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Best essential plugins for WordPress

The most popular essential plugins for WordPress in November 2026, in WordPress.org’s own popular order, which follows active installs. Primary Addon for Elementor leads with 6K+ active installs, ahead of Advamentor (10+) and essential (10+). All 4 plugins tagged “essential” are below, with figures from WordPress.org that update every day.

Installs aren’t everything: a recent release, a “Tested up to” that matches the current WordPress, and support threads that get resolved show a plugin is looked after. Open any plugin for its downloads, rank history and alternatives.

Research this niche or see all plugins.

Top 4 essential plugins

  1. 1.
    Primary Addon for Elementor

    The most installed essential plugin, with 6K+ active installs. Only 2 reviews so far, last updated 1 year ago. Tested only up to WordPress 6.7.11.

  2. 2.
    Advamentor

    10+ active installs. No reviews yet, last updated 7 years ago. Tested only up to WordPress 5.2.30.

  3. 3.
    essential

    10+ active installs. Only 1 review so far, last updated 11 years ago. Tested only up to WordPress 4.0.38.

  4. 4.
    Kw Essential share buttons

    10+ active installs. No reviews yet, last updated 14 years ago. Tested only up to WordPress 3.4.2.

All 4 plugins tagged “essential”