While WordPress is pretty robust right out of the box. But, for nearly every website, I always come back to the same shortlist of plugins. Plugins are essential for creating a dynamic website. And the open source WordPress community makes it easy to find really great, free plugins for your site.
You might need a plugin for many reasons. I use them to extend WordPress and help create new content, like custom post types or custom fields. Services like contact forms or integrations like Mailchimp also require plugins. You can even write your own plugins if you want to get really fancy.
Best of all, many WordPress plugins are free! That’s right: FREE! And even easy for beginners to set-up and install.
So here’s my list of the 5 best, free WordPress plugins you need to install right now, even for newbs.
Regenerate Thumbnails
Have you ever uploaded an image to your theme, only for it to appear too large or too small? Ever create custom image sizes and nothing in your Media Library has changed? So, so frustrating!
You need Regenerate Thumbnails. This free WordPress plugin searches all of your images in your Media Library and makes new copies to match your theme’s image sizes. This is great for changing themes, customizing your image sizes in your functions.php file, or anytime when your images seem a little off.
Enable Media Replace
Enable Media Replace is an excellent, free plugin, especially when working with clients. This plugin allows you to upload a new copy of any existing file in your Media Library.
Say your client sends you their staff photo. You upload; you publish. But then 3 months later, they want to update it. Normally, you would upload that new file and then wreck your brain trying to remember all the places where at photo might appear.
With Enable Media Replace, you simply replace the image that already exists and voila! The new image will be publish everywhere the old image appeared. Even better when used with Regenerate Thumbnails.
Coming Soon Page, Maintenance Mode & Landing Pages by SeedProd
I’m convinced every site needs a “coming soon” plugin. These simple pages are great when you’re updating your site, getting ready to launch, or troubleshooting a broken feature.
My favorite is Coming Soon Page, Maintenance Mode & Lading Pages by SeedProd. The free version has a ton of options to meet nearly every need. You can use templates or custom layouts for your page and even integrate it will engagement plugins, forms, etc. This would be particularly helpful pre-launch of a new site. I love that it clears displays “you’re in maintenance mode” in the WordPress bar on every page.
Download Theme
Have you ever edited your theme in the WordPress UI, even though you know you’re not supposed to???
“It’s just a tiny thing. I’ll remember to back it up. I don’t need to create a child theme for this!” – You
We’ve all done it. Make some changes, totally forget, and then your theme gets updated and everything goes back to square one.
That’s where Download Theme can really save you. It’s a free WordPress plugin that puts a handy dandy download link right in your Appearance > Themes. You just download the zip and off you go. This is especially helpful if you do not have access to the WordPress server-side of things. I’ve also used it plenty of times when migrating a site from one server to another.
Classic Editor
Gutenberg page editor got you down? Using custom post types, custom fields, or a page builder plugin? Then you need Classic Editor.
Classic Editor, created and maintained by WordPress.org, switches the editing screen from Gutenberg blocks back to the old, trusty editor. You can switch between editors at the post-level or set your default editor in Settings. I use Classic Editor 99% of the time, for both my own projects and projects for clients.
What are your go-to free, WordPress plugins?
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