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Best reference plugins for WordPress

The most popular reference plugins for WordPress in November 2026, in WordPress.org’s own popular order, which follows active installs. Footnotes Made Easy leads with 2K+ active installs, ahead of BibleLink Multilingual (300+) and Blank Footnotes (300+). All 22 plugins tagged “reference” 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 10 reference plugins

  1. 1.
    Footnotes Made Easy

    The most installed reference plugin, with 2K+ active installs. Rated 4.6 from 40 reviews, updated 1 day ago.

  2. 2.
    BibleLink Multilingual

    300+ active installs. Rated 5.0 from 6 reviews, updated 4 months ago.

  3. 3.
    Blank Footnotes

    300+ active installs. Rated 5.0 from 6 reviews, updated 1 month ago.

  4. 4.
    IvyCat AJAX Testimonials

    200+ active installs. Rated 4.5 from 16 reviews, last updated 11 years ago. Tested only up to WordPress 4.2.39.

  5. 5.
    CM Footnotes

    100+ active installs. Rated 4.2 from 6 reviews, updated 3 weeks ago.

  6. 6.
    Cite

    100+ active installs. Rated 4.5 from 15 reviews, last updated 11 years ago. Tested only up to WordPress 4.7.39.

  7. 7.
    Footnotes & Content

    100+ active installs. Rated 5.0 from 5 reviews, updated 1 month ago.

  8. 8.
    Shortcode Reference

    100+ active installs. Rated 3.4 from 7 reviews, last updated 4 years ago. Tested only up to WordPress 5.8.19.

  9. 9.
    bib.ly

    60+ active installs. Only 2 reviews so far, last updated 15 years ago. Tested only up to WordPress 3.2.0.

  10. 10.
    CitePress

    50+ active installs. No reviews yet, updated 1 month ago.

All 22 plugins tagged “reference”