In this comparison guide, we’re weighing up the 12 best WordPress plugins for developers, based on features, pricing, and use cases.
WordPress is a vast multi-purpose content management system (CMS) ecosystem, with 2 in every five websites built using WordPress.
Despite its popularity, WordPress has limitations. WordPress plugins are one way to overcome those limitations to give WordPress enhanced functionality and features.
Before deciding to build your own plugin, look at what’s on the market to solve your problem.
Chances are, with around 60,000 official WordPress plugins—and thousands more configured for the platform—you’ll find the right plugins for your needs.
12 Best WordPress Plugins for Developers
WordPress plugins and add-ons come in all shapes and sizes and solve numerous problems. Most are free, cheap, or included in the subscription for a software product (SaaS) you use that comes with a WordPress plugin.
WordPress plugins include tools for:
- Collecting website and user feedback
- Enhancing site security
- Boosting your SEO
- Generating eCommerce sales
- Conducting user testing
- …and loads more!
Let’s take a closer look at the 12 best WordPress plugins for developers and agencies on the market.
1. Marker.io
Collect visual feedback and bug reports from clients, colleagues, and users with the Marker.io WordPress plugin for developers.
The Marker.io WordPress feedback plugin allows developers to collect user and client feedback, screenshots, metadata, and session replay, with everything going straight into your PM tool of choice.
Marker.io allows you to:
- Collect user feedback on every page (staging or live site) in a non-intrusive way;
- Source more detailed feedback from colleagues and internal stakeholders while providing shorter forms for clients, users, and other external visitors;
- Get users to be as visual as possible (annotations, images, text, even emojis…)
- Offer an easy way to discuss reports with clients and users;
- Give devs the metadata they need to fix a bug; plus session replay so you can see what’s wrong;
- Integrate with your favorite PM tools (Jira, GitHub, Trello…)
Visual client feedback
Marker.io is a WordPress plugin that takes a few minutes to install.
It can live as a small widget—on the front-end—across a whole website or on an individual web page.
For clients and users, leaving feedback and sending bug reports is super easy:
- Found a bug, or want to give feedback? All it takes is a single click.
- Fill out the feedback form and input details.
- Click on "Report Issue"—done!
Every report goes straight into your project management tool (Jira, GitHub, Trello, ClickUp, Notion, and more).
Feedback and bug reports can be visual with arrows, text, shapes, and emojis—and you can even use the file upload feature for extra details.
You also benefit from session replay, capturing every detail of the last 30 seconds or more of the user’s experience before submitting a report.
It couldn’t be simpler, especially since feedback and metadata comes through a non-intrusive WordPress plugin.
Pricing: starts at $39/mo.
2-way PM tool integrations
Collecting feedback is usually a time-consuming hassle for devs and agencies:
- You (or a senior dev or project manager) send the client a link to the staging or live site and ask them to email their issues.
- Depending on the number of stakeholders, it could take days or weeks to get feedback.
- Then, you need to spend hours and hours creating tasks in your PM tool to fix these problems.
- It might even involve dropping in Slack messages or transcribing notes from calls.
- Finally, you email the client to let them know edits are in progress, issues have been resolved, or are currently being worked on.
With Marker.io and our 2-way sync solution, those countless hours of work are a thing of the past.
Feedback goes straight to your PM tool. Whenever an issue is marked as “Done”, it will automatically be “Resolved” in Marker.io.
Plus, the person who sent the report will receive an email notification, too.
Check it out:
Session replay
Fixing a bug involves reproducing the scenario where and when the bug occured.
However, reproducing every scenario is challenging, even with all the technical metadata that comes with bug reports. You might not find that bug if you can’t fix what you can’t find.
Fortunately—Marker.io's toolkit includes session replay for that reason.
Straight in your PM tool, you can click the “Watch replay” link.
You can watch the last 30 seconds (or more) before the report is submitted.
Check out session replay in action:
Data-rich bug reports
Most clients and end-users aren’t technically savvy.
Receiving actionable data isn’t easy. Users and clients don’t know what devs need to fix bugs or how to collect these details:
- What specific URL were they on at the time;
- Environment (browser, OS, screen size) and console logs so devs can reproduce the bugs;
- Metadata, etc.
Not a problem anymore with Marker.io!
Whenever a client or user clicks the “Report” button, this data is automatically collected—and sent off to your PM tool with the rest of the report.
Marker.io is an unobtrusive, easy-to-use WordPress plugin that’s ideal for developers.
Want to give Marker.io a go?
Try Marker.io free for 15 days and embed it into your website with our easy-to-use WordPress plugin.
Add it to your workflow, and let us know how it goes!
Pricing: starts at $39/mo.
2. UpdraftPlus
Backup, clone, and restore your WordPress site with a simple and powerful plugin.
UpdraftPlus is a WordPress plugin that keeps your site safe from server crashes, poorly installed updates, and other errors. With UpdraftPlus, you can:
- Set backup schedules, either scheduled or manual;
- Restore backups in the event of something going wrong;
- Easily clone and migrate WordPress sites.
Pricing: From $84/year.
3. WordFence
WordPress website security plugin.
WordFence is a popular WordPress security plugin and a suite of security tools.
With this, you can:
- Protect your WordPress site(s) with malware scanners and firewalls in the backend;
- Upgrade your login solutions and access management;
- Take security even further with premium 24/7 personal security that includes a 1-hour response time. It’s like having a private security team for your website.
Pricing: A free version exists (used by 4 million sites), with premium from $119/year.
4. reGenerate Thumbnails
Crop and resize thumbnail images for WordPress websites.
reGenerate Thumbnails Advanced (RTA) is a free plugin that automatically crops and resizes plugins when you install a new WordPress theme.
- It has over 100,000 active installations;
- It automatically crops and resizes thumbnails;
- It even removes old ones and ensures you’ve got the right number of thumbnails at the right size.
Pricing: Free, open-source.
5. LambdaTest
Automated, fast testing platform for WordPress and other websites.
LambdaTest is an automated, “super-fast platform” for website and app testing. With this, you can:
- Run tests on over 3,000 environments;
- Automate on-demand testing and security;
- Access a vast cloud of devices, browsers, and other operating systems.
Pricing: No pricing—you need to book a demo or start a trial with them for more information.
6. User Switching
Swap between WordPress user accounts at the click of a button.
User Switching is a free WordPress plugin that lets you switch between users in one click. With this, you can:
- Seamlessly switch between user account and tester account;
- Test different features, snippets, and pages based on account permissions;
- It’s compatible with Multisite, WooCommerce, BuddyPress, bbPress, and other 2-factor login plugins.
Pricing: Free, open-source.
7. Query Monitor
A plugin that acts as a developer tools panel for WordPress.
Query Monitor is a dev tools panel for WordPress that:
- Debugs database queries, PHP errors, hooks and actions in real-time;
- Helps dev identify poorly performing plugins;
- Adds an admin toolbar to your WordPress website, and loads more!
Pricing: Free, open-source.
8. Password Protected
Protect your WordPress site with a single password.
WordPress websites are notorious for coming under constant cyberattacks.
You need strong password systems and plugins to protect client websites, such as Password Protected, a free WordPress Plugin.
With this plugin, you can:
- Set up passwords easily;
- Enable 2-factor authentication and numerous other security measures;
- Monitor who has access to a website and restrict access when needed.
Pricing: Free, open-source.
9. W3 Total Cache
Improve your website's SEO, page speed, and performance.
W3 Total Cache (W3TC) is a plugin that improves a WordPress site’s SEO and core vitals, making it easier to index with search engines.
With W3TC, you can:
- Improve a site's speed and performance, regardless of the theme or web hosting;
- Improve a site's SEO performance and content delivery network (CDN) integrations;
- Implement an all-in-one WordPress optimization solution for client websites.
Pricing: Free, open-source.
10. DebugBar
Monitor and track debugging queries in your WordPress admin bar.
DebugBar is a free WordPress plugin for your website admin bar. You can:
- Ensure your admin bar shows you the query, cache, and other helpful debugging information;
- Track PHP Warnings and Notices;
- Save debugging queries and other useful data for devs during.
Pricing: Free, open-source.
11. Styleguide
Edit fonts and colors and give your website a unique look with this styleguide plugin.
Styleguide – Custom Fonts and Colors is a free WordPress plugin for editing fonts and colors during web design.
- Change fonts with a list of free fonts for any theme, and view changes in real-time before saving them;
- Change languages to those not normally supported by WordPress themes and templates;
- It includes built-in support for 19 themes, and devs can integrate their themes easily too.
Pricing: Free, open-source.
12. Log Deprecated Notices
Log the use of deprecated files, functions, and function arguments.
Log Deprecated Notices is a WordPress plugin in the early stages of development. With it, you can:
- Log files and functions that aren’t working;
- Use it to track a few different types of bugs;
- Log incorrect function usage, since WordPress started reporting this in release 3.1, and several other features are in the pipeline.
Pricing: Free, open-source.
So there you have it: 12 of the best WordPress plugins for developers.
We hope this post helped you decide on the right tool for you.
Let us know if we missed something!
