Plugin Madness 2022: For the Love of WordPress

Torque’s annual Plugin Madness competition is officially underway! 

Now in its seventh year, Plugin Madness is a bracket-style competition that highlights the massive catalog of plugins available on WordPress.org and shows some love to the plugin developers whose efforts give WordPress the flexibility and extensibility it’s renowned for. 

At nearly 60,000 (and counting), plugins listed in the WordPress directory often serve as the go-to solution for developers, designers, site owners, and countless other WordPress users who need to add new functionality to their websites.

Plugin Madness shines a spotlight on some of the most beloved WordPress plugins, starting with a field of 64, nominated by Torque readers and split into four groups: eCommerce, Maintenance, Marketing, and Optimization. 

Those plugins then compete against one another throughout a week-by-week set of matchups that culminate in a finals round, and ultimately, the crowning of a new Plugin Madness Champion.

“Plugin Madness is such a fun way to show our love for one of the most important parts of WordPress—the incredible ecosystem of plugins and the developers and designers who make them available to the WordPress community,” said Emily Schiola, editor of Torque Magazine. 

“Every year is a great opportunity to support established plugins that the community has relied on for a long time, as well as elevate new plugins that are providing users with a ton of value.” 

Nominations are open for anyone who would like to submit their favorite plugins. Make sure and add your picks to the list!

The Road to a Plugin Championship 

Every year, the road to the Plugin Madness Championship is dotted with suspense. 

Last year, Plugin Madness played host to a great Cinderella story, with first-time competitor FluentCRM winning the coveted final spot.

Prior to that, popular page builder Elementor saw back-to-back wins, taking home the Plugin Madness crown in  2020 and 2019.

As we gear up for another action-packed spring, make sure to add your picks to the list of Plugin Madness nominations, which will remain open for the next two weeks, followed by six consecutive rounds of weekly voting, 

The voting schedule, which is open to the entire WordPress community and beyond, lasts one week for each round, beginning at midnight:

• March 7—Round 1 (64 entrants)
• March 14—Round 2 (32 entrants)
• March 21—Round 3 (16 entrants)
• March 28—Round 4 (8 entrants)
• April 4—Round 5 (4 entrants)
• April 11—Round 6 (2 entrants)
• April 18—Winner Announced

Plugin Madness is run by Torque, WP Engine’s editorially-independent digital publication for the WordPress industry. Torque Magazine is a leading resource for WordPress news and updates, and its content equips new and advanced WordPress users with expert insights and information to help them create, grow, and optimize their WordPress sites.

About WP Engine

WP Engine, the WordPress technology company, provides the most relied upon and trusted brands and developer-centric WordPress products for companies and agencies of all sizes, including managed WordPress hosting, enterprise WordPress, Headless WordPress, Flywheel, Local, and Genesis. WP Engine’s tech innovation and award-winning WordPress experts help to power more than 1.5 million sites across 150 countries.