The 10 Most Popular Plugins on WordPress.com

There’s an old saying that “WordPress plugins are what makes the world go round.” Okay, so maybe that’s not an actual saying, but it’s still true in our hearts. 

In this roundup, we’ve gathered the top ten most frequently installed plugins from 2023. (FYI, our WordPress.com marketplace offers 50,000+ plugins on the Creator plan and above.) Take a look and see how many you have on your site, get inspiration for plugins to try out, or simply satisfy your curiosity.

Though we’ve randomized the order, you can rest assured each one is well-loved for a reason.

Try the Creator plan to install any of the other plugins listed below and take your site to the next level.

A final note before jumping in: These plugins represent a curated selection of the most popular plugins based on installs by WordPress.com users over the course of 2023. While WordPress.com maintains partnerships with vendors, these placements are not paid, nor should they be taken to mean that other plugins aren’t also great. Without further ado, enjoy!

Table of Contents

1. Yoast SEO
2. WooCommerce
3. Contact Form 7
4. Google Site Kit
5. Elementor
6. All in One SEO Pack
7. WPForms
8. WP Headers and Footers
9. Astra Pro
10. Jetpack Boost
11. Plugins that come built-in to WordPress.com
12. How many of these plugins have you tried?

Yoast has been helping WordPress site owners drive more traffic from search engines since 2010. While WordPress.com sites are set up for SEO success out of the box, Yoast enables more control over key SEO considerations on your site, while remaining so simple that anyone can use it. That balance between power and ease of use is just one reason why our users frequently choose this plugin. 

If you ask us, there’s no better way to build an online store than with WooCommerce. It turns out a lot of our users agree. WooCommerce offers everything you need to quickly launch an online store and keep it growing for years. That’s why it’s the world’s most popular open-source eCommerce solution—and one that works great with WordPress.com hosting.

Contact Form 7 is a simple but flexible form builder plugin. It makes it easy to build, customize, and manage contact forms so readers and potential customers can reach you.

Google services can enhance several aspects of running a successful WordPress website. Site Kit by Google bundles several integrations together—Google Analytics, Search Console, AdSense, and Speed—into one plugin. It’s a practical and elegant solution for site owners that want to measure and optimize performance without installing multiple plugins. 

Elementor is a popular website builder that simplifies page creation with a drag-and-drop interface. This plugin is versatile and user-friendly, offering an array of customizable widgets and pre-designed templates. For beginners, it can be a good way to jump into website design with zero coding knowledge necessary. 

SEO is as important as ever for driving website traffic. It can also be mysterious (at least until you learn how it works), especially for newcomers. And hey, not everyone has the time—which is why this plugin promises to deliver improved results and new SEO opportunities in just 10 minutes.

We have another great form builder in WPForms. Build all kinds of different forms—contact forms, payment forms, custom forms, and even surveys and polls—with an intuitive drag-and-drop interface.

Need to insert Google or Facebook tracking codes, customize some CSS, or add inline Javascript in your site’s headers or footers but you don’t want to touch your theme files? This is exactly where WP Headers and Footers comes in. 

Astra isn’t just one of the most popular themes in the WordPress ecosystem, it’s also easily extensible with Astra Pro, which allows you to add premium features like pre-built templates (including options that work with WooCommerce). 

Have you heard about Core Web Vitals? They’re a set of metrics that Google uses to assess “real world user experience for loading performance, interactivity, and visual stability.” In plain English, that means your website needs to load fast and offer users a great experience. Jetpack Boost does just that by analyzing and boosting you site’s speed and performance.

Plugins that come built-in to WordPress.com

Every WordPress.com website comes bundled with several pre-installed plugins that ensure customers have an excellent experience building, designing, and maintaining their online real estate. These include:

• Jetpack. Protects your site with top-tier security, anti-spam, auto-backup, and more.
• Akismet. Defends your site from spammers.
• Gutenberg. WordPress’s built-in site editor that offers a flexible and modern editing experience.
• Crowdsignal. Makes it simple to create polls and surveys.

How many of these plugins have you tried?

Hopefully, you’ve found a new plugin or two to try. Were there any entries that you found surprising? Are there any particular plugins that you discovered that you think deserve a shout out too? Sound off in the comments!