To begin, regarding cookie consent, Iubenda enables you to customize your cookie banner fully. For example, you can adjust its location, design and include your logo. Additionally, Iubenda empowers users to choose what data they want to share, providing you with more opportunities for obtaining user consent.

    The plugin also allows you to determine the duration of cookies and block third-party scripts for services such as Facebook and Google Analytics.

    Best For:

    Iubenda is best for website owners who want an all-in-one compliance solution that covers not only cookie consent but also privacy policy, terms and conditions, and more.

    Pricing: Free. The pro version starts at $29/year

    Get Iubenda

    6. WP AutoTerms

    WP Auto Terms plugin

    As a free plugin for WordPress, WP AutoTerms offers a straightforward method to generate essential legal pages, including privacy policies, terms of service, and cookie consent pages. Boasting over 100,000 active installations and a solid 5-star rating on WordPress.org, this plugin has gained popularity among website owners.

    Moreover, WP AutoTerms is regularly updated, ensuring website owners can stay up-to-date with the latest legal requirements. The plugin offers a range of templates and layouts, and customization options to tailor the legal pages to your website’s specific needs. Additionally, WP AutoTerms supports multiple languages, making it an excellent choice for website owners with a global audience.

    Key Features for WP AutoTerms:

    • Generates privacy policy, terms and conditions, and cookie policy pages with just a few clicks.
    • Automatically updates policies when laws and regulations change, ensuring your website stays compliant.
    • Customizable policy templates to match the look and feel of your website.

    WP Auto Terms plugin

    First and foremost, WP AutoTerms allows users to generate legal policies specific to their website needs. In addition, the plugin keeps up-to-date with legal changes and updates policies accordingly, ensuring that websites remain compliant with relevant laws and regulations.

    Best For:

    WP AutoTerms is best for website owners who need legally compliant policies without navigating the complexities of legal language and regulation. In addition, it is an excellent fit for those who want to automate the process of generating privacy policies and other legal documents for their websites.

    Pricing: Free. The premium version is $39/lifetime

    Get WP AutoTerms

    7. MonsterInsights

    MonsterInsights banner ad

    MonsterInsights is a popular WordPress plugin providing comprehensive tracking and analytics capabilities for website owners. But besides that, it also offers an add-on focused on EU compliance. Enabling this add-on will help you make your Google Analytics compliant with GDPR.

    The add-on will, for instance, allow you to anonymize IP addresses and limit demographic collection. It’s important to mention that to use this add-on, you must connect it to a Cookie plugin. Amongst other cookie plugins, MonsterInsight integrates with the following plugins that are mentioned in this post:

    Key Features for the EU Compliance Add-on MonsterInsights:

    • Quick and easy setup.
    • Fully compliant with EU regulations and guidelines for cookies.
    • Integrates with popular cookie consent plugins.
    • Easy option to integrate Google Analytics in a GDPR-compliant way.

    MonsterInights EU Compliance addon

    MonsterInsights Google Analytics plugin that gives website owners easy access to their traffic stats. You’ll be able to view all the data you need in your WordPress dashboard without worrying about EU regulations.

    Best For:

    MonsterInsights is perfect for website owners who want to use Google Analytics in a GDPR-compliant manner and get access to Google Analytics stats in their WordPress dashboard. To use this plugin on your website, you will need an additional Cookie plugin, such as CookieYes.

    Pricing: Free, Pro version starts at $99.50/yr

    Get MonsterInsights

    Which One is The Best Cookie Plugin?

    Plugin Price Free Option
    🥇 CookieYes $100.00 per year ✔️ Visit
    🥈 Complianz $49.00 per year ✔️ Visit
    🥉 GDPR Cookie Compliance $59.00 per year ✔️ Visit
    4 Cookie Notice and Compliance For GDPR / CCPA $13.00 per year ✔️ Visit
    5 Iubenda $29.00 per year ✔️ Visit
    6 WP AutoTerms $39.00 for lifetime license ✔️ Visit
    7 MonsterInsights $99.50/yr ✔️ Visit

    What is the Best Cookie Plugin For WordPress?

    Adding a cookie plugin to your WordPress website is essential for complying with privacy regulations and providing a transparent user experience. After evaluating the plugins available, we recommend CookieYes and Complianz as our top choices.

    Regardless of which plugin you choose, it’s essential to prioritize transparency and user privacy when implementing cookies on your website. While CookieYes offers a comprehensive solution for cookie compliance with customizable cookie banners and consent management, MonsterInsights provides an add-on focusing on GDPR compliance.

    When choosing a cookie plugin, it’s crucial to prioritize transparency and user privacy above all else. Always ensure your website visitors know the cookies used and provide them with options to manage their preferences. And as a final note: remember to regularly review your website’s cookie usage and update your cookie policy accordingly to comply with any changes in privacy regulations.

    Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

    Before we wrap up this post, let’s answer some of your most common questions about WordPress cookie plugins. Do you have a question that we missed? Leave a comment below, and we’ll reply.

    What is cookie compliance?

    Cookie compliance refers to ensuring that websites use cookies in a way that aligns with applicable privacy laws and regulations, such as the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA).

    Does WordPress use cookies?

    WordPress uses cookies to facilitate basic functionality such as logging in, commenting, and remembering your interface preferences. WordPress plugins and Themes may also use cookies for a variety of purposes.

    Which WordPress plugins use cookies?

    Many WordPress plugins use cookies to track user behavior and store their preferences. WooCommerce, for example, uses cookies to remember which items a user has stored in their cart (among other things). Third party scripts added to WordPress, such as Google Analytics and ad retargeting scripts will also use cookies.

    Is WordPress GDPR compliant?

    Yes, the foundation of WordPress is GDPR compliant. However, that changes as soon as you start installing themes and plugins, which may use cookies or track users in a variety of ways. A cookie consent plugin is required to ensure compliance on most WordPress websites.

    What is the best WordPress cookie plugin?

    CookieYes and Complianz are the two best options when picking a WordPress cookie plugin. They give website owners everything they need to comply with cookie regulations.

    What is the best free WordPress cookie plugin?

    CookieYes and Complianz are two of the best WordPress cookie plugins, and they both have free versions that you can try without spending a penny. The free version of CookieYes has over 1 million active installs and a rating of 5 stars on WordPress.org.

    How do you create a cookie notice without a WordPress plugin?

    It’s not practical (or even possible, in most cases) to create a valid cookie notice on a WordPress website without using a cookie plugin. That’s because a valid cookie notice needs to not only inform your visitors about cookies, but alow allow them to control which cookies they consent to.

    Does my WordPress site need a cookie policy?

    If your website uses cookies, it should have a cookie policy. A cookie policy outlines how your website uses cookies, what information is collected, and how it is used. Complying with certain privacy laws and regulations requires a cookie policy.

    Need more plugins? Check out our article featuring the best WordPress plugins.

    Featured Image via Aygun Ali / shutterstock.com

    The post 7 Best Cookie Plugins for WordPress in 2023 (Compared) appeared first on Elegant Themes Blog.

  • WordPress 6.2: A new site editing experience

    It’s here, WordPress 6.2 has been released and with this update comes loads of stuff for you to enjoy! Staying true to the format, this release is named after jazz musician Eric Allan Dolphy Jr. WordPress 6.2 “Dolphy” comes with an updated site editor that gives you more control over what your website and pages look like. But there’s also a focus on performance, with this being the first WordPress release that had a performance lead! And lots of other enhancements, like fixes for accessibility issues, PHP8 compatibility and more. Read all about it, right here!

    The site editor

    WordPress 6.2 comes with lots of new features and improvements to the block editor. Updates to the interface, a better overview of the possibilities and improved blocks. It’s all there for you to discover and take the next step in website editing. And a fun fact, with this WordPress release, the site editor is now officially out of beta! Meaning that the site editor is now more stable than ever.

    A new interface for the site editor

    The site editor has an updated interface which gives you more control over your site editing experience. It allows you to navigate through your templates and template parts and edit parts of your site in one place. It’s also possible to add a new template or template part by clicking the plus icon next to Templates. This new interface gives you an overview of the templates (for example your 404-page, search results page and archive pages) and template parts (for example your footer or header) to edit.

    Site editor interface in WordPress 6.2
    The site editor interface in WordPress 6.2

    You can find the site editor by going to Appearance in the sidebar and clicking on Editor below that. It’s good to know that the site editor is only available on websites that use a block theme. So if you don’t see the option Editor, you might be using a theme that doesn’t support the site editor.

    A smoother experience for the block inserter

    WordPress 6.2 comes with a renewed block inserter, which you can access by clicking the blue plus icon at the top of any page or post you’re editing. The new look feels simpler and we mean that in a good way. You can now use the block inserter to add blocks, patterns and media directly to your content. You can just drag and drop the image of your choice into the page. The block inserter also gives you a preview of the blocks, patterns, or images while keeping the categories in your view. This makes it easier to weigh your options and access the content that you’re looking for.

    Another new feature that’s part of the renewed block inserter is the option to add media from OpenVerse. OpenVerse is an extensive media library with over 600 million free, openly licensed images and audio. This can help you find a suitable image (or audio fragment) and import it directly into the page.

    Block inserter interface in WordPress 6.2
    Inserting an image with the block inserter

    WordPress 6.2 comes with a Style Book

    This new version of WordPress comes with a Style Book, which gives you a complete overview of how every block in your site’s library looks. Just click on the Styles icon at the top of your page (next to your Publish/Update button and the Settings icon) and select the style book icon which will show up below that. This makes it easy to change the appearance of the blocks you’re using on your page, for example, the styling of your headings or paragraphs. Having all of this in one place makes it easier to edit all these elements and keep your styling consistent.

    The new Style Book in WordPress 6.2
    The new Style Book in WordPress 6.2

    Add a sticky block to your page

    It’s now possible to keep a block fixed to the top of the page as a site visitor scrolls down your page. Right now, this only works for top-level group blocks. To try it out, simply add a group block to your page or post and you should be able to see the Position tab in the block settings. Select ‘Sticky’ instead of default and this block will become sticky and will stay at the top of the viewport at all times. Kind of cool, right?

    An improved navigation block

    The navigation block was already available in the block editor but has become a bit easier to use with this latest release. It allows you to add, remove and edit the separate items in your menu in the block settings of your navigation block. You can also drag and drop the menu items to change the order in which they’re shown. You can choose to show an existing menu or create a new one right there (select the menu of your choice by clicking the three dots in the block settings). What’s also cool is that it’s possible to add ‘Search’ to your menu, which adds a search function to your navigation block. There are also other elements you can add, just click the plus icon in the block settings and give it a try!

    The introduction of Block Settings and Styles tabs

    The options that are being added to Block Settings sidebar keep growing and growing. Which is great, as it gives us more control over the blocks we use on a page. But it was becoming a bit crowded. That’s why WordPress 6.2 is introducing Block Settings and Styles tabs. When a block is selected, the sidebar will show you two tabs, one for the more general settings and one for styles. The latter will show you all the options you have to change the appearance of your block. This will help keep the sidebar more organized and help users understand where they need to be to make changes to the block.

    Distraction free mode

    The name says it all, this feature helps you work on your page or post with no distractions around. Or at least, any distraction that WordPress can remove for you. Click on the three dots at the top right corner of your page (next to Publish/Update and settings) and select Distraction free to give it a try. This hides all the toolbars that you normally see when you’re working on a page in WordPress. Bringing you some more peace and quiet to focus on your content. If you want to exit the distraction-free mode, just move your mouse to the top of your page and the three dots will appear again (together with your Publish/Update and settings button). This allows you to disable this mode by clicking Distraction free again.

    Pro-tip: we also recommend activating Fullscreen mode (which hides your admin UI) for an even cleaner and less distracting screen.

    distraction free mode in WordPress 6.2
    Go to Options in the top right corner to activate Distraction free mode

    Performance improvements

    The performance of your website is essential nowadays. That’s why this update also comes with many performance improvements, visible in the benchmarks for both Web Vitals and Server Timing metrics. The WordPress 6.2 field guide also tells us that performance is further improved for block themes with around 20% faster TTFB (time to first byte, a metric for determining the responsiveness of a web server) and around 14% faster LCP (how long it takes for the largest piece of content to appear on the screen). On pages with hero images, the LCP improvements are even greater at around 19%.

    Also good to know: This was the very first WordPress release with a performance lead appointed! The performance lead with this release was Felix Arntz. With a performance lead joining the release team, we can safely assume that performance will continue to be an important part of future WordPress releases.

    Under the hood

    In addition to performance improvements, there’s a lot of other stuff that’s been worked on which is a little less visible. Let’s dive into a few highlights and show you what’s going on under the hood of WordPress 6.2.

    Improved PHP8 compatibility

    WordPress aims to support new versions of PHP as much as possible. This means that WordPress Core contributors try to identify any potential compatibility issues and work to prevent these as much as they can. This release isn’t any different. Significant effort has been put toward making WordPress compatible with PHP8 and reducing the risk of WordPress users running into any problems.

    Accessibility improvements

    We also want to mention that this release of WordPress also comes with a lot of fixes for accessibility bugs and regressions. To give an example, one of the improvements that are part of this release is the realization of more consistent accessibility behavior across different browsers. It might seem like small stuff, but every improvement we make in regard to accessibility is another step towards a web that is accessible for everyone. With no exceptions.

    Google fonts in default themes

    Default WordPress themes will offer better privacy with Google Fonts now locally included. Beforehand, these fonts were loaded from a remote source (Google Fonts). The themes Twenty Twelve through to Twenty Seventeen now include font files in the theme folder. This update ensures that the themes follow current recommendations for fonts from a privacy perspective, making them GDPR-compliant.

    Faster plugin & theme updates

    A long, long time ago, WordPress 2.5 introduced copy_dir() for copying a directory from one location to another. However, this method took up a lot of memory, disk space, time and file operations. Which is not ideal at all. Thanks to the introduction of a move_dir function in this release, you will now be able to save time and disk space.

    Update to WordPress 6.2

    Those were the most important features in the latest release of WordPress, but that doesn’t mean we covered everything. We would recommend updating to this latest version of WordPress and trying it out for yourself! Let us know what you think about all the changes to the block editor in the comments below. We can’t wait to hear about your experiences!

    Read more: The WordPress block editor: Why you should be using it »

    The post WordPress 6.2: A new site editing experience appeared first on Yoast.

  • WordPress 6.2 Is Finally Here: A Detailed Overview

    The first major release of the year – WordPress 6.2 “Dolphy”, is finally here. This version brought over 900 enhancements and bug fixes in the core software.

    WordPress 6.2 also marks the end of the Gutenberg Phase Two project focused on customization. The next major update will begin Phase Three for better collaboration.

    This version comes with an improved site editor to make your workflow even more efficient and open more customization possibilities. Let’s dive into WordPress 6.2 and see what it has to offer.

    Improved Workflow With the New Site Editor Interface

    The Site Editor interface has received several significant changes. Most notably – the Browse Mode. What’s more, the new color-coding system and block settings panel updates result in a more intuitive and better workflow.

    Browse Mode

    Users can see the new interface immediately when they enter the Site Editor. Instead of taking you to the homepage template with no sidebar, it will start with the template preview that includes a sidebar to navigate the different templates. This interface is also called Browse Mode.

    The template browser panel on the site editor

    The dark-gray left sidebar lets you browse through the available templates and template parts, while the main editor canvas on the right will preview the selected template. What’s cool is that now you can switch and preview between templates and template parts seamlessly.

    The template preview showing the single post template

    While it may not seem significant, this lets you see subtle differences between templates for better design consistency. Previously, you’d have to open the template panel, which took up the whole screen, hindering you from seeing the preview and switching between templates quickly.

    Moreover, the sidebar width is adjustable. The preview will also change according to the canvas area, letting you see how the template responds to the changes to the viewport width.

    When you’d like to edit the selected template, click on the editor canvas or the Edit icon on the sidebar.

    Click the Add New Template button on the sidebar to add a new template or template part from the browse mode. Alternatively, you can still access the old templates and templates parts panel by clicking the Manage all templates or Manage all template parts buttons.

    The panel to manage all templates

    Block Settings With Split Controls

    The interface changes don’t end there. The Block Settings panel is also improved – it now has split controls.

    Have you ever customized a block and felt annoyed at having to scroll to find a specific setting? Starting from WordPress 6.2, the block settings panel will have two tabs for the controls – Settings and Styles.

    The post title block settings panel, showing the two tabs to customize the block

    The Settings tab – represented by a gear icon, contains block-specific options. For example, you can find the layout and position settings in the group block settings, while the post date block contains the Date Format and Link to the Post options. All advanced block settings to add CSS classes or HTML anchors are also in the Settings tab.

    The Styles tab – represented by the WordPress style icon, contains the general style settings, such as color, dimensions, typography, and border. The customization options may differ for each block.

    It’s worth noting that the Site Editor block settings icon has been changed. Instead of a gear, it now resembles a screen with a right sidebar.

    The block settings button on the block editor

    Color-Coded Template Parts and Reusable Blocks

    Have you ever accidentally changed or deleted any reusable block or template component? Doing so may affect other parts of the website that use the same component.

    In WordPress 6.2, template parts and reusable blocks are color-coded to differentiate them from other blocks. You will see a purple outline and icons when you select them, helping identify them. This change is applied in the list view, the block toolbar, and the editor canvas.

    The site editor interface, showing the header template part highlighted in purple

    Improved Content Editing Experience

    WordPress is all about creating content. Thus, every update improves the writing and editing experience, and WordPress 6.2 is no exception.

    Distraction-Free Mode

    The distraction-free mode is available in the page and post editor. It hides all sidebars, the top navigation panel, and the block toolbar, leaving only the editor canvas and your content on the screen.

    The post editor interface with the distraction-free mode turned on

    To activate it, open the Options menu at the top-right corner of the screen and select Distraction free. When you want to return to the standard editing, hover over the screen’s top section. The top navigation panel will appear, allowing you to access the Options menu again.

    The option to turn on the distraction-free mode

    What we like the most about this feature is that it hides the block toolbar. It can be annoying when the block toolbar hides a portion of the text when writing. With the distraction-free mode, this won’t happen.

    The beauty of the distraction-free mode is that you can still add various blocks using the inserter in the editor area. This means that you’re not restricted to editing text, and you can create content with images, videos, and other visual elements.

    Openverse Integration

    Need to add openly-licensed media to your content? There’s no more need to look for it on a separate site, download it, and re-upload it to your site. The Openverse integration now lets you browse these images straight from your editor.

    All you need to do is open the Block inserter from the top-left corner of the editor screen, open the Media tab, and select Openverse. Use the search bar to enter a query and find suitable images you need. When you finally find one, click on it, and it will be automatically inserted into your content.

    The Openverse panel on the block editor

    This integration has also been improved since the beta version. It now uploads the image to the media library to avoid problems with hotlinking. If it can’t upload the image to the library, it will warn you before proceeding.

    The warning message when the image can't be imported to the media library

    Pattern Inserter Categorization and Interface Improvements

    Using block patterns is an easy way to get your content layout done. WordPress 6.2 features a redesigned pattern inserter to improve user-friendliness and at-a-glance navigation.

    Now, pattern categories are listed in the inserter panel instead of a drop-down menu. This makes it easier to navigate between categories. The inserter panel also expands rightwards for a preview.

    The improved pattern inserter interface

    If you want to browse for a pattern using the dedicated block pattern panel, click Explore all patterns, and the pop-up will appear.

    Other than the interface, block patterns are also recategorized in this version for better user-friendliness. Some of the changes are as follows:

    • Query patterns renamed to posts
    • Columns merged with text patterns
    • Buttons replaced with calls to action
    • Three new categories – banner, header, and footer

    Post Outline

    The post outline is now moved into the list view panel. Therefore, you’ll notice the panel is now split into two tabs – List view and Outline.

    In the outline tab, you can see the structure of your content, including its word count, time to read, and heading structure.

    The new post outline interface, showing the content's heading structure

    Styles Customization

    Switching and customizing global styles is now more convenient with the refined global styles panel. Some new features will make your life easier, too.

    New Global Styles Preview and Style Book

    The global styles panel now offers two improved ways to preview any style variation.

    The first is the zoomed-out editor canvas to better provide a style overview when you enter the style browser. Previously, when selecting a style variation, the editor canvas would remain the same, so you’d have to scroll down to see the changes on other parts of the site, such as the header and footer.

    The style browser interface, showing the zoomed-out editor canvas for a better preview

    You can also add patterns while in the zoomed-out editor canvas. This will let you experiment with different styles and patterns and choose one you see fit.

    Another way to see a broad preview of style variations involves using the style book. You can access it by clicking the Eye icon on the Global Styles panel.

    The style book icon on the global styles panel

    This will show you how all website elements will look with every style variation. For example, in the text section, you can see all the heading levels, paragraphs, and quotes. The design section shows how buttons, columns, and links will look with a style variation.

    The style book on the site editor

    The style book has five tabs – text, media, design, widget, and theme. Each contains main blocks that are often used for site customization.

    Inline Block Styles Preview

    The global styles panel lets you change block styles globally. However, the previous versions were missing the block preview feature. This means you couldn’t see the changes unless the block in question was in the editor canvas.

    This is solved in WordPress 6.2, which introduces the inline preview in the global style panels. Now you can see how the block will look at the top of the global styles panel.

    The button block global style panel, showing the inline preview at the top

    Shadow UI Tools

    Gutenberg introduced shadow support via the theme.json file in January 2023, allowing theme developers to incorporate shadow elements. This customization was code-based only.

    WordPress 6.2 introduces UI tools to let end users change the shadow presets via the global styles panel.

    The button block with the shadow effect enabled

    Currently, four shadow presets are available by default, but you can add more via the theme.json file.

    Here is a sample code snippet you can use to add a shadow preset:

    {
    	"version": 2,
    	"settings": {
    		"shadow": {
    			"presets": [
    				{
    					"name": "Small",
    					"slug": "sm",
    					"shadow": "0 1px 3px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1), 0 1px 2px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.06)"
    				},
    				{
    					"name": "Medium",
    					"slug": "md",
    					"shadow": "0 4px  10px 0 rgba( 0, 0, 0, 0.3 )"
    				},
    				{
    					"name": "Large",
    					"slug": "lg",
    					"shadow": "0 8px  15px 0 rgba( 0, 0, 0, 0.3 )"
    				}
    			]
    		}
    	}
    }

    Push Block Styles to Global Settings & Copy and Paste Block Styles

    When editing a block’s style, you may decide to apply it to other similar blocks. For example, after styling a heading, you like the look and want to apply it to all the heading blocks on your site.

    Instead of editing other blocks individually or making the same edit in the global styles panel, you can now open the block settings panel and select the Apply globally option from the Advanced section.

    The apply globally button on the block settings panel

    Or, if you want to use the same style for a specific block, you can open the More options menu in the block toolbar, select Copy styles, and click Paste styles on the receiving block.

    The copy styles and paste styles options in the block toolbar's drop-down menu

    Intuitive Navigation Block Tools

    WordPress 6.2 brings a new way of creating navigation links in the editor with the new navigation block UI tool.

    This tool is accessible through the block settings panel. You will notice another tab for the navigation block list view. While this functions similarly to the block editor list view, the tools offer a more focused experience for editing the navigation, helping you implement good navigation on your site.

    The navigation block settings panel, showing the new list view UI

    First, it’s now easier to rearrange navigation items by dragging and dropping them on the UI. This is a great addition – you won’t have to use the main list view or the block-moving tools.

    You can also use the drag-and-drop system to create a sub-menu or move a sub-menu level to a higher level. Alternatively, you can open the options menu for each page link block to remove it or add a sub-menu.

    When you click an individual page link, it will open the link settings where you can change the label, URL, description, and link rel attribute.

    Individual link settings on the navigation block settings panel

    Another improvement is adding more block types to the navigation block. For example, you can insert a page list block, and it will automatically add all pages to the navigation. Most importantly, it will have a simple single-button option to turn them into individual page link blocks, where you can edit and arrange them more freely.

    Using page list block in the navigation block

    This new process is amazing when you have plenty of pages to add. Adding a page list block lets you get all the pages there without inserting the links individually.

    To prevent any link and submenu changes, the Restrict Editing feature is now accessible via the block-locking tool. This feature is helpful for site admins or agencies to ensure the site’s navigation won’t be changed unexpectedly, which may cause the navigation to break.

    The block locking interface for the navigation block, with the restrict editing option enabled

    Other Improvements

    Other than the holistic updates we’ve discussed above, some major updates were also made to improve the editing experience in WordPress.

    Sticky Positioning

    The new sticky position support lets you keep a block at the top of the viewport when users scroll down the page. Currently, this feature is available in group, stack, and row blocks at the root level. You can use these container blocks to put an important notice on your website and set it sticky.

    To set a sticky block, make sure it’s in the root level. Then, open the block settings panel and find the Position option. Choose Sticky from the drop-down menu.

    The sticky position option in the block settings panel

    Variation Picker in the Group Block Placeholder

    Group, row, and stack blocks have been easily transformable to each other with the dedicated transform tool in the block settings. WordPress 6.2 takes this flexibility further with the variation picker when you add a group block to the editor.

    You will see the layout options, which let you start the group block as a row or stack block. Note that these options are not available in row and stack block placeholders.

    The variation options in the group block placeholder

    Drag-and-Drop Support to Add Images Into an Empty Paragraph Block

    Adding an image from your computer is now easier than ever. You can drag and drop it from a local folder to an empty paragraph block. It will automatically transform into an image block and upload the image to the media library.

    Beta Label Removal and Site Editor Rename

    While this seems minor, removing the beta status means that the Site Editor is more stable than ever for WordPress website creation and customization. Plus, it’s been renamed to just Editor.

    Although this release officially ends the beta status of the site editor and Phase Two of Gutenberg, the WordPress team will still improve the editor and fix bugs through future WordPress and Gutenberg updates.

    Update Your Site to WordPress 6.2 Now

    Updating WordPress is relatively simple. However, be sure to create a website backup beforehand and use a staging environment to test the update before committing. WordPress 6.2 is a major release, and updating your live site may result in compatibility issues and errors.

    Pro Tip

    The staging environment feature is available with select WordPress hosting plans. Read our WordPress staging tutorials to set up a test environment.

    Once you’ve created a backup and tested the new version in a staging environment, you can update your main site without worry. Follow our tutorials to update your WordPress website, and enjoy the new features in WordPress 6.2!

    The post WordPress 6.2 Is Finally Here: A Detailed Overview appeared first on Hostinger Blog.

  • How to Add WordPress Background Images: 4 Easy Methods and Best Practices

    WordPress is a popular content management system (CMS) that continuously offers intuitive and powerful features to design an engaging website. For example, it lets you add custom background images to help make the website more appealing. In this article, we will cover four easy methods to add a background image in WordPress. You will also […]

    Read More…

    The post How to Add WordPress Background Images: 4 Easy Methods and Best Practices appeared first on Hostinger Tutorials.

  • 8 Best WordPress Community Plugins in 2023 (Compared)

    Community plugins are great tools for fostering online communities on your WordPress website. They are great for those that want to include membership management, social networking, forums, and other features to enhance user interaction on their website.

    In this post, we’ll look at the best community plugins for WordPress, so you can quickly build a community on your next website!

    What are Community Plugins for WordPress?

    Community plugins are WordPress plugins that add functionality to your site, allowing users to communicate and interact with you or each other in various ways. For example, you could use a community plugin to add a forum to you where users can upvote comments and earn points. Or you can have a localized social networking experience for users with their own profile pages and more.

    There are many types of plugins that one could use to build communities, including:

    With the right plugin(s), you can build an online community on your website in pretty much any way you want. You can even make your community more exclusive by offering paid memberships to access premium content.

    WordPress can already post comments on pages or posts, which is a good start. But if you want a community website, you’ll need additional features from community plugins.

    The Best Community Plugins for WordPress

    Let’s explore the best community plugins for WordPress that can help you build and manage online communities.

    1. MemberPress

    MemberPress

    MemberPress is a powerful membership plugin with built-in features for building an online community for your site. It integrates seamlessly with bbPress and allows you to add premium community forums to your site. You can even offer VIP community access for an extra cost.

    With access to analytics and reports, you can use the data you receive from user engagement as a great marketing tool to grow your business.

    Key Features for MemberPress:

    • Simple membership setup wizard
    • Content dripping and access control
    • Affiliate program integration
    • Content Restriction for members only access
    • Built-in reporting and analytics
    • Course Creator
    • Seamless integration with Divi

    MemberPress add new group page

    You can add a members-only area to your site that allows you to share restricted content with community members. This is a great place to add any exclusive (or paid) content you only want the community to have access to. You could even make your community forum exclusive as well.

    The MemberPress Divi Add-On integration benefits Divi users by allowing them to restrict modules, rows, sections, or pages within Divi using the MemberPress tab in the Visual Builder.

    Best For:

    MemberPress is best for businesses and websites that want to create and manage memberships and subscriptions for monetization.

    Pricing: MemberPress pricing starts at $179.50 per year for the Basic plan

    Get MemberPress

    2. Paid Memberships Pro

    Paid Membership Pro Logo Banner

    Paid Membership Pro is a flexible membership plugin for WordPress with community-building features. Users can create their own profiles and profile pages. And you can create members-only directories so users can find and interact with other members. It integrates with plugins like bbPress and BuddyPress to create a social community within your membership site.

    Key Features for Paid Memberships Pro:

    • Unlimited membership levels and pricing options
    • Front-end user profile creation
    • User profile pages and member directory
    • Content dripping and restricted content options
    • Integrations with BuddyPress, BuddyBoss, and bbPress
    • Built-in payment gateways
    • Recurring payments and subscriptions
    • Admin reports and analytics for sales, visits, signups, and more

    Best For:

    Paid Memberships Pro is best for those wanting a freemium membership plugin that can scale with your needs, especially if you’re interested in creating multiple membership tiers. Its customization options make it an excellent fit for those who want more hands-on customization options.

    Pricing: Free. The pro version starts at $247/yr.

    Get Paid Membership Pro

    3. ProfileGrid

    ProfileGrid banner

    ProfileGrid is a powerful all-in-one community plugin for WordPress packed with features. Users can create fantastic profile pages using templates, customize each section, and include custom profile tabs. The profile pages resemble the layout and functionality of Facebook so that visitors can view a user’s about area, friends, photos, and more. Premium add-ons introduce group functionality WooCommerce integration, menu restrictions, and more.

    Key Features for ProfileGrid:

    • Create custom user profiles
    • Build online communities
    • Customize profile fields and data
    • Follow users and create new friends
    • Users can add recent blog posts and Wall Posts
    • Users receive notifications of friend and group activity
    • Built-in user control for privacy and content restriction
    • Use block editor for content restriction elements

    Profile Grid group

    One of the unique features of the plugin is user groups. You can create groups for users to join, and users can chat with each other using a private messaging system.

    Best For:

    Profile Grid is best for those who want to build a robust member director or community website with social network-type features, including the unique ability to create and join groups. It is excellent for beginners because it has many features in a free version.

    Pricing:  Free, with premium licenses starting at $79.00/yr.

    Get ProfileGrid

    4. bbPress

    bbpress forum and community plugin

    bbPress is one of the most popular forum plugins for WordPress. Adding a powerful discussion board to your site makes it easy to grow your community. Built by the creators of WordPress, this plugin is well-supported and often integrated with other themes and plugins for more advanced forum functionality.

    It integrates with membership plugins like MemberPress and Paid Memberships Pro to easily add a forum to your membership site. It also integrates with Lifter LMS to create a community forum for your online course.

    Key Features for bbPress:

    • The option to create forums for multiple sites
    • The ability to customize forum templates
    • Built-in spam protection for forums using Akismet
    • Fast and lightweight, following WordPress standards
    • Compatibility with various free third-party plugins to extend the functionality
    • Users can subscribe to topics and specific forums for notifications

    bbPress forum page

    With bbPress, you can create public or private forums and place them anywhere on your site. And you can easily create unlimited forums and topics and manage replies on the backend.

    Best For:

    bbPress is best for beginners looking to add high-quality forum functionality to their site for free. It won’t have more advanced features or styling options, but it will do the job.

    Pricing: Free

    Get bbPress

    5. BuddyPress

    BuddyPress WordPress Community Plugin

    BuddyPress is a popular community plugin for WordPress that allows you to create a social network on your website. Like bbPress, it is created by the WordPress team and can be extended with many third-party themes and plugins.

    The design is basic, but the functionality and features are hard to beat for a free plugin. You can create user profiles with built-in functionality for friends, groups, messaging, and more.

    Key Features for BuddyPress:

    • Customizable user profiles with profile fields
    • Activity streams for tracking user interactions
    • Personal and group messaging
    • Admins can create custom profile fields
    • Users can control profile visibility

    BuddyPress Personal Profile and Friend Requests

    One of the most significant benefits of BuddyPress is its flexibility. It can work with any WordPress theme to transform your website into a social network.

    Best For:

    BuddyPress is an excellent choice for sites that want to provide a platform for their users to interact and engage with each other.

    Pricing: Free.

    Get BuddyPress

    6. Ultimate Member

    Ultimate Member WordPress membership plugin

    Ultimate Member is a freemium community plugin for WordPress that offers all the features you would need to add membership directories, user profiles, and more on your site. The free version comes with limited core features that would work for beginners. However, you’ll need to upgrade to premium to access 30+ add-ons to get functionality for followers, friends, private messages, and more.

    Plus, it integrates with other plugins, such as WooCommerce, to create a WooCommerce membership site.

    Key Features for Ultimate Member:

    • Drag-and-drop form builder with conditional logic
    • Private messaging system
    • Woocommerce integration
    • Customizable user registration and login forms
    • Front-end user profiles and account management
    • Membership and subscription management

    Ultimate Member settings

    The drag-and-drop form builder is a standout feature. This makes creating unique login and registration forms for your website easy.

    Best For:

    Ultimate Member is great for those who want to create a membership directory site or add user profiles to their existing website for community building. It’s also great for those seeking more control over user registration forms.

    Pricing: Free. The pro version starts at $249 per year.

    Get Ultimate Member

    7. wpForo

    wpForo free WP Forum Plugin

    wpForo is a WordPress forum plugin that allows you to add custom discussion (or bulletin) boards to your website. The core plugin is free, but you must purchase add-ons for unique features, including private messaging, GIPHY images, and many more.

    Key Features for wpForo:

    • Responsive design that works on all devices
    • SEO-friendly URLs for better search engine rankings
    • Advanced user profile system
    • Customizable forum layouts and designs
    • Private messaging system
    • Integration with popular WordPress plugins like BuddyPress, Yoast SEO, and Akismet

    wpForo Forum Quality Sytyles and Design

    wpForo stands out among other forum plugins due to its contemporary appearance, which is why numerous users favor it. Site admins can choose from four main layout styles, and individual users can select from six styles or skins to personalize their experience, including a dark mode.

    More so, by integrating with MyCred (a top gamification plugin), you can boost your community user experience by rewarding points to users for getting likes and upvotes.

    Best For:

    wpForo is excellent for those wanting a modern-looking forum to build their community engagement and don’t mind paying for add-ons for more functionality.

    Pricing: Free.

    Get wpForo

    8. UserPro

    UserPro banner ad

    UserPro is a community plugin on the Envato Market with some impressive features for building a social network community. You can create member directories and display online members. Users can create and customize their user profile pages that other members can view and follow, similar to popular social network profile pages. You can also allow users to create blog posts that can be shared and viewed publicly and within their profile. Community members can also earn badges that will be displayed on their profile cards.

    Key Features for UserPro:

    • Customizable registration and login forms
    • User profiles with custom fields and profile photos
    • Front-end user directory with search filters and sorting options
    • Integration with popular social networks
    • Built-in user roles and permissions management
    • Content restriction for members only
    • Private messaging system

    userPro Members

    The plugin’s built-in follow system allows users to follow each other and receive notifications when someone they follow posts an update. This is great for boosting engagement within the online community.

    Best For:

    UserPro is ideal for building a fun and engaging community website with custom member directories and profiles that feel like a social network.

    Pricing: $39/lifetime

    Get UserPro

    Final Comparison

    Plugin Price Free Option
    🥇 MemberPress $179.50 per year ❌ Visit
    🥈 Paid Membership Pro $247.00 per year ✔️ Visit
    🥉 ProfileGrid $79.00 per year ✔️ Visit
    4 bbPress / ✔️ Visit
    5 BuddyPress / ✔️ Visit
    6 Ultimate Member $249.00 per year ✔️ Visit
    7 wpForo / ✔️ Visit
    8 UserPro $39.00 for lifetime ❌ Visit

    What is the Best Community Plugin For WordPress?

    Choosing the best community plugin depends on your specific needs. For those looking for the most powerful community solutions, MemberPress and Paid Membership Pro are great options. Their integration with bbPress (or BuddyPress) gives you all the powerful features of a membership site and a community site in one. To top it off, they integrate with Divi so you can design your community site with powerful no-code design options.

    Regardless of your chosen solution, engaging with your audience is always a step in the right direction.

    Need more plugins? Check out our different articles featuring the best WordPress plugins.

    Featured Image via Aygun Ali / shutterstock.com

    The post 8 Best WordPress Community Plugins in 2023 (Compared) appeared first on Elegant Themes Blog.

  • WordPress 6.2 Delayed to March 29 Due to Bug With Date Formats

    WordPress 6.2 was scheduled for release today, but contributors discovered a bug with date formats during the 24-hour freeze that they believe could have a significant impact on functionality like bookings, date permalinks, and e-commerce stores.

    The decision was made this morning to delay with a consensus to apply a revert and release a silent 6.2 RC5 with the fix. WordPress 6.2 Core Tech Co-Lead Tonya Mork proposed reverting as the impact seemed too widespread to risk releasing today with a fix delayed to a minor release.

    “I don’t think this can wait until 6.2.1 given that this isn’t just some text that won’t bold, but something that will have quite a big impact (including stress/financial) on site owners and staff managing bookings and such,” 6.2 Core Triage Lead Colin Stewart said.

    WordPress Core Committer Jonathan Desrosiers also weighed in on the issue in favor of a revert and silent RC5.

    “I also think that [it’s] impossible to anticipate the full impact of this change,” Desrosiers said. “This definitely illustrates the importance of accompanying even the smallest changes with appropriate tests. We owe this due diligence to our users.

    “If we release the issue with 6.2 we could have a much greater problem on our hands. It’s not something that would not be easy to recognize or understand for the large majority of users, and it’s nearly impossible for Core to ‘auto-fix’ any occurrences of the bug  in a future minor release. We also should really avoid having to include fixes like that anyway as they’re just a huge maintenance burden/technical debt.”

    Contributors in the discussion this morning agreed that knowingly shipping broken code just to keep the schedule would be a wrong move and that shipping a fix today could introduce additional problems. An announcement will be posted to the Make/Core, followed by the 6.2 RC5 release, which will restart the 24-hour clock ahead of the official 6.2 release tomorrow.