Why and how to choose the right WordPress plugin for our site?

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There are currently over 59,000 plugins in the official WordPress directory. Choosing the right new WordPress plugin can be a daunting task with this wide variety.

One of the five advantages of WordPress is the ability to add all sorts of functionality to the site using plugins. But if we don't choose them carefully, we have to change them, and that's not always an easy task.

If you are a beginner WordPress webmaster and are looking for a plugin for your site, here are some guidelines that will help you choose the most suitable one for your site.
Why is it so important to choose the right WordPress plugin?
The very first reason is that we don't want to have to replace the plugin with a new one soon (at least in the next 5 years), once it's already running on the site and has accumulated some data. And most often this is necessary when the plugin:

It does not receive frequent updates, which causes its code to lag behind current technological practices and emerging needs for site development;
There is no support available to help us with any problems that may arise with it;
Creates some problem for the site itself or its visitors (slow loading; inconvenience when browsing);
It poses a security risk to the site and its visitors.
Replacing one plugin with another takes time, especially if it's for some basic functionality such as an online store, knowledgebase, subscriptions and newsletters, complex URL redirects, etc. You need to do everything again - settings, tests, possibly style adjustments, as well as transferring data if the plugin was collecting any.

On the other hand, frequently installing and uninstalling plugins on your site leaves unnecessary data in the database. Over time, records accumulate that are very difficult to clean because they cannot be easily separated from the rest of the content. And a suboptimal database size can negatively impact the speed of your site.

When you decide to choose the next new plugin for your site, you'll want it to be the best possible so that you don't have to change it in the near future.

Paid or free plugin?
Finding a free plugin and installing it on your site is so easy and fast that the question of whether it is paid or not doesn't even arise. But, after the plugin has been working for a while, when some problems start to arise with it that cannot be solved without the help of a developer, the question arises.

Webmasters with many years of experience, who have seen and austria number dataset with many WordPress plugins over the years, would advise you to first understand the main difference between a paid and a free plugin.

The easiest way to figure out whether you want a paid or free plugin is to ask yourself this question:

Will you be maintaining the plugin?
If you plan to take care of the plugin's operation yourself and, if a problem arises with it, fix it yourself, then a free plugin will do the trick.

If you don't plan to spend time in the future on maintaining the plugin and taking care of its operation, staying up at night looking for a solution, it's better not to even consider the option of a free plugin. Many of the plugins in the official WordPress directory, in addition to a free version, also have a paid version, which includes support, frequent updates and additional extras. Another option is to trust the specialists in WordPress site maintenance.