Plugins, how to find the best ones
Written by Beth Riegger
July 19, 2022
Plugins play an important role in wordpress websites! They give you the ability to do things that don’t require coding knowledge. For example, there are calendar plugins that make registering for events a breeze. There are plugins that make hover effects a breeze!
There are literally millions, if not billions, to chose from both paid and free. So, how do you know if it’s a safe plugin to install?
- Google it! See if there are any public reviews.
- Search the WordPress plugin directory
- The plugin has been updated in the last year (preferrably monthly)
- If it hasn’t been updated in over a year, it may be abandoned by the developer and could create an opportunity for hackers to hack your site or cause problems on your site.
- If this is the case, you should find a different plugin and uninstall the plugin that is no longer being supported.
- Does it show that it is compatible with the latest version of WordPress?
- Reviews on the WordPress directory, it should have lots of installs, and lots of reviews. If it’s less than 4 stars, read the reviews and see what people’s issue is with it.
- Is the developer responsive to support requests? Or, are there tons of support requests and crickets from the devloper? I’m pretty sure you know the answer on whether you should install a plugin that has a ton of support requests and gets crickets from the developer!
- Be sure to only install one plugin per action. Sometimes people install many different caching plugins and they cause conflicts with each other.
- I try to limit the amount of plugins used on a website.
- You should also make it a monthly task to check your plugins for the above issues. It’s important to stay on top of these things!