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The Ultimate List Of WordPress Plugins

Wordpress Is a wonderfully extenable CMS and here is a list of some of the best active free & paid plugins avaliable to make it flex to your creative will without hours of custom PHP coding getting in the way first.

The plugins are ordered by how good they are with the best option highlighted. Plus some great function snippets are also included when they are a better option than a full plugin.
Plugin CatagoryPurposeFree Plugin OptionBetter Paid Plugin OptionBest Lightweight SnippetAlternatives / Notes
CacheImprove Website Page Speed
Server CPU Reduction
Bandwidth Saving		W3 Total Cache
HostManaged Hosting
Live Staging Area		Wordpress.com
Theme Test Drive		WP-Engine
WP-Engine Plugin
Good
1. One click staging area with push to Live intergration.
2. WP optimised server using Nginx and inbuilt cache settings.
3. Excellent WP support & managed updates.
4. Automatic backups & one click rollbacks.
5. Inbuilt handling of HTTPS for WP.

Bad
1. Collection of blacklisted plugins unavaible on host. Which includes the much loved WP Smush It Plugin to optimise image file size.
2. Backup system uses Git which makes plugins using Git incompatable.
These arn't listed in the block list but will break your backup system
WP Document Revisions
Hammy
Isotopes		Fastest WP HOST
ZippyKid

Doesn't block plugins like WP-Engine. Once it has a staging area it will be a better option than WP-Engine

Fastest Unmanaged UK Host
TSOHOST

Fastest Global Host

Cheapest Host
site5.com
ImagesAutomatic Adaptive Images
Improve Mobile Page Speed
Bandwidth Saving
Hammy
ImagesAutomatic Responsive ImagesWP Fluid Images

Bad
1. Clashes with other image Plugins		CSS Class
FormsDrag & Drop Form Creation
Data Management		Contact Form 7Formidable
Good
1. Data to database
2. Data to Email
3. Automatic Display of Data on front end.
4. Third Party Plugin for inline addtion of fields.
Native coming V1.8
5. Drag & drop form builder.		Gravity Forms
Good
1. Most extendable form manger.
2. Most widly supported form manger.

Bad
1. Subscription based
2. Doen't have have Formidable Pro's data publishing/handling functionality
SliderCreate Interactive Animated Content
Showcase Content		jLayer Slider
Good
1. Admin drag & drop builder.
LayerSlider WP $15
Good
1. Any Html element can be added and animated
2. Custom CSS transition maker.
3. Add content with [shortcodes]
4. Customise Skin.
5. Admin drag & drop slide builder.
6. Autoplay Media.
7. Responsive.

Bad
1. Doesn't work with WP Fluid Images plugin.		WP Layer Slider is a must for any creative wanting to make engaging content.
SliderCPU Efficiant Mobile Freindly Basic SlidervSlider
Good
1. Uses built in Wordpress Core so only 20kb to load.
2. Mobile Touch Support
3. 		Royal Slider $20
Good
1. Populate with Post data automatically
2. Autoplay Media.
3. Lightweight
MenuMulti Column MenuJQuery Mega Menu WidgetUber Menu
Admin
Custom FieldsAdvanced Custom Fields
ImagesImage Lightbox
Lightbox
Social
TablesTablepress
Good
1. Lightweight.
2. Searchable.
3. Filterable.
4. Responsive.
5. Cell data avaliable via [shortcode]

Bad
1. Modular nature means lots of add-ons needed to build desired fuctionality. AZ display sort ect.
ToolsJetpack
Theme Development
Plugin Development
Content LayoutAqua Page Builder
Good
?

Bad
1. Its a start at a free option		Column-Matic
Good
1. You create the grid system in your CSS
2. You can create you own column class system.

Bad
1. You create the grid system
2. It doen't do nested columns.

Grid-Columns
Good
ShortcodesShortcodes Pro
ToolsTheme Compatibilty Check
ToolsDebug Bar
Security
SpamBad Behavour
UsabiltyWP last updated[raw] Add to your Footer ""

Add to functions.php

"function site_last_updated($d = '') {
$recent = new WP_Query("showposts=1&orderby=modified&post_status=publish");
if ( $recent->have_posts() ) {
while ( $recent->have_posts() ) {
$recent->the_post();
$last_update = get_the_modified_date($d);
}
echo $last_update;
}
else
echo 'No posts.';
}"[/raw]
Newsletter
Live ChatChats
ManagementAdminiamize
SearchDaves Wordpress Live SearchIf you dont need featured images in your search results this is a little faster.
SEOYoost WP SEO
SecurityStealth Login Page
SEOAutomatic Image SEO
ContentTimed Content
ContentTooltips
Content
UsabiltyAdd HTML to the Site Descriptionhtml_entity_decode(get_bloginfo('description'))
UsabiltyAdd excerpts to pagesadd_action( 'init', 'my_add_excerpts_to_pages' );
2 function my_add_excerpts_to_pages() {
3 add_post_type_support( 'page', 'excerpt' );
4 }
DevelopmentAuto replace URLs when moving from development to LIVEVelvet Blues Update URLs
SEO404 RedirectionRedirection
Bad
1. Hasn't been updated in over a year, Could likley break with WP Core update.
User ManagementDisable user accountsUser Control
User ManagementCustomise user role level rights Adminamize
Content UI Lightweight Tabshttp://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/tabs-shortcode/
Content UITabs
Accordions
Dialoge Boxs
Spoilers		WP UI
LayoutColumn-Matic