Plugins are tools that add virtually any feature and functionality to your WordPress website. Our guides below will show you everything you need to know about plugins.
Installing plugins is available on all WordPress.com paid plans: Personal, Premium, Business, and Commerce plans. For free sites, upgrade your plan to install plugins.
In this guide
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Ask our AI assistantWordPress plugins are additional tools that enhance a website’s functionality. With our plans, you can install plugins to create an online store, offer an online course, create memberships, sell digital downloads, and implement virtually any other feature you can imagine.
Plugins are created by individuals and companies in the WordPress community who have made their tools available to all WordPress users. You can install plugins from over 50,000 available in the WordPress.org repository, upload plugins you’ve found elsewhere, or even build a plugin yourself.
Plugin authors can provide their plugins for free, at a cost, or commonly with a free version plus an option to upgrade for extra features.
Our dedicated plugin guides will help you find, install, and work with plugins on your site:
Install a plugin
This guide will show you how to install plugins on your site.
Find and choose the best plugins
This guide will help you understand how to choose plugins for your site.
Use your plugins
Once you install a plugin, the next step is to start using it. This guide shows you how to work with the plugins you have installed on your site.
Solve problems with plugins and themes
Occasionally, you may encounter a problem with your website. The steps in this guide will help you to solve the problem by deactivating plugins that may be causing the issue.
Get help with plugins and themes
Learn how to get help with third-party plugins and themes.
Incompatible plugins
This page contains a list of unsupported plugins and accompanying reasons why.
Update a plugin or theme
Updates include new features, bug fixes, and security patches. Here’s how to update!
Deactivate or delete a plugin
This guide will show you how to install plugins on your site.
You can use AI agents like Claude, Cursor, ChatGPT, OpenClaw, and more to read and edit your website securely. Enable MCP tool access for AI agents.
AI agents can give you an instant overview of the plugins on your site — from which are active or inactive to which ones have updates waiting. Here are some sample prompts you can copy and use:
- “List inactive plugins that are still installed on my site.”
- “Which of my plugins have updates available?”
- “What plugins are currently active on my store?”
- “What plugins are installed on my main site?”
