With over 45,000 WordPress plugins in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory, which ones are the best?

Some WordPress plugins are great, while other may not work right and bring your site to it’s knees.   It’s important to pay attention to some key details about a plugin when determining if it’s right for you.

The first place to start is the Plugin directory at WordPress.org.   When you view a plugin there, there is a plethora of information available to help you in your quest fir the perfect plugin.

First, look at the number of active installs.  If the plugin only has 200 active installs, then it’s not very widely used.  But if it’s got thousands (or even millions) of active installs, then you know it must work properly.

Next, check out when was the last update.  Was it hours ago? Days ago, or has it not been updated in years.  Plugins that have “lost the love” from their developer may cause issues, or create security risks for your website.

Next, look at the star ratings.  Pay attention to not only what the ratings are, but how many are there?  If there’s only a handful of rankings, the plugin may be new, and the developer may have gotten his buddies to give him 5 star ratings. But if there are hundreds or thousands of rankings, that’s harder for a developer to fake.

Lastly… do they provide support?  The WordPress plugin directory will also show you what the average number of solved support requests is for the plugin.  Also click on the support tab and read some of the issues, and view the replies.  Is the developer answering? Or is the page full of people saying they are having the same issue with no response from anyone who can help.

>> Joshua Pettit is Lead Developer and Project Manager at Sunrise Marketing.  http://www.sunrise-marketing.com/