Discover a list of the best WordPress testimonials plugins with free download links. These plugins will help you showcase what your website users or clients say about your company or services.
Attracting a lot of traffic to your website is meaningless if visitors don’t engage with it as you intend. Your website exists for a reason, whether it’s to grow your newsletter subscribers, boost sales, or achieve other goals.
However, convincing visitors to take action can be challenging. We all tend to be a bit skeptical at times.
Building trust with visitors is crucial for a successful website. Social proof, such as testimonials, can significantly contribute to this by increasing credibility and fostering adoption and acceptance.
Top WordPress Testimonials Plugins
WordPress testimonials plugins typically work by enabling you to add testimonials as custom post types. They offer various methods to showcase testimonials, including widgets, full pages, slideshows, and more. Many plugins also provide features for multiple ways to display testimonials, such as through website forms or even by collecting them from social media.
With numerous testimonial plugins available, this list focuses on plugins that are:
- Popular and highly rated,
- Actively updated and supported by developers, and
- Equipped with unique features that distinguish them.
This list aims to help you find the perfect testimonial plugin. If we missed your favorite, feel free to share it in the comments.
EASY TESTIMONIALS: Best Free WordPress Testimonials Plugins
Easy Testimonials is a user-friendly yet feature-rich plugin. With over 80,000 downloads and a 4.6-star rating, it’s one of the most popular options. It’s my personal favorite and I’ve been using it on several sites.
Easy Testimonials allows you to display testimonials as customizable widgets or integrate them into posts and pages using shortcodes. The Settings menu lets you generate shortcodes with custom display options.
The plugin’s strength lies in its display customization. With over 30 styles, you can achieve the desired look without CSS knowledge. A field in the settings menu is available for further fine-tuning with custom CSS.
Despite its straightforward nature, the plugin has comprehensive documentation. Reviews often praise the developer’s quick support.
A Pro version unlocks premium features, including collecting testimonials through a front-end form.
The free version offers ample features:
- Randomized testimonial displays in sidebars, pages, or posts
- Attractive transition effects like slides or fadeouts
- Inclusion of ratings and images with testimonials, enhanced with Schema.org markup
- Linking testimonials to custom URLs (e.g., product pages)
…and many more!
TESTIMONIALS WIDGET
Testimonials Widget is a highly popular testimonial plugin due to its comprehensive features.
Beyond testimonials, this plugin accommodates portfolio projects and reviews. Each entry can include videos, images, text, supports categories and tags, and reviews schema for rich snippets. Display options include shortcodes, widgets, or functions within your theme files.
This makes it perfect for a designer/developer wishing looking to showcase diverse client testimonials on their portfolio website, for instance.
Other notable features include:
- Carousel, fade, or slide transitions
- Filtering by category, tag, or post ID
- Responsive slideshows
While basic styling is included, customization options are limited. CSS knowledge is needed for extensive visual adjustments.
A premium version provides developer support and additional features. While the free version lacks direct support, a knowledge base offers a degree of community assistance.
BORDERLESS: Best Free WordPress Testimonials Plugins
TESTIMONIAL BASICS
Testimonial Basics simplifies adding testimonials with its straightforward approach and minimal configurations. Styling options, including nine fonts, enable customization without CSS knowledge. Its ease of use and configuration makes it ideal for those who prefer simplicity.
Testimonials support a five-star rating system and Gravatars, eliminating the need for image uploads (if the author has a Gravatar linked to their email).
Input forms, available as shortcodes or widgets, facilitate direct testimonial collection from clients on your website. Shortcodes and widgets also enable testimonial display. The plugin is available in French, Dutch, German, and Spanish.
HMS TESTIMONIALS
HMS Testimonials stands out with its minimalist approach, offering no default styling. CSS knowledge is essential for customizing testimonial appearance.
Exciting features include a drag-and-drop editor for creating testimonial page templates and the ability to add custom fields for displaying extra information.
This barebones yet flexible plugin suits those comfortable with code who prefer not to build a plugin from scratch. The developer actively engages with users, welcomes suggestions, and often incorporates them into new features.
(Note: For an even more basic, lightweight testimonial plugin ideal for experienced developers, consider Testimonials by WooThemes)
KUDOBUZZ TESTIMONIAL WIDGET: Best Free WordPress Testimonials Plugins
With over 2,000 downloads, KudobuzTestimonials is less popular but highly rated. It boasts unique features that set it apart.
Besides adding your own testimonials (“kudos”), Kudobuzz automatically gathers positive mentions from Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and blogs.
Using the plugin requires creating a Kudobuzz account and connecting your social media accounts. The plugin then tracks mentions, offering an effortless way to curate positive social media feedback. Shortcodes enable displaying testimonials on posts or pages.
While basic with limited documentation, its functionality is valuable. Hopefully, further development will enhance its features.
Do You Really Need a Plugin to Display Testimonials?
Manually adding testimonials to your website is possible. If you possess coding skills and have only a few testimonials to showcase, this might be suitable, especially if updates or additions are infrequent.
Many of the nexus-security WordPress themes include two premium WordPress plugins for free that offer even more testimonials style options.
However, testimonial plugins often provide a wider range of options for managing, displaying, and collecting testimonials, potentially saving you significant time and effort.
If you plan to utilize testimonials extensively on your website, exploring the aforementioned WordPress testimonial plugins is highly recommended.