One of the most common questions we are asked by WordPress beginners is: “Why can’t I add plugins in WordPress?”. It usually follows up with how the user is seeing an upgrade message or that their admin area doesn’t have the plugins menu. If you’re encountering this issue, then you’re in the right place. In this article, we will explain why you cannot add or install plugins in WordPress.
1. You are On WordPress.com
WordPress.com is a blog hosting service that offers a limited version of the popular self-hosted WordPress software. See our guide on the difference between WordPress.com vs WordPress.org for more details.
WordPress.com users cannot install plugins unless they upgrade to the business plan which costs about $299 per year. If you are on a free, personal, or premium plan, then you cannot install third-party plugins.
If you don’t want to pay the $299 per year, then you can move your blog from WordPress.com to WordPress.org. If you need assistance in doing that, then use our free WordPress blog setup service (just make a note that you want us to transfer your site, and we will do it for free).
2. You are Facing Memory Limit Issue
The second most common scenario is that you can see and access the plugins menu but unable to install plugins.
The failure notice is usually caused by the PHP memory limit. There are settings in your WordPress hosting and inside your WordPress core that define the amount of memory a PHP script can use. When a process reaches this limit, it either gets terminated or it gives an error like this:
Fatal error: Allowed memory size of 67108864 bytes exhausted
The quick fix to this problem is increasing your PHP memory limit. You can do that by adding this line to your wp-config.php file:
define('WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '256M');
For more detailed instructions, see our guide on how to fix WordPress memory exhausted error.
3. User Role Restrictions
WordPress comes with a built-in user role management system. Sometimes web developers don’t give administrator access to their clients. Instead, they create an editor account for them.
Only administrators can install and activate plugins on a WordPress site. If you are the owner of the website, then you need to ask your developer to make sure that you have administrator permissions.
4. You are on a Multi Site Network
Another possible reason as to why you can’t see the plugins menu in WordPress could be that your site is part of a WordPress multi-site network, and the network admin has disabled the plugins menu item on network sites.
It is pretty much the same scenario as WordPress.com. The network admins need to consider the server stability, WordPress security, and load balancing issues. To solve this problem, you can ask your network administrator to install plugins for you.
For more on this topic, see our guide on why do you not see all plugins on WordPress multisite installs
We hope this article helped you learn why you can’t add or install plugins in WordPress. You may also want to see our list of must have WordPress plugins for your website.
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I am trying to install a plug-in on a website that a company designed for me but I don’t have the plugin option in my administrator menu (made sure I was an admin not just a editor). My admin bar is also Red with “PRODUCTION SERVER” next to my name. Are these too related? How to I add plug-ins if I don’t have the the plug-in tab?
I am using InstantWP Named automated wordpress local server.If i buy my hosting service can i shift my blog from instant vp to that hosting server of GoDaddy
Hi Nalin,
Yes it can be.
Hi,
on wordpress website i am able to see pulgin menu, however as i hover mouse pointer over it not displaying option menu of add new
please help me! i’m a admin on my website but i can’t see any plugins on plugin dashboard, in my hostin, it still no problem??
Hello,
You may not have an admin account or someone you hired to work on your website has disabled your access to plugins area. Sometimes developers do this to make sure that their customers don’t accidentally break their websites.
How do I go about fixing this myself assuming the original developer is no longer around?
I tried adding the plug in contact form 7 add-on now I get a white a screen after activating or trying to activate. I cannot go to my dashboard or anything in word press now. When trying to FTP in to deactivate plugin I am not sure what login and password to use. Can you please help me? I don’t want to lose my whole website I created because I cant get in now.
Hi,
I am having an e-commerce website, unfortunately, I am having a theme which came with a premium plugin which I have purchased. their plugin section is available but widget section is not available how can I put google translate code into that theme where should use that code in the theme files?
I hope to get an answer here.
thanks in advance for your support.
Kamal
Hello.I have the same issue of can not add new plugin in wordpress plugin panel.
1. No “add new” plugin options
2.No “trash” plugin options
3.Other issue is I can not find the “editor” in appearance panel
Would you like to let me know how can i fix this?
I have same issues, it also can’t update existing plugins, because the link is gone. Have got the solutions?
Hi. I purchased the Divi theme and plug in file. The theme uploaded fine but when I go to upload the plug in file it fails. Anything I can do? Thank you for your support on this matter.
Hi Jacqueline,
You can try installing plugin via FTP.
Hello,
Thank you for sharing such a valuable info.
Maybe this’s a bit off topic question.
I’m having a small issue at the moment with adding a new submenu page.
So basically I got an Astra Theme (not a pro version) with Beaver Builder.
I add the page as usual then add to the menu under sub-item, all looks good.
But when I click on the sub menu page it doesn’t take me there. It basically takes me to a home page.
What could be an issue? Could you help me please?
Thank you
Thanks a lot! Your article helped me
I cannot activated and install my plugin.
Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_FUNCTION, expecting ‘)’ in E:\AppServ\www\shopify\wp-content\plugins\ninja-fb-private-reply\src\Facebook\autoload.php on line 45
please help me fix this .
Hi, I cant log on to my wordpress account. It says “ERROR: There is no user registered with that email address.” I know for a fact that that is the correct email address associated with the account.. Please help!!! I dont have any of the other information required to reset the account (such as transaction ID) HELP!!!!
should I switch to wix or weebly? this is stupid. I have to sit here for hours googling to not be able to do the stupidest simplest things. I don’t want to learn wordpress I just want a simple ecommerce site that wont be like a college course to get set up.
M
I’m getting this message while installing the plugins.
An unexpected error occurred. Something may be wrong with WordPress.org or this server’s configuration. If you continue to have problems, please try the support forums.
How to solve please help
I had this message when trying to upload a plugin:
POST Content-Length of 11688443 bytes exceeds the limit of 8388608 bytes in Unknown on line 0
Hi Yeboah,
You need to increase the maximum file upload size.
Hi! Wanted to ask you guyz two things: You guyz run this website on WordPress, right? Which theme do you use? And like YEBOAH MARTIN said, I was facing the same error when I tried to create a video streaming site and uploaded videos. I did increase the file size limit to 977 GB! And I am sure that it isn’t the storage, as my hosting provider has made unlimited disk storage available! (Cuz I created that hosting service!)
Hey Tabish,
We use a custom made WordPress theme. As for videos, please see our guide on why you should never upload videos to WordPress.
Hi,
I have migrated my blog yesterday. All the things are good but the error in the plugin. I have deleted all the plugins. After then, while i am starting to install the plugin, then No, any plugin is adding..
While adding….
Messages lke this…
Could not create directory. /home/danfeh5/public_html/example.com/wp-content/plugins/boombox-theme-extensions
Hey Jitendra,
It seems like your WordPress directory permissions are incorrect. Please see our guide on how to fix file and folder permissions error in WordPress
Hi.Why is it my comment section is closed?Even if i downloaded comment plugin it seems nothing changed
Hi Angelo,
If comments are closed on all your articles, then go to Settings » Discussion page inside WordPress admin area and check the box next to ‘Allow people to post comments on new articles’ option. Any new article you now add will have comments enabled by default.
For your older article you will have to edit them and then on the post edit screen click on the Screen Options button at the top right corner of the screen. Check the box next to Discussion option. Now scroll down below the post editing area and you will see a Discussion meta box where you need to check the option ‘Allow Comment’ option.
Hi I got this when trying to install jetpack and its not on my list of plugins and I am not sure what to do Installing Plugin from uploaded file: jetpack.4.9.zip
Unpacking the package…
Installing the plugin…
Destination folder already exists. /home/content/p3pnexwpnas02_data01/46/2075146/html/wp-content/plugins/jetpack/
Plugin install failed.
Return to Plugin Installer
Hey Lisa,
Your website already has a folder called jetpack. You need to connect to your website using an FTP client or File manager in Cpanel and delete that folder to install the plugin from the zip file.
Hi, I can see and add plugins in “my” installation (its not a multisite) of wordpress but suddenly there’s no option for activate/delete under the plugin name, but I still can do this trough the bulk actions option… did someone know why this happens?
Hi Why none of WP Plugins are installing in my WP Dashboard please Help me
I was added as ‘admin’ in a multisite WordPress so I couldn’t see the Plugins. Asked for the ‘network admin’ to enable Plugins in ‘Network Configurations’ but looks like that just allows me to see the Plugins, still not able to install new plugins.
Hey Rafael,
The network admin or super admin can allow individual site admins to activate or deactivate plugins on their own.
Thank you for the reply, I got it now. It just wasn’t clear, I see now that only the network admin can install new plugins.
awesome man: define(‘WP_MEMORY_LIMIT’, ’64M’);
this solved my problem after a migration from local to production
thank you so much!
i have installed wordpress on pc with xampp. when i install ULTIMATE MEMBER plugin it shows an error and when i upload the plugin it shows the memory limit problem..
i have already added that line you mentioned i.e.
define(‘WP_MEMORY_LIMIT’, ’64M’);
and also i have changed a line in php.ini file in xampp
; Maximum allowed size for uploaded files.
upload_max_filesize=3000M
nothing is working .. please help me ..
Thanks!!
Can’t add or delete plugins in WordPress
I have wordpress.com/wp-admin.. I have admin rights and i still have no options for adding new plugins. Any suggestions?
Please see our guide on the difference between self hosted WordPress.org vs free WordPress.com blog.
if i Host my wordpress.com site on Hostgator or go daddy then it is possible to upload themes or plugins
Hi Ali,
No you cannot host your WordPress.com site anywhere else. You will need to use self hosted WordPress.org.
Hi,
If I buy a domain from wordpress.COM will it let me download and install plugins like adsense?
Thanks!
No it will not. You will also be unable to use Adsense. Please see our guide on the difference between self hosted WordPress.org vs free WordPress.com blog.
I get the following message when I try to download any plugins:
Downloading install package from ….
Download failed. Could not open handle for fopen() to /home/content/95/9132095/tmp/seo-wizard-BrHIzr.tmp
This error could occur due to incorrect file permissions.
I was sure I had a wordpress.com site, but I have access to plugins like Jetpack and Discuz. Has this changed since this article was published, or do I have WordPress.org?
I am trying to get rid of dates on my wordpress blog but everywhere I look seems to be suggesting downloading a plug-in but from your post we are not able to install plug-ins…. So does this mean we are not able to delete dates in regular wordpress.com?
Please see our guide on the difference between self hosted WordPress.org vs free WordPress.com blog.
hi i have this warning when i want to install plugin or them that is happended to me when i moved wordpress from loaclhost to livesite
Downloading install package from
Warning: unlink(/home/fanousmd/public_html//home/fanousmd/public_html/tmp/contact-form-builder.1.0.39-iYKOjV.tmp): No such file or directory in /home/fanousmd/public_html/wp-admin/includes/file.php on line 481
Download failed. Destination directory for file streaming does not exist or is not writable.
Return to Plugin Installer
Is there a way to add a booking calendar to a wordpress.com site considering it does not take plugins. Is there a non-plugin option? What are the options other than switching?
I have managed to solve my problem by deleting the entire MYSQL database and starting over from scratch.
what if I use xampp for local hosting? can this work to add plugins?
Yes please check our guide on how to install WordPress on your computer using Wamp. However, the site on your local server will be only visible to you.
This really ruins the WordPress experience for me. All I wanted was to be able to write my own meta descriptions and now I’m told I have to pay even more to do just that? For goodness’ sake.
if you are using WordPress.com, then yes you can not install plugins or modify themes on your own. However, using a self-hosted WordPress site you can make all these changes using free plugins and themes.
I was having this problem yesterday. I wanted to install the Gravity Forms Directory plugin, which I did and activated. Yet, I couldn’t find it within my dashboard and even following the plugin directions, was not able to follow. My only conclusion is that I need to actually purchase Gravity Form in order to install and use the G.F. directory plugin.?
Yes, you have to purchase GF first.
One more (happened to me today):
I forgot that I wrote this on wp-config:
define(‘DISALLOW_FILE_MODS’,true);
That will disable plugins install, updates…
I had one site of mine that had the issue of no option for adding or updating plugins. For some reason define(‘DISALLOW_FILE_MODS’,true); was in my wp-config file.
Once I deleted that line, my plugin options were restored. It took me a while to find this solution. I hope this helps people find this solution.