Last Updated on June 19, 2025 by Sunny Staff
As I write this there are 60,607 free plugins available in the WordPress plugin directory. By the time you read this, there’ll probably be more. They’re one of the best things about WordPress, allowing you to extend the functionality of your site in just a few clicks and with zero coding experience. But what if the plugin you want to use isn’t in the WordPress directory?
In this post you’ll learn how to manually install any WordPress plugin.
To illustrate the process of manually installing a WordPress plugin we’ll be using the Classic Editor plugin – a popular alternative to WordPress’s Gutenberg Editor. We’ll also be using two methods of manual plugin installation:
- Uploading a plugin from the WordPress dashboard
- Uploading a plugin via FTP (similar to a manual backup, except we’ll be uploading to the server)
Before we continue with manual plugin installation, a word of caution:
When you know how to install WordPress plugins and themes manually, you can install virtually any theme or plugin currently available. This includes “nulled” plugins and themes. Nulled plugins and themes are hacked versions of premium plugins, often made available for free or severely discounted. But they very often also contain malware or code that will allow an attacker access to your site. As such, it is very strongly recommended that you never install a nulled plugin or theme.
When to install WordPress plugins manually
The WordPress plugin ecosystem is huge and extends beyond the WordPress plugin repository. As your site grows and increases in complexity, you’ll encounter various scenarios where knowing how to manually install WordPress plugins is beneficial, such as:
- You want to install an older version of a plugin. There are times when installing an older version of a plugin is necessary. The most recent version might be buggy, may no longer contain a feature you relied on, or is causing unexpected changes to your site.
- You want to install a newer version of a plugin. In rare cases a newer version of a plugin may take a while to appear in the WordPress plugin repository, or it isn’t pushed to WordPress sites upon release. So you download it from the developer’s site, and manually install it on your WordPress website.
- Plugin uploads from the dashboard is disabled. This is typically done for security reasons and prevents attackers who gain access to your WordPress website from installing their own malicious plugins.
The plugin is not available from the WordPress plugin repository. More often than not these are premium plugins available from developer sites, or marketplaces like CodeCanyon. These plugins require manual installation.
Important: Always make a backup of your WordPress website and database before installing a new plugin. It’s also strongly advised to test new plugins on a staging site to ensure that it doesn’t adversely affect your live site.
How to manually install a plugin through the WordPress dashboard
As mentioned above, we’ll be using the Classic Editor plugin to illustrate the process. Version 1.6.2 was downloaded from the plugin repository with the file name classic-editor.1.6.2.zip.
From the WordPress dashboard, navigate to Plugins > Add new. When the page has loaded, click the Upload Plugin button at the top.
The area below the button will expand to reveal the upload form. Click Browse to locate the plugin file on your computer. When you’re ready, click Install Now.
WordPress will upload the plugin and extract it to the wp-content/plugins folder in your hosting account. When the process is complete, all that’s required is to activate the plugin. Click Activate Plugin.
How to manually install a WordPress plugin with FTP
Sometimes you’re unable to install a plugin via the WordPress dashboard, security concerns being one of the possible reasons. For those times you’d need to upload the plugin manually. FTP is a popular method to transfer files to and from your server. If you have access to cPanel, the same can be accomplished using the built-in file manager.
Get started by logging into your site’s FTP account using an FTP client like FileZilla.
In the screenshot below you’ll see in the left-hand pane that the Classic Editor plugin is already unzipped. We do this because some FTP clients do not support remote unzipping.
On your website’s FTP account, navigate to wp-content > plugins. Note: wp-content may be in a folder like public_html.
If you can see the extracted plugin’s folder and the contents of wp-content/plugins at the same time, you’re in the right place. Now click and drag the plugin folder from your computer to the plugins folder on your hosting account.
When that’s done, go to your WordPress dashboard and navigate to Plugins > Installed Plugins. Activate the plugin.
It’s as easy as that!
Reasons why WordPress plugin installations fail
Plugin installation is a simple operation most of the time. But sometimes you’ll run into unexpected hitches. Here are a few possible scenarios:
Conflict with other plugins
Plugin conflicts can occur, and can be down to a variety of reasons including bad code, server configuration issues, conflicts with your theme, functionality overlap, and so on.
What to do: If you’re experiencing plugin troubles (e.g. it won’t activate or it doesn’t function properly), your first port of call should be to deactivate all other plugins, choose a default theme, and then reactivate the plugin in question to see if that solves the problem.
Incorrect directory permissions
Permissions determine who can perform certain actions, like storing a file on disk. If your WordPress installation doesn’t have the necessary permissions (either because of security measures or because of an incorrectly configured account), you won’t be able to upload a plugin or theme. If this is the case, WordPress will likely prompt you for FTP details to complete the installation.
What to do: Contact your hosting provider’s support team to check the directory permissions of your plugins, themes, and uploads folders.
Insufficient system resources
It might be that the plugin file size exceeds the available storage on your account, or that the plugin’s memory requirement exceeds the memory available to your account. Either way, check your account’s stats if plugin installation or activation fails without a specific error message.
What to do: Usage stats are often available in your hosting account’s control panel or dashboard. Alternatively, contact your hosting provider’s support team for assistance.
Incompatible PHP version
Among the more common plugin installation errors is PHP version incompatibility. Most plugins typically require a very recent PHP version to run optimally, and will produce extensive error messages if that requirement isn’t satisfied. Check the plugin developer’s website for a list of version and module requirements.
What to do: Just like server resource stats, your PHP version is usually displayed in your hosting account’s dashboard. Compare this version with the plugin developer’s PHP version requirements.
Slow or intermittent internet connection
Another frequent cause of plugin installation failure is an unstable or slow internet connection between your computer and your host’s server. This can cause transfer issues which can corrupt plugin files.
What to do: If you can, reboot your computer and router. If that still doesn’t work, contact your internet service provider for further assistance.
Corrupt plugin files
Rare, but it does happen. Every now and then you may encounter a plugin which, for some reason, just won’t activate. You’ve checked PHP version compatibility and system resources, and you’ve even uploaded multiple times. When all other possibilities have been eliminated, corrupt plugin files are the likely cause.
What to do: Contact the plugin developer and notify them of the problem. You’ll be helping others who might have the same problem.
But don’t let this list of possible errors scare you. In the grander scheme of things they are rare. Instead, focus on learning how to manually install a WordPress plugins like a pro – using the WordPress dashboard if you can, alternatively using a method like FTP. Of course, if you’re a SunnyHQ customer, all you need to do is tell us which plugin you want installed, and we’ll take care of installation, activation, and testing that everything’s running as it should.
