My Tech Toolbox

There are so many potential products and services online you can use to make your life easier (and your business more efficient). How do you know which is best for you? It’s kind of overwhelming, isn’t it?

Let me help you narrow down the playing field.

I’ve put together a list of (free and paid) plugins and services I use for my site or other WordPress sites I develop. I regularly update this page, so feel free to bookmark it for quick reference in the future.

Disclaimer: I am an affiliate for some of these resources which means that, at no cost additional to you, I make a commission if you purchase via my link. You can read my affiliate disclosure here.

Domain & Email Hosting

  • Hover – Domain registrar with excellent customer service (seriously). They’re also my preferred email host.
  • Google Workspace (formerly GSuite) – Email hosting for small business. Also integrates with other Google tools, which is nice.
  • Namecheap – Straight up domain registration. The site is ugly, but I find they don’t bombard you with a million up-sells, unlike some domain registrars… You can also purchase SSL certificates here, although you can get free SSL certificates with the web hosts I recommend below.
  • SiteGround – Web hosting with email (Typically I don’t recommend combining those services, but for smaller projects, it’s probably fine). They also include a free domain with every account.

Web Hosting

  • Kinsta – Managed WordPress hosting that’s great for larger, e-commerce sites.
  • WP Engine –  Managed WordPress hosting with lots of great features for developers.
  • Flywheel – Managed WordPress hosting that’s perfect for designers. Easy to transfer billing to clients.
  • SiteGround – Inexpensive shared hosting with a traditional cPanel.

Here’s a detailed WordPress hosting comparison for each of these hosts.

Site Development

  • Local – Easily develop WordPress sites locally. Does not require you to use Flywheel or WP Engine hosting but, if you are, the integration is beautiful.
  • MigrateDB Pro –  Migrate a WordPress database from one install to another. Perfect syncing development to production sites. Transfers media files, too.

WordPress Themes

  • GeneratePress – Speedy and accessible out of the box. It has an advanced hook system for customizing from a code level, but also loads of visual customizations available.
  • Astra – Great for visual builders, but decent for developers, too. It’s Lightweight and performant out of the box. Works well with the block editor and is highly customizable. It also integrates tightly with the Spectra block library.
  • BE-Starter – If you’re a developer and looking for your next starter theme, look no further than Bill Erickson’s starter for creating hybrid themes (block editor support but not full-on FSE).
  • Frost – If you want to go all in with Full Site Editing (either as a visual builder or to understand how its put together as a developer, this is the theme for you.
  • Beaver Builder – Theme-independent page builder tool great for non-technical folks and developers alike. If you’ve never used it before, I created a Beaver Builder course for you. (Developers, here’s a Beaver Builder review you’ll enjoy)

Form Plugins

  • Gravity Forms – Contact form plugin. Tons of developer add-ons available for integrations with third-party tools (i.e. MailChimp, PayPal, etc.).
  • Ninja Forms – Free WordPress form builder (pay for add-ons). Very easy to use and developer-friendly as well.

Technical Training & Education

  • WP101 – Video series you can use to teach clients how to use WordPress. Available as a plugin or a stand-alone resource.
  • LinkedIN Learning (formerly Lynda.com) – Learn about a range of topics from business to creative, to technical. Here’s a free 30-day trial.
  • ES6 for Everyone – ES6 is a major update to JavaScript. This course from Wes Bos covers new features and helps sharpen your core JavaScript skills.
  • VSCode Power User – In addition to being one heck of an amazing instructor, Ahmad Awais does a fantastic job to get you up and running with VSCode.

Accessibility

  • Accessibility Checker by Equalize Digital – Want to make your site more accessible for every website visitor? This plugin does a fantastic job of “scoring” each page/post for common accessibility issues (similar to how WordPress SEO “scores” a page, if you’re familiar with that). The free version is great. I like the Pro version as it lets me see site-wide problems in a single place (vs on individual pages).

Performance Optimization / Caching

  • WP Rocket – A really easy-to-use caching plugin for WordPress. It integrates with most CDNs (if you’re using one).

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

  • WordPress SEO – This is my favorite SEO plugin and what I use on this site.
  • Quickbooks – Complete suite of accounting tools for businesses of any size. Includes ability to invoice customers accept credit card payment for invoices.
  • Freshbooks – Simple and straight-forward to use. It’s not as feature-filled as Quickbooks, but it’s perfect for small business owners looking for a clean, professional invoicing system.

Business Books

I’m an avid reader and invest in my business by way of listening to and reading books related to business and self-improvement. Here’s my recommended reading list.

Carrie Dils uses Accessibility Checker to monitor our website's accessibility.