Recently I wrote a post here on WPscoop about choosing the best plugins for a new WordPress blog in which I also discussed that it is a good idea to look at possible plugin candidates in specific categories and as problem-solvers for a specific job instead of randomly browsing for them. Like that you can find and install the best candidate for each “plugin job” on your weblog and prevent cluttering your site with too many redundant plugins. To help with the process of selecting good plugins in this manner I have compiled a list of top WordPress plugins by categories from around the web below.
In my opinion it is much more useful to look at such a top plugins list with a specific focus instead of the many generic “top XX WordPress plugis” lists out there. Because the WordPress plugin market can change very fast I have tried to only include recently published lists or lists that were kept up to date by the author.
Top WordPress Contact Form Plugins
- Eight Best Free Contact Forms for WordPress by BloggingPro – a very in-depth comparison of 8 popular contact form plugins with a list of important features individual rankings for each.
- 5 Best WordPress Contact Form Plugins by Bloggersense
The Verdict
- Easy Contact Form and the Fast and secure Contact Form are the top WP contact form plugins for ease of use and a large number of features.
- Slick contact Form for the best looking free AJAX contact forms for WordPress.
- Usernoise Contact Form for a simple contact form.
Top WordPress Caching Plugins
- WordPress Caching: What’s the best Caching Plugin? by Tutorial9 – A great comparison of all the different caching plugins which are available for WordPress. Tutorial9 go to great length in providing detailed benchmarks and speed improvement tests for all the caching plugins to help you make an educated decision.
The Verdict
- Hyper Cache + DB Cache Reloaded as “the best out of the box cache plugin configuration”.
- W3 Total Cache plugin for “those on a medium priced shared server or if you like the idea of installing and forgetting”.
Top WordPress SEO Plugins
- Roundup of 35 WordPress SEO Plugins by SEOmoz – An extensive list of 35 important SEO plugins for WordPress, divided into different subcategories like Sitemap plugins, Link optimization plugins and general SEO suites.
The Verdict
- WordPress SEO by Yoast as the best general SEO plugin, a judgement I do agree with personally. Furthermore SEOmoz also ranks the plugin highly in their sitemaps and content optimization categories because features for that are part of Yoast’s plugin.
Top WordPress Social Bookmarking Plugins
- 12 Best Free Current WordPress Social Bookmarking Plugins by spiceupyourblog
- Best Social Bookmarking Plugins for WordPress by Designmodo
The Verdict
- For this category of plugins the choice depends very much on how exactly you want to display your social bookmarking buttons. Simply look through the lists above and choose a style that suits you best. I personally go with Digg Digg, which creates the floating social bookmarking bar you can see (and I hope you will use it, too! ) on the left of this post.
Top WordPress Related Posts Plugins
- Related Post Plugins For WordPress and Site Speed Test by iBlogzone – a detailed look at a few popular related post plugins including a site speed test to pick a winner.
- 6 Awesome Related Post (Thumbnail) Plugins for WordPress by BlogGenie –
The Verdict
- nRelated Related Content, chosen by both lists above. Another choice I agree with personally.
- Related Post Thumbnails as the runner up.
Top WordPress Image Slider Plugins
- 5 Free WordPress jQuery Image Slider Plugins by Codefear
- 45 Best WordPress Slider Plugin Collection by TripWireMagazine –
The Verdict
- This is another category where your choice should largely depend on what look you want in your image slider and what purpose you need it for. The lists above provide a large selection of good image slider plugins with images from which you can make that choice.
Top WordPress Anti Spam Plugins
- 7 Best Anti-Spam WordPress Plugins to Effectively Combat Spam Attack by MoneyCTL
- The Best WordPress Anti-Spam Plugins for 2012-2013 by effortlesshr
- What is the Best Anti-Spam Plugin for WordPress? by ManageWP
The Verdict
- Akismet is still widely agreed to be the best anti spam plugin available for WordPress. It is not free anymore though (only for personal weblogs)!
- Antispam Bee and Bad Behavior are good free alternatives.
I hope you find this list of WordPress plugin top lists useful. Have a good list or plugin category that is missing? Disagree with a choice? Please share your thoughts in the comments!
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thanks, great list to start a new blog installation in the right way.
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I was looking for some good contact Manager Plug ins for one of my clients. Looks like you have some great ones. I was looking for one that I can make extra fields and yes you have some listed here. Its great to find some good plug ins. Thanks
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Very informative listing post. Personally, I don’t like the “list” post, but your post is good. I like the way you give the link to tutorials with details. It makes your post doesn’t look like a plain list.
One thing I think you should mention in the post for contact form plugin: Contact Form 7. It’s a good and simple enough plugin for contact form, and quite popular.
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Thank you. You are right, Contact form 7 is one of the most popular contact form plugins for WordPress and it is mentioned in both the top lists I have linked to. Interestingly enough BloggingPro arrived at a different conclusion for the best contact form plugin in their test.