The day has finally come: Voting is open for the eighth annual Plugin Madness competition sponsored by Torque Magazine!

Each year, Plugin Madness shines a light on the extensive catalog of plugins available in the WordPress Plugin Repository with a friendly, bracket-style competition that pits the best of the best against one another.   

The tournament begins with 64 WordPress plugins, which are nominated by Torque readers and voted on by WordPress users throughout a series of weekly matchups, culminating in a finals round, and ultimately, the championship title for one remaining plugin. 

Check out the video below to see just how totally awesome this year’s Plugin Madness is going to be.

To be considered for a starting slot, plugins included in Plugin Madness have to meet three criteria: they must be listed in the WordPress Plugin Repository, they must have been updated within the last 12 months, and they have to be compatible with WordPress 5.7+.

Now, it’s up to the WordPress community to decide who advances! Read on for an overview of how the bracket works, meet a few of the all-star players, and learn how to vote for your favorites.

The bracket for this year's Plugin Madness with each of the 64 starting plugins in their places
The starting seeds have been decided—here’s your 2023 Plugin Madness bracket! Download a bracket of your own to play along at home and see if you can predict the road to this year’s championship.

The Bracket 

The first week of competition will open with 16 plugins representing each of the four starting categories: Marketing, Optimization, Maintenance, and eCommerce. 

From there, voters will get the opportunity to choose their favorites as the competition is slashed in half each week. Voting resets every Monday until April 17 when we’ll announce the winner.

Who’s Nominated?

Plugin Madness never fails to highlight the best of the best in WordPress. Here are a few of the all stars we expect to go far in this year’s competition.

ACF (Advanced Custom Fields)

This beloved plugin (and former Plugin Madness winner!) is back again to try to regain the crown. Will its intuitive API and ability to add fields on demand anywhere on your site take ACF to the top of the competition?

Akismet

This plugin checks your comments and contact form submissions against a huge international spam database to prevent your site from publishing unsafe content. Will this beacon of security secure a spot in the final four?

RestroFood

This plugin facilitates online food ordering to help manage your incoming orders. Will they serve up a win and roast the competition?

SEOPress

SEOPress makes it easy for WordPress site owners to optimize their SEO, boost traffic, manage redirects, and more. With more than 200,000 activations, does this fan favorite have the support needed to go all the way?

WP Social Ninja

This all-in-one social media plugin allows you to integrate your social media reviews, social feeds, and chat widgets on your WordPress website. Will its well-rounded abilities catapult WP Social Ninja to the finals?

Vote Now!

Will your favorite plugin reach the championship? To make it happen, you’ll have to make your voice heard.

Click here to cast your vote, and make sure to check back every Monday to see who’s advanced so you can keep pushing your favorite plugins to the finals!

Follow all of this year’s Plugin Madness action on Twitter @thetorquemag and use #pluginmadness to show support for your favorites!

Want to find out more about WordPress plugins? Check out WP Engine’s Ultimate Guide to Plugins—download it for free today!