Top 23 Most Profitable WordPress Plugins

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Here are the WordPress plugins bringing in real monthly revenue, compiled from founder interviews, acquisition announcements, and business intelligence databases with source links for verification.

Scan it to spot winning categories, pricing patterns, and growth strategies. Treat figures as directional and click through for precise details.

Top 23 WordPress plugins by monthly revenue

• 1. Elementor ($7.2M)

  Elementor is a drag-and-drop page builder that lets users create professional WordPress websites visually without coding. It basically watches what you design on screen and translates it into clean code behind the scenes. With $85.9M in annual revenue, that works out to about $7.16M per month.

  Source: Growjo
• 2. Yoast SEO ($2.9M)

  Yoast SEO helps websites rank higher in search engines through real-time content optimization and technical SEO fixes. It analyzes your content as you write—checking keyword density, readability, and meta descriptions—then gives you a red, yellow, or green light. Current estimates show around $35M annually, or roughly $2.92M monthly.

  Source: LeadIQ
• 3. Gravity Forms ($1.7M)

  Gravity Forms is a premium form builder for creating everything from simple contact forms to complex multi-page applications with conditional logic. When someone fills out a form, it can trigger payments, create user accounts, or integrate with dozens of third-party services. They're doing $20.7M annually as of 2024, or about $1.73M per month.

  Source: ZoomInfo
• 4. Divi ($1.3M)

  Divi combines a WordPress theme with a visual page builder, giving users complete design control over every pixel. It includes hundreds of pre-made layouts and a theme builder that lets you design headers, footers, and post templates visually. Elegant Themes reports $15M in annual revenue, which breaks down to $1.25M monthly.

  Source: LeadIQ
• 5. MemberPress ($1.2M)

  MemberPress turns any WordPress site into a membership platform with subscriptions, content restrictions, and payment processing. Users have collectively generated over $2.5 billion using the platform to sell courses, premium content, and recurring subscriptions. Annual revenue of $14.1M translates to $1.18M per month.

  Source: ZoomInfo
• 6. BuddyBoss ($1M)

  BuddyBoss builds online communities and social learning platforms where members can interact like they would on Facebook—posting updates, joining groups, and taking courses together. It transforms WordPress into a full social network with member profiles, activity feeds, and private messaging. They're estimated at $12M annually, or $1M monthly.

  Source: Growjo
• 7. Beaver Builder ($292K)

  Beaver Builder is a page builder plugin known for producing clean code and being developer-friendly. Unlike some builders that create bloated markup, Beaver Builder outputs semantic HTML that works even if the plugin is deactivated. Revenue estimates show $3.5M annually, about $292K per month.

  Source: Owler
• 8. OptinMonster ($250K)

  OptinMonster creates pop-ups, slide-ins, and opt-in forms that convert website visitors into email subscribers and customers. It includes exit-intent technology that detects when someone's about to leave and shows them a targeted offer. They hit $3M in annual revenue for 2024, or $250K monthly.

  Source: Latka
• 9. Easy Digital Downloads ($191K)

  Easy Digital Downloads specializes in selling digital products—software, music, documents, photos—with features like licensing keys, file access control, and download limits. The founder publicly disclosed they're doing $191K in monthly recurring revenue as of their last update.

  Source: Indie Hackers
• 10. WP Rocket ($100K+)

  WP Rocket speeds up WordPress sites through caching, file optimization, and lazy loading without requiring technical configuration. Install it, activate it, and your site gets faster—no need to understand cache preloading or GZIP compression. They reported passing $100K monthly revenue in 2016 and have grown since.

  Source: WP Tavern
• 11. ManageWP ($83K)

  ManageWP lets agencies manage multiple WordPress sites from one dashboard—updating plugins, running backups, and monitoring uptime across hundreds of client sites. GoDaddy acquired them in 2016 when they were doing over $1M annually, or about $83K monthly.

  Source: Post Status
• 12. 10web.io ($83K+)

  10web.io combines managed WordPress hosting with a suite of plugins including an AI website builder, image optimizer, and form maker. Over half their revenue comes from plugin sales rather than hosting. They're in the $1-10M annual range, with the lower bound being $83K monthly.

  Source: Veppa
• 13. Visual Composer ($79K)

  Visual Composer pioneered drag-and-drop editing for WordPress and became the most successful plugin on CodeCanyon marketplace. With over $7M in total lifetime sales through the marketplace, they're estimated at $79K in monthly revenue.

  Source: Freemius
• 14. LifterLMS ($63K)

  LifterLMS helps create and sell online courses with features like drip content, quizzes, certificates, and student analytics. Course creators can build entire learning management systems without touching code. They report $750K annually, averaging $62.5K per month.

  Source: LeadIQ
• 15. ThemeIsle ($50K)

  ThemeIsle creates WordPress themes and plugins, with their Zerif Lite theme alone having 500,000+ active installations. They built their business by focusing on quality free themes that upsell to premium versions. The founder reports $50K in monthly revenue.

  Source: Indie Hackers
• 16. iThemes BackupBuddy ($42K+)

  BackupBuddy creates complete WordPress backups and handles site migrations, storing backups remotely and enabling one-click restores. The iThemes portfolio was acquired by Liquid Web, with BackupBuddy accounting for 45% of sales at an estimated $500K+ annually, or $42K+ monthly.

  Source: Owler
• 17. Restrict Content Pro ($42K)

  Restrict Content Pro manages paid memberships with content restrictions, drip content, and discount codes. Members can upgrade, downgrade, or cancel subscriptions through a self-service portal. iThemes acquired them in 2020 when they were doing $500K annually, or $41.7K monthly.

  Source: Post Status
• 18. AffiliateWP ($33K)

  AffiliateWP lets site owners create their own affiliate programs with real-time tracking, automated payouts, and fraud detection. Affiliates get their own dashboard to track earnings and generate referral links. They reported $32.9K in monthly revenue in 2015.

  Source: WP Tavern
• 19. Rank Math ($25K)

  Rank Math is an SEO plugin that gained traction by offering premium features for free that competitors charged for. They provide schema markup, keyword tracking, and 404 monitoring in their free version. Group.one acquired them in 2023 when they were doing $300K annually, or $25K monthly.

  Source: Tracxn
• 20. WP Courseware ($24K)

  WP Courseware turns WordPress into a learning management system for universities, training companies, and course creators. It handles student enrollment, progress tracking, and grade management. The founder reports $24K in monthly recurring revenue.

  Source: Indie Hackers
• 21. PowerPack Addons ($20K)

  PowerPack extends Beaver Builder and Elementor with additional design modules, templates, and styling options. Instead of building a standalone page builder, they enhance existing ones with premium features. They hit $20K monthly recurring revenue in 2019.

  Source: Indie Hackers
• 22. WP Mail SMTP ($20K+)

  WP Mail SMTP fixes the most common WordPress problem—emails not being delivered. It reconfigures WordPress to use proper SMTP providers like SendGrid or Mailgun instead of unreliable PHP mail. Part of the WPForms family, estimated at $20K+ monthly.

  Source: WP Mail SMTP
• 23. Ninja Forms ($20K+)

  Ninja Forms offers drag-and-drop form building with a focus on being developer-friendly through hooks and filters. They differentiate by offering a free core plugin with paid add-ons for specific features. Conservative estimates place them at $20K+ monthly.

  Source: Ninja Forms

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What can we learn from these successful WordPress Plugins?

You should never build a standalone plugin under $99/year

The data is brutal: plugins under $100K monthly either charge premium prices ($200+ annually) or have been acquired by larger companies. WP Rocket charges $49/year minimum and barely breaks $100K monthly despite being the category leader.

Meanwhile, Gravity Forms charges $259/year and makes 17x more. The WordPress ecosystem has trained users to expect everything for free or cheap, so if you price below $99/year, you're signaling that your plugin is a commodity.

Price high enough that you only need 1,000 customers to build a real business, not 100,000.

You must solve the problem completely, not partially

Elementor doesn't just let you edit pages—it replaces the entire WordPress design experience. MemberPress doesn't just restrict content—it handles payments, subscriptions, emails, and analytics.

The successful plugins take complete ownership of a problem space. Partial solutions die in the WordPress repository graveyard because users don't want to cobble together five plugins to solve one problem.

Build the entire solution or don't build at all.

You need to target agencies, not individual site owners

Every plugin making over $500K monthly sells primarily through agencies and developers who use the plugin on client sites. Gravity Forms, Elementor, and Beaver Builder all have agency licenses that let developers use the plugin on unlimited sites.

One agency buying your plugin can mean 50-100 installations. Individual WordPress users are price-sensitive and high-churn; agencies are price-insensitive and sticky.

Your marketing, pricing, and features should assume your real customer manages 20+ WordPress sites.

You should avoid the freemium trap unless you have millions in funding

Yoast SEO has 13+ million installations but only makes $2.9M monthly—that's a monetization rate under 0.5% assuming a modest $20/month average price. Gravity Forms has zero free users and makes $1.7M monthly.

The freemium model in WordPress is particularly brutal because the repository gives you distribution but also sets the expectation that everything should be free.

Unless you have venture capital to survive years of losses while you figure out monetization, go premium-only from day one.

You must own a narrow category completely before expanding

Gravity Forms owns "complex forms," WP Rocket owns "caching for non-technical users," and Easy Digital Downloads owns "selling digital products." They didn't start by trying to be everything—they picked one specific problem and became the undisputed leader.

Only after dominating their niche did they expand features. The WordPress repository has 60,000+ plugins; being pretty good at everything means you're invisible.

Being the absolute best at one thing makes you unforgettable.

You need recurring revenue or you'll die slowly

Plugins with lifetime licenses are disappearing or switching to subscriptions. MemberPress and OptinMonster charge annually and grow predictably.

Visual Composer sold lifetime licenses through CodeCanyon and, despite millions in sales, struggled with sustainable growth. The math is simple: selling a $199 lifetime license means you need five new customers next year to equal one renewal.

Build recurring revenue into your model from the start—annual licenses, maintenance fees, or usage-based pricing—or you'll be constantly hunting for new customers while your old ones use your plugin for free forever.

Our market clarity reports include a deep dive into your audience segments, exploring buying frequency, habits, options, and who feels the strongest pain points — so your marketing and product strategy can hit the mark.

You should build where Automattic won't compete

Automattic (WordPress.com's parent company) has systematically absorbed categories: WooCommerce killed independent e-commerce plugins, Jetpack bundles dozens of features, and Akismet owns spam prevention.

But they avoid certain spaces: page builders (too support-intensive), LMS (too verticalized), and membership sites (too complex). Build in categories where Automattic's business model doesn't work—high-touch support, specific verticals, or complex implementations.

If your plugin could work as a Jetpack module, you're in the kill zone.

You must make the complex appear simple

The most successful WordPress plugins hide enormous complexity behind simple interfaces. Elementor abstracts CSS Grid and Flexbox into visual controls.

Gravity Forms makes multi-page conditional forms feel like filling out a simple survey. WP Rocket turns dozens of performance optimizations into a single on/off switch.

WordPress users want powerful results without understanding the underlying technology. If your plugin requires users to understand technical concepts, you've already lost 90% of your market.

The winner in each category is rarely the most powerful—it's the one that makes power accessible to non-developers.