WordPress Plugins That Power QOT: Our 2010 List and 2026 Stack
Many of you have asked which WordPress plugins we use to power QOT. Back in 2010 I shared the 10 plugins running this site. This updated article keeps that original list, explains what changed, and shows the plugins that actually power QuickOnlineTips in 2026.
Quick answer: In 2026 QOT runs Rank Math SEO for search, LiteSpeed Cache for speed, Antispam Bee against comment spam, Jetpack VaultPress Backup for backups, and Two Factor plus Limit Login Attempts Reloaded for login security. Redirection, Pretty Links, Easy Table of Contents and Site Kit by Google handle redirects, short links, contents boxes and Google stats.
Table of Contents
The WordPress plugins we use in 2026
These are the plugins active on this site today, grouped by the job they do. All of them are listed in the WordPress.org plugin directory (Jetpack VaultPress Backup needs a paid Jetpack plan).
SEO and site structure
- Rank Math SEO sets titles, meta descriptions, schema and the XML sitemap. It replaced All in One SEO for us. See how we use it to noindex archive subpages.
- Redirection manages 301 redirects and logs 404 errors, so old URLs keep working when posts are merged or removed.
- Easy Table of Contents adds a contents box to long articles.
- Pretty Links creates clean, trackable short links for affiliate and outbound links.
Speed
- LiteSpeed Cache caches pages and optimises images and CSS on our LiteSpeed server. In 2010 WP Super Cache did this job; read about other WordPress cache plugins we tried.
Security and spam
- Antispam Bee blocks comment spam without sending comments to an outside service.
- Two Factor adds two-step login for admin accounts.
- Limit Login Attempts Reloaded blocks bots that keep guessing passwords.
- Jetpack VaultPress Backup keeps automatic backups we can restore from.
Editing and stats
- Classic Editor and Classic Widgets keep the editor and widget screens we are used to.
- Code Snippets holds small PHP tweaks safely, instead of editing the theme’s functions.php.
- Flamingo saves contact form messages in the dashboard.
- Site Kit by Google shows Search Console and Analytics data inside WordPress.
Our original 2010 plugin list
This is the list I first shared, with notes on what happened to each one on QOT:
- Akismet was the single most important plugin for moderating comments in a sane manner. We got thousands of spam comments a day, and without it managing comments would have been impossible. Today we use Antispam Bee instead.
- All in One SEO fixed titles and meta tags in one click. We later moved to Rank Math.
- Clean Archives Reloaded created our archives page from a simple shortcode. We no longer use it.
- Evermore shortened posts on the front page as if each had a “more” tag. Modern themes show excerpts, so it is no longer needed.
- Google XML Sitemaps generated a sitemap and pinged search engines. WordPress now has built-in sitemaps, and Rank Math makes ours.
- Grunion Contact Form by Automattic added a contact form to any page. That form later became part of Jetpack.
- WordPress Stats showed lightweight traffic stats in the dashboard. It lives on as Jetpack Stats; we now use Site Kit and Search Console.
- WordPress Database Backup emailed database backups to save us on a bad server day. Automatic backups now handle that.
- WP-Ban blocked spammy IP addresses that flooded the comment queue. Antispam Bee and login limits now cover most of that job.
- WP Super Cache kept the site up during Digg traffic spikes. LiteSpeed Cache does that job now.
Tips for choosing WordPress plugins
- Install only what you need; every plugin adds code to load and update.
- Prefer plugins that are actively updated and tested with your WordPress version.
- Turn on auto-updates for WordPress plugins you trust.
- Use one plugin per job: one SEO plugin, one cache plugin.
For more ideas, see our list of must-have WordPress plugins.
FAQ
Which SEO plugin does QOT use?
Rank Math SEO. It handles titles, meta descriptions, schema and the sitemap.
Which cache plugin is best for a LiteSpeed server?
LiteSpeed Cache, because it works directly with the LiteSpeed web server’s built-in cache.
Do I still need Akismet?
You need some spam protection if comments are open. Akismet is still a popular choice; we use Antispam Bee, which works locally.
How many plugins is too many?
There is no fixed number. What matters is quality: a few heavy or badly coded plugins slow a site more than many small, well-made ones.
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These are great plugins! Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for the heads up on WP plugins! I am going to take a look at the Data Backup, Grunion Form and Supercache plugins.
I am already using Akismet, XML Sitemap and the All in One SEO (which is great for anyone who doesn’t have it yet!) Another great plugin for anyone doing marketing online is the WP Footer Ad. It’s completely free and allows you to add an html ad to the bottom of your website!
QOT, I’m also using 4 kind of above plugins.
I am using some of these plugins, Thanks for sharing and the tip…
Awesome list of plug-ins, that improves the look and feel of your wordpress website or blog. thanks for sharing with us.
Hey Qot..
Thanks for sharing your list of plugins though I’m wondering are you using only 10 plugins? That’s too less.. Despite of trying a lot, I ended up using 30 plugins at this moment..
The #10 can be replaced with W3 Total Cache with CDN and many other features too :-)
QOT, Wp Timemachine is another must try plugin for automatic backups. It sends backups straight to S3 or Dropbox
There is something wrong with your site, the pages don’t show up completely today. I’m in China. I’m using a VPN to browse now.
I’m using WP-postviews and addthis plugins though my blogs are currently under construction.
I came up with a new English name for myself, Walter Tong,could you please tell me how about this English name?
You have listed a few great plugins, but you should spend more time proofreading your posts before publishing them. I have counted at least 12 spelling and grammar mistakes.
how about bookmarker plugins?
I use Greg’s High Performance SEO instead of All-in-One SEO. In my experienced, it’s very reliable in optimizing my posts for search engine traffic. What do you think about this SEO plugin?
Greg’s High Performance SEO looks good. May try soon.
https://wordpress.org/plugins/gregs-high-performance-seo/
I am using some of these plugins, although a different one for forms. Still I am a newbie and probably don’t need some of these plugins yet.
An example of that would be WP ban, since I am not having spammers like that (with thousands of spam comments) yet. But that one is definitely going into my bookmarks because it seems like one I (and others bloggers I communicate with) can use.
Thanks!
Check if most of your spam comments are being posted from a single IP. Use WP-ban to block it.
I just wrote an article about dumping Akismet. Give GASP a try before crowning Akismet as the king of WordPress anti-spam.
It works great on my blog. Would like to know how effective it is on much bigger sites like QOT.
Well I searched for GASP, short for GrowMap Anti-Spambot Plugin. It is new to me and will try it sometime.
https://growmap.com/growmap-anti-spambot-plugin/
Definitely give it a go, it is a must have. I love it and had not bot comments since I installed it.
Forgot to mention in my reply that I am going to install this archive page plugin, cause I just saw your archives page and I loved it. Hope it will be easy to set up :)
If you enable the javascript option in the Archives plugin, the months can collapse into a neat list.
thanks for sharing :) i ll try about contact form and archive page
Both those plugins are really good.