Best WordPress Plugins You Need When Building An Elementor Website 2026

Understanding WordPress Plugins Before You Start

Everyone says that building a WordPress website is easy and everyone can do it without a help of developers. Its true you can definitely build a website by yourself, but instead of hiring a developer you need to understand how Plugins work.

Once you finish setting up your domain and activating your website, the next important step is adding Plugins. Plugins are small helpers that give your website new powers without touching any code. What really matters is knowing which plugin to install, what each one does, how it helps your site, and how to manage them regularly without breaking anything.

Almost half of the internet is built with WordPress. At the beginning, it might look complicated, but once you start building and exploring, everything becomes clearer. WordPress is also good for Google, which mean Google likes it and supports Search Engine Optimization (SEO). No matter what idea you have, WordPress gives you flexibility to build it.

WordPress has over 50,000 plugins, so you can extend your websites functionality with just one click, the key is choosing the right ones.

What Are WordPress Plugins

WordPress out-of-the-box is extremely flexible and powerful but it can’t do everything and nor should it. Just because one person wants a specific functionality on the website doesn’t mean that everyone should have that. So a plugin is something that changes or adds to the functionality of WordPress. Can be free or can cost money and come with support.

Things to Check Before Installing Any Plugin

As there are many plugins, you need to be careful when choosing them. Don’t choose blindly, because some plugins can slow down your website, cause security issues, or simply not work well together. Many plugins have similar features, and sometimes one plugin already includes a feature that another plugin offers, so it’s important to check that they can work together before activating them. Avoid using more than one SEO plugins, performance plugins, Page builders at the same time.

That why we have created a perfect list of plugins for you. Always check Last update date, Active installations, Compatibility with Elementor (if you are using Elementor), Reviews & support.

How to add Plugins

Navigate to the wordpress dashboard, hover over the plugins tab and click add new. Then in the search bar type in the plugin name you want. Then you click install and it doesn’t work until you click activate. And on the left some plugins are adding its menu, where you can click and manage.

How to Update Plugins Without Breaking Your Site

WordPress gets updated quite often and plugins need to be updated together with it. So, everything is compatible. Usually you’ll have to log in at least once a week and update everything well that needs updating. It gets quite tedious when you have more than one website but sometimes WordPress updates are offered automatically by your hosting provider. For example, SiteGround or Bluehost allow you to manage all updates automatically so you wouldn’t need to update every single plugin manually. We recommend choosing a web hosting provider that offer automatic updates, because these usually test the plugin before updating it to see if there are any compatibility issues or does it break your website.

At first, the WordPress dashboard, codes, and plugins can look a little bit scary to click and edit. But once you get used to the interface, you’ll feel confident exploring it, and there’s no need to worry about clicking the update button on your plugins.

Essential WordPress Plugins for Elementor Websites 2026

These plugins work perfectly with Elementor and are SEO-friendly, this list is ideal for Affiliate sites, blogs and content-heavy websites. They help you with everything from improving search engine rankings, backups, security, site speed, to analytics and site experience. Using these plugins together makes your Elementor website faster, safer, and easier to manage.

Core Content & Customization

For Professional WordPress Website Use Elementor

WordPress and Elementor are different brands, but they work together to build websites.

Before adding Plugins to your website you need to have themes and a way to build your pages. The theme controls the base design, and the page builder lets you actually create and edit pages.

For this setup, we recommend using Hello Elementor Theme and activating Elementor Plugin.

Elementor comes in two versions: a free version for basic page building, and a Pro version with more advanced features.

Honestly, we suggest using the Pro version. It gives you access to a lot of already-made templates that you can insert directly into your website.

These include templates for single page, blogs archive pages, contact page, homepages and more. This means you don’t need you to build anything from the scratch. Using pre-made templates is also important because they are already optimized for mobile and tablet devices, so you don’t have to fix every small design detail yourself

Starting everything on your own quickly turns into a headache.

Elementor Pro Features:

Drag & Drop Editor – Build every part of your website visually. Simply drag, drop, and customize without writing a single line of code.
300+ Designer-Made Templates – Choose from beautifully crafted templates designed for different industries and needs. Always responsive and fully customizable.
100+ Widgets – Widgets are like building blocks for your website. Each one has a specific job, such as images, buttons, videos, or forms, and you can drag and drop them to build pages your way.
Responsive Editing – Adjust your website for different screen sizes and design for up to 7 devices.
Live Editing – See changes instantly as you build and watch your design come to life in real time.
Elementor & WordPress – Cover every use case with flexible widgets and deep customization options.

If you have decided to buy Elementor Pro, the set up is bit different.

First, you install Free Elementor plugin from the WordPress dashboard and activate it.

After that, you install Elementor Pro, which is not available in the WordPress Plugin search. You need to create an Elementor account, download ZIP file, upload it manually as a plugin, and activate it.

Once activated, you will see a massage saying “Elementor Pro license required”. Click activate, log into your Elementor account, and activate your Pro license.

So, you need to keep free Elementor plugin installed alongside with Pro version.

Workflow

Free version → install directly from WordPress → activate
Pro version → download ZIP from Elementor → upload → activate → log in to your license

Advanced Custom Fields

This is WordPress plugin which lets you add custom fields to your post, pages, and custom post types. Let me explain what this basically does, it gives you a way to create extra pieces of content or information that WordPress doesn’t have by default. For example, while WordPress gives you general fields such as, titles, content box, or image, Advanced Custom Fields gives you more extra fields, for example: Subtitle, Author Bio, buy links, product images and more.

Yoast Duplicate Post

This plugin lets you duplicate posts or pages, or copy them into new drafts for further editing. For example, if you have a review page and want to create another one with the same layout but different text this plugin makes it easy.

Instead of starting everything from the scratch, you simply duplicate the page and adjust content. WordPress doesn’t allow duplicating posts or pages by default, so this plugin saves a lots of time and helps you avoid layout mistakes. It’s especially useful for Elementor users and bloggers, basically anyone who builds more than one page.

Easy Table of Content (TOC)

Important note: If you are planning to use Elementor Pro, there is no need to activate TOC plugin separetly as Pro version already includes TOC, and you can just easily drag and drop TOC widget to your blog or page. But if you use only Elementor Free version you can activate the plugin separately.

Maybe you have noticed some blogs have a list of topics at the beginning, and you can click on the headline to jump to the section you want. That’s exactly what Table of Content (TOC) does.

This plugin helps you insert TOC on any page or post. You just add it and activate it. Keep in mind: it doesn’t appear automatically, you need to enable it for the specific blog post or page. You can also customize it to fit your needs.

TOC is especially useful for long content blogs because it improves user navigation. Readers can jump from one topic to another or go directly to what interests them. It’s also very SEO-friendly, since the TOC is built from your headings (H2, H3, etc.) which tells Google which topics your page covers, what’s important and how the content is organized.

With AI playing a big role in search, well-structured content like this is more likely to be shown in AI models such as ChatGPT, Gemini, and others.

Important note: if you are using Elementor Pro, you don’t need to install separate TOC plugin as the Pro version already includes a TOC widget that you can drag and drop into your blog or page. But if you are using only the free version, you can activate the plugin separately.

Benefits

Helps readers find what they need faster
Improves user experience on long content pages
Keeps visitors on your page longer
Makes your page easier for Google to understand
Can create jump links in search results
Great for mobile and tablet users
Improves accessibility
Perfect for tutorials, reviews, and guides
Gives your content a professional look
Gives AI a clear map of your content
Helps AI quickly find the right answer

SEO & Analytics

Rank Math SEO

Rank Math SEO is one of the popular WordPress plugin among bloggers and marketers who want to grow their site and content on Google. Its currently one of the most powerful and user-friendly SEO plugins available today.

Once you have created your website, its time to add this plugin and activate it. Rank Math requires your involvement when you write blogs or create a new pages, you use the tools it provides to optimize your posts.

Its simple but powerful interface highlights important information about your posts alongside the editor, so you can improve SEO instantly.

You can preview how your post will appear in the search results, preview rich snippets, and even see how it looks when shared on soc-media.

One of our favorite feature is Redirections. If you remove or change a word from URL and your page becomes a 404, you can easily redirect it to the correct page or any other relevant page URl.

Site Kit by Google

Once you build your website and start creating content, it’s important to see how many visitors you have, what pages are popular, what people are searching for, how many impressions and click your pages and blogs and etc. To track all this data and have clear analytics, you need to add and activate this plugin.

Site Kit is the official WordPress plugin from Google that gives you insights into how people find and use your site. And the best part, its completely free.

It includes key tools like:

Google Tools Included:

Google Analytics (GA4) – Track visitor behavior, traffic sources, pages, and events
Google Search Console (GSC) – See search performance, impressions, clicks, and queries
Google Tag Manager – Manage tracking tags without touching code
PageSpeed Insights – Check and monitor your site speed
Google AdSense – Track earnings and performance if you use ads

To set it up, first add the plugin and click “Start Setup”. WordPress will redirect you to Google sing-in, where you log in with your account, grant permissions, and connect the service. The plugin will automatically add the tracking codes and pull your site data into WordPress.

Microsoft Clarity

Microsoft Clarity is another free performance checker tool for your website. It records things where people click, how far they scroll and which parts of your site gets more attention. You need to add the plugin and activate it from the Clarity window. You will get Clarity code which you need to insert in your website, for that you need another Plugin – WPCode Lite, which gives you place to paste Clarity code snippets and activate it.

For example, if you want to see how your soc-media icons are performing on your site, you can create a special links for each icon and track, let’s say footers icons and contact page icons. Once you set up these special links, Clarity will tell you how many people discovered your soc media by clicking footer icons or contact page icons. Its free and user-friendly, best way to track user behavior on your website.

Performance & Maintenance

WP Fastest Cache

Every WordPress user should have this plugin, because it keeps your site running fast and smooth by cleaning caches (temporary files that help pages load quicker but can sometimes cause problems) and fixing small bugs.

For example, you edit your page, maybe change the text or its color, but when you check it from incognito window, nothing has changed. When you go back and clear caches using this plugin, it fixes this glitch and you’ll see your updates. You should clear caches regularly, especially when you are editing or building something new, to avoid bugs.

UpdraftPlus - Backup/Restore

The UpdraftPlus Backup & Migration Plugin is trusted by the WordPress community to backup, restore and migrate their WordPress websites. UpdraftPlus is actively installed on more than 3 million websites around the world.

Your WordPress website is vulnerable. Your site may get hacked. Something could go wrong with an update or your server could crash. You might need to reverse a change made or a mistake caused by human error.

Even if you don’t have a developer, UpdraftPlus lets you backup, restore or fix your site yourself in just a few clicks. For example, you accidentally delete something or plugin breaks your site, you can just restore it without calling anyone, you just click on plugin settings.

Health Check & Troubleshooting

This plugin will perform a number of checks on your WordPress installation to detect common configuration errors and known issues, and also allows plugins and themes to add their own checks. If your website suddenly acts weird or a page doesn’t load, and you don’t know which plugin caused this issue, Health Checker plugin helps you switch your site into a safe mode only for you. Visitors still will see website normally, while all plugins will be disabled on your side. Then you can turn plugins back one by one to see which one caused the problem. It helps you fix the issue without breaking your live website and without needing a developer.

Security & Compliance

Really Simple Security

Even if your hosting already provides an SSL Certificates, this plugin makes sure WordPress actually uses it correctly and adds extra protection in the background. It helps secure your login, blocks common attack points and enforces HTTPS without affecting performance. You receive notifications when plugins, themes or WP core contain vulnerabilities and need appropriate action. If you don’t have a developer and just want your website to be safe with minimal effort, this plugin quietly does its job.

Post SMTP

Post SMTP is a WordPress plugin that improves how your website send and manages emails. Hosting provides often offer professional emails like – info@helpernova.com which usually comes with limited storage and you have to use different platform for emails. This plugin helps you connect your professional email to your Gmail, Microsoft Office, or 365/Outlook using Post SMTP.

For example, in Gmail you have more storage and everything can be managed in one place.

Once the settings are configured, emails sent to your professional domain email can be received directly in Gmail. At the same time, emails sent from Gmail can still appear as coming from your domain email. This keeps communication professional while managing everything from a single inbox.

Safe SVG

SVG stands for Scalable Vector Graphics which is type of image format, unlike JPG and PNG, SVG is vector based which means it’s made of vectors and lines instead of pixels. SVGs can scale to any size without using the quality, they are also lightweight, which helps your website load faster. WordPress doesn’t allow upload SVG files because they contain code that could be unsafe. So, this plugin resolves this issue, once you install it you can upload SVG files directly to your main library.

Complianz | GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent

Once you set up your website and write Legal Documents such as Privacy Policy, Terms &Conditions and Cookie Policy, you will also need to install Cookie Consent banner which pops up when someone opens your website. It means you inform your visitors that your website is collecting some data comply with privacy laws like GDPR. To create the banner, you need to add the Complianz plugin and activate it. Once activated you can also set design of your banner. Make sure to test it on both computer and Mobile.

Site Management & Utilities

Better Search Replace

this plugin is not for everyday use but once you might need it you will save hours of work. So basically, many beginners or DIY website builders make changes to URLs move their site, or update their domain. Instead of manually editing hundreds of links, this plugin does it all in one go.

For example, switching from http to https, moving from the staging site to a live domain, updating old links after redesign, changing repeated phrases or content across posts. This is a secret tool professionals use behind the scenes. Its safe, fast, and reliable when used correctly.

Broken Link Checker

Automatically monitor your WordPress site for broken links and missing images, so you can fix them proactively and protect your SEO. Broken links aren’t just annoying for your visitors, they negatively impact your rankings and make your site look outdated and not trustworthy. Broken Link Checker detects issues 20x faster and more accurately than other plugins, thanks to cloud-based link checking. This powerful plugin scans your pages, posts, comments and custom fields, spotting broken or redirected URLs and giving you a quick way to fix them all from one centralized dashboard.

For example, you wrote a blog post and added link to another website page. Later, they delete that page and the link you inserted is no longer active in your blog post. You don’t have time to check every blog post and see if every link is working. This plugin helps you detect broken links and replace or remove them smoothly, so you don’t look unprofessional and don’t harm your rankings.

Server IP & Memory Usage Display

This plugin displays the memory limit, current memory usage, WordPress Memory Limit, IP address and PHP version in the admin footer. The memory usage and total available memory to the WordPress installation is shown in the admin footer. If memory usage is over 75% the percentage is shown in a light red and if the memory usage is over 90% the percentage is shown in red. So you can always control with one look if there is enough memory available or if action has to be taken. It also displays the WordPress memory limit to give you more information.

Instead of guessing why your site feels slow or why a plugin isn’t working properly, you can immediately check if your website is running out of memory. For example, when people upload a lot of content like images, videos, and texts, it can fill up the site’s memory over time. If this is not monitored or controlled, it may lead to disk overload and your website could eventually shut down.

This plugin helps you monitor memory and make sure your site doesn’t cause slow performance for users and Google.

ManageWP – Worker

WP Worker is a plugin that quietly works in the background, to keep your WordPress site running smoothly. Websites have lost of tasks happening behind the scenes, like loading pages, sending emails, updating plugins, and etc. If too many of these happen at once, the site can slow down or even become unresponsive.

So, this plugin handles these tasks effectively, you just need to add and activate it. There is no menu you can see on dashboard; it starts optimizing your site automatically.

This plugin is best for individuals creating websites from the scratch without need of a developer.

WPCode Lite

This Plugin makes it easy to add code snippets or scripts to your website without touching any theme files. It helps keep your site safe while letting you add tools like tracking codes, verification tags, or other custom fields.

For example, if you want to use Microsoft Clarity to see how visitors interact with your site, you just copy the Clarity code and paste it into plugin’s header section. Once saved, it works on all pages automatically, so you can track clicks and scroll safety.

Best free Plugins for e-commerce WordPress website - WooCommerce

If your website is just pages and blog post and you need to sell stuff there, then you need special plugin for that. Websites their own does not have selling options, best free plugin for that is WooCommerce which turns your WordPress website into online shop.

You can create product pages, “Add to cart” button to increase revenue, checkout page, payment methods and order emails. It’s not everything, you can also see who brought the product, how much money you made, manage orders and refunds, control prices, discounts and coupons from the dashboard. With WooCommerce plugin your website will feel like a real store. Its free to start, works with almost every theme, perfect for starting side hustle!

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Elementor still good in 2026?

Yes. Elementor is still one of the easiest and most flexible page builders for WordPress. It works well with most themes and plugins, and it’s constantly updated, which is why so many websites still use it today.

Is Elementor Pro worth the cost?

If you are serious about your website, yes. Elementor Pro saves you a lot of time with ready-made templates, advanced widgets, and better design control. It makes managing your site much easier.

Are all WordPress plugins free?

No. Many plugins are free, but some have paid versions with extra features and support. Free plugins are often enough for beginners, and you can always upgrade later if you need more functionality.

Which SEO plugin is best?

There is no single “best” plugin for everyone, but Rank Math is a popular choice because it’s free and easy to use.

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