When you’re running a small business or startup, your website is one of the most powerful tools you have. And if you’ve built it on WordPress—great choice!
WordPress is flexible, easy to use, and best of all, packed with free plugins that can supercharge your site without blowing your budget.
But with over 60,000 plugins in the WordPress repository, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. So, we’ve done the hard work for you and narrowed it down to the best free WordPress plugins small business owners should consider installing today.
- Yoast SEO
- WPForms Lite
- WooCommerce
- Elementor
- MonsterInsights Lite
- UpdraftPlus
- Smush
- SiteGround Security
- MailPoet
- Redirection
1. Yoast SEO
Purpose: Improve your on-site SEO and get found on Google
If you want people to find your website when they search on Google (and let’s face it, who doesn’t?), then SEO is key. Yoast SEO is the go-to plugin for making sure your site is optimised.
It helps you:
- Add meta titles and descriptions
- Optimise your content for keywords
- Generate sitemaps
- Check readability scores
Even if you’re new to SEO, Yoast’s traffic light system makes it easy to understand what’s working and what’s not.
✅ Why we recommend it: It’s beginner-friendly and helps small businesses get visibility online without hiring an SEO expert.
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2. WPForms Lite
Purpose: Create contact forms, quote requests, surveys and more
Every business website needs a contact form—and WPForms Lite makes it ridiculously simple to set one up. With a drag-and-drop interface, you can build professional forms without writing a single line of code.
Features include:
- Pre-made templates (like contact or booking forms)
- Spam protection (hello, reCAPTCHA!)
- Responsive design (works on all devices)
✅ Why we recommend it: It makes it easy for customers to get in touch—and you won’t need a developer to get started.
3. WooCommerce
Purpose: Sell products or services online
Thinking of selling products, services, or even digital downloads through your website? WooCommerce is the best free eCommerce plugin out there.
You can:
- List products or services
- Take secure payments
- Manage inventory
- Offer shipping options
It’s scalable, customisable, and works beautifully with most WordPress themes.
✅ Why we recommend it: It’s perfect for turning your site into an online shop without spending a penny upfront.
4. Elementor
Purpose: Build beautiful web pages easily
If you’re not a designer or coder, creating attractive web pages can be daunting. That’s where Elementor comes in.
It’s a visual page builder that lets you drag and drop elements like text boxes, images, and buttons. There’s also a library of ready-made templates you can tweak to match your brand.
✅ Why we recommend it: It gives small business owners full creative control, without needing to touch code or hire a web designer.
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5. MonsterInsights Lite
Purpose: Track your website’s performance with Google Analytics
Data is everything. If you don’t know how people are using your site, how can you improve it?
MonsterInsights Lite connects your site to Google Analytics and presents the data in a clear, user-friendly way inside your WordPress dashboard.
You’ll learn things like:
- How visitors are finding your site
- Which pages get the most traffic
- Where people are dropping off
✅ Why we recommend it: It helps you make smarter marketing decisions based on real data—without needing to understand Google Analytics.
6. UpdraftPlus
Purpose: Back up your website (just in case)
Imagine spending hours perfecting your website… only to lose it all due to a hack, update gone wrong, or server crash. Nightmare, right?
UpdraftPlus gives you peace of mind by automatically backing up your site. You can store backups in the cloud (Google Drive, Dropbox, etc.) and restore everything with a single click.
✅ Why we recommend it: Because disasters happen—and a free, reliable backup solution is a must for every small business.
7. Smush
Purpose: Speed up your site by optimising images
Large image files can seriously slow down your website—and slow sites drive customers away. Smush automatically compresses your images when you upload them, making your pages faster without sacrificing quality.
It also lets you:
- Resize images in bulk
- Lazy-load images (only load them when needed)
- Detect unnecessarily large images
✅ Why we recommend it: It helps your site load faster, which is great for SEO and user experience.
8. SiteGround Security (formerly SG Security)
Purpose: Keep your site safe from attacks
Website security isn’t just for big companies. Small businesses are just as vulnerable, if not more. SiteGround Security is a lightweight plugin that adds a strong layer of protection to your WordPress site.
Features include:
- Login security (limit login attempts, 2FA)
- Activity logging
- Firewall rules
- Easy-to-use malware scanning
✅ Why we recommend it: It’s a free way to protect your site from common attacks, even if you’re not tech-savvy.
9. MailPoet
Purpose: Build and send email newsletters
Email marketing is still one of the most cost-effective ways to reach your audience. MailPoet lets you create and send newsletters directly from your WordPress dashboard.
You can:
- Collect subscribers through signup forms
- Design emails with a visual builder
- Automate welcome emails
- Segment your audience
✅ Why we recommend it: It’s perfect for small businesses wanting to build a mailing list without needing a third-party platform.
10. Redirection
Purpose: Manage redirects and fix broken links
Broken links are bad for user experience and can hurt your SEO.
Redirection helps you set up 301 redirects (like when a page URL changes) and track 404 errors, so you can fix them fast.
✅ Why we recommend it: It’s a simple tool that keeps your site running smoothly and your SEO on track.
Final Thoughts
WordPress is powerful on its own, but with the right plugins, you can turn your small business website into a high-performing marketing tool. The best part? All the plugins above are completely free to use—so you can grow your online presence without growing your expenses.
Whether you’re just getting started or looking to improve an existing site, these are the best free WordPress plugins small business owners should have on their radar.
Need help installing or setting up any of these? At 404 Marketing, we’re here to help small businesses get the most out of their websites—without the tech headache.
