Installing a WordPress plugin by uploading a zip file through your site’s admin area

If you need to install a plugin that is commercial, or otherwise not available on the official WordPress.org plugin repository, you won’t be able to grab the files directly from your site’s admin panel.

When you buy a commercial plugin, they will provide a compressed .zip file which contains all the necessary plugin files

You can upload this zip file through your WordPress site’s admin area.

Nagitate to Plugins → Add New

After logging in to your WordPress admin area, navigate to the same Plugins → Add New page you would if you wanted to install a WordPress.org plugin directly.

Instead of searching, click the “Upload Plugin” button at the top of the page.

Upload the plugin zip file

On this page, you’ll be prompted to upload a zip file.

You can get to this page directly by navigating to the following URL: http://example.com/wp-admin/plugin-install.php?tab=upload …replacing with your own site URL.

From here, simply locate the .zip file stored on your computer, select, and upload.

After uploading successfully, you’ll have the opportunity to activate the plugin.

Voila! You have now installed a WordPress plugin via zip upload.

A note about security

Plugins hosted on WordPress.org are monitored for security. If there is a malicious plugin hosted there, it won’t last long.

In some cases, WordPress.org has the ability to apply security fixes to affected for vulnerable plugins automatically.

When you upload a plugin from an unknown author, you won’t may not have these luxury. Be wary of third-party plugins and make sure you’re getting them from a reputable source.

Plugins can do pretty much whatever they want, including send mail (think spammers), so it’s important to avoid plugins from sketchy sources.

If in doubt, feel free to contact our support team . We’re very familiar with commercial plugin authors and can let you know if the plugin you’d like to use it good or bad.