9 Best Social Media Plugins for WordPress
Discover the 9 best social media plugins for WordPress — share buttons, auto-posting, social feeds, login, and more. Compared and ranked.
Social media plugins do one of two things: they save you time or they extend your reach. The best ones do both. Whether you want readers to share your posts in one tap, automatically syndicate new articles to Twitter/X and Facebook, embed a live Instagram feed, or let visitors log in with their social accounts, there is a dedicated WordPress plugin for each job.
This guide covers nine reliable options organized by category. Where relevant, a comparison table highlights the features that matter most so you can pick the right tool without installing and testing a dozen plugins yourself.
Share Button Plugins
Share buttons are the most visible social media element on most blogs. Readers who enjoy a post are often willing to share it — but only if the button is right there. These two plugins cover opposite ends of the market.
Social Snap
Social Snap is a modern share-button plugin with a clean interface and strong performance focus. It loads share counts via its own API rather than hitting each social network individually, which keeps page speed impact low. You can place buttons inline (above or below content), as a floating sidebar, or in a sticky bar at the top or bottom of the screen. Supported networks include Facebook, Twitter/X, Pinterest, LinkedIn, WhatsApp, and about twenty more.
The free tier covers the basics. The paid plans add click-to-tweet boxes, social login, and share count recovery after URL changes.
Monarch by Elegant Themes
Monarch (part of the Elegant Themes membership) focuses on design flexibility. It offers five button locations, pop-up and fly-in triggers, and real-time share counts. Because it is bundled with a membership that also includes the Divi builder and Bloom email opt-in plugin, it makes most sense if you are already an Elegant Themes customer.
Auto-Post and Scheduling Plugins
Publishing a post and then manually logging into three social networks to announce it is tedious and easy to skip. Auto-post plugins handle the syndication for you.
Jetpack Social
Jetpack is the all-in-one plugin from Automattic. Among its many features, Jetpack Social (previously called Publicize) automatically shares new posts to Facebook Pages, Twitter/X, LinkedIn, Tumblr, and Mastodon the moment you publish. You can customize the message, choose which posts to share, and — on the paid Social plan — re-share older posts.
Because Jetpack is maintained by the same team behind WordPress.org, integration is seamless and updates are reliable. If you only need auto-posting and nothing else, Jetpack Social is worth enabling on its own.
Revive Old Posts
Most blog traffic comes from posts published months or years ago, yet most bloggers only promote new content. Revive Old Posts by Revive.Social solves this by automatically re-sharing older articles on a schedule you define. You set a minimum post age, a time interval between shares, and the networks to post to. The free version covers Twitter/X; the Pro version adds Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
This plugin pairs well with any auto-post tool: use Jetpack for new posts and Revive Old Posts to keep evergreen content circulating.
Social Feed Plugins
Embedding a live social feed on your site adds fresh, visual content without extra writing. It also nudges visitors toward following you on the platforms they prefer.
Smash Balloon
Smash Balloon makes the most polished social feed plugins available for WordPress. The suite includes separate plugins for Instagram, Facebook, Twitter/X, and YouTube. Each one pulls in your feed, page timeline, or hashtag results and displays them in a responsive, customizable grid or carousel.
The free versions of the Instagram and Facebook feed plugins are genuinely useful. If you run a WooCommerce store and want to embed shoppable Instagram posts, the paid Instagram Feed Pro plan supports that directly.
A key performance advantage: Smash Balloon caches feed data locally, so your pages do not make live API calls on every load.
Social Login Plugins
Letting visitors register and comment with a social account reduces sign-up friction. This matters most for e-commerce, membership sites, and high-comment blogs.
Nextend Social Login
Nextend Social Login adds Google, Facebook, and Apple login buttons to your default WordPress login and registration forms. The free version covers all three providers, which is unusual — most competitors lock one or more behind a paid tier. The plugin integrates cleanly with WooCommerce, BuddyPress, and most membership plugins.
Click-to-Tweet Plugins
Click-to-tweet boxes highlight a compelling quote and invite readers to share it directly to Twitter/X. They work well in long-form articles where you want to break up text and give readers a shareable moment.
Better Click to Tweet
Better Click to Tweet is a lightweight free plugin that adds a simple shortcode. You write the tweet text, and the plugin renders a styled quote box with a “Click to Tweet” link. There are no extraneous features and no performance overhead — it does one thing well.
If you prefer a block-editor experience, Social Snap (mentioned above) includes a Gutenberg block for click-to-tweet boxes alongside its share buttons.
All-in-One Social Plugins
Novashare
Novashare is purpose-built for speed. Instead of loading a JavaScript file from an external CDN for each social network, it generates lightweight inline SVG icons and makes API calls only when share counts are requested. Independent performance tests consistently show it adds less than 5 KB to page weight. It covers share buttons, click-to-tweet, Pinterest image hover buttons, and follow buttons in a single plugin.
The trade-off: Novashare is paid-only (no free version), starting at a flat annual fee for unlimited sites.
Comparison Table
| Plugin | Category | Free Tier | Paid From | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Social Snap | Share buttons | Yes | ~$29/yr | Bloggers wanting design control |
| Jetpack Social | Auto-post | Yes (limited) | ~$4/mo | Automatic publish-to-social |
| Revive Old Posts | Auto-post (evergreen) | Yes (Twitter only) | ~$75/yr | Re-sharing old content |
| Smash Balloon | Social feeds | Yes | ~$49/yr | Instagram / Facebook feed embeds |
| Nextend Social Login | Social login | Yes (all 3 providers) | Free | Login/registration friction |
| Better Click to Tweet | Click-to-tweet | Yes | Free | Simple tweet quotes |
| Novashare | All-in-one (share) | No | ~$24/yr | Speed-conscious sites |
| Monarch | Share buttons | No (membership) | ~$89/yr | Elegant Themes users |
Prices are approximate at time of writing; check each plugin’s site for current plans.
How to Choose the Right Plugin
Rather than installing one plugin for every category, start with the problem you actually have:
- Low share counts? Add a share button plugin. Place buttons both inline and as a floating bar.
- No time to post manually? Set up Jetpack Social for new posts and Revive Old Posts for evergreen content.
- Want more followers from your site? Embed a Smash Balloon feed and add follow buttons via Novashare.
- Running a store or membership? Add Nextend Social Login to cut registration drop-off.
For a deeper look at placing share buttons effectively — including where they perform best on mobile — see our guide on how to add social share buttons in WordPress.
Plugin Conflicts and Performance
Every plugin you install adds code to your site. Social media plugins are common culprits for slowing down WordPress because they often load external scripts. Before committing to any plugin:
- Test page load time with PageSpeed Insights before and after installation.
- Check for JavaScript conflicts in your browser console.
- Use a staging site for initial testing if you can.
The WordPress.org plugin directory lists active installation counts and last update dates — both good indicators of a plugin’s maintenance status.
Connecting Your Social Accounts
Plugins are only as useful as the accounts they post to. For a practical walkthrough of linking your social profiles to your WordPress site and setting up the right permissions, read our guide on connecting social media to WordPress.
Also worth consulting: Sprout Social’s blog and Buffer’s resources regularly publish data on optimal posting times and network-specific best practices that can inform how you configure your auto-post plugins.
Conclusion
You do not need all nine plugins — you need the right one or two for your goals. Start with a share button plugin and an auto-post solution, measure the impact over 30 days, and layer in additional functionality only when you have a specific reason. A well-chosen, well-configured set of social plugins can meaningfully increase both your content’s reach and the time you get back in your week.
Browse our free WordPress themes to find designs that are built with social sharing in mind, with clean layouts that make share buttons look great without cluttering your content.
