Top 14 ExpressionEngine Add-Ons You Need To Get Your Hands On Right Now!
The popularity of Expression Engine (EE) has snowballed since its FOSS or Free and Open Source announcement. It
continues to stand at par with all the other CMS available in the market, including WordPress, Joomla, Drupal,
Magento, etc.
The best part about this platform is that it offers more than just content sharing and viewing tools. Which
makes it more than a mere blogging tool. If you are thinking of using this CMS or are already using it, you
must consider the installation of add-ons. With their latest version rolled out, installing compatible add-ons
can help you make the most of it.
This detailed blog post will discuss some of the top EE addons you can
try. So, let’s get started with our today’s discussion without any delay.
First Things First, What Is ExpressionEngine?
ExpressionEngine, or EE, is a modular and commercial CMS developed by EllisLab. It is available in both standard
and core and is typically well-suited for small static and dynamic content-heavy websites.
Like many CMS platforms, Expression
Engine makes it easy for site administrators to manage their websites as they do not need to use or
understand complex codes. However, this platform also has advanced features, making it incredibly useful for
practiced designers and developers.
EE Features
Some critical features of EE include the following:
- A wide diversity of modules and plug-ins.
- Templates that assist administrators in creating dynamic sites without any experience in coding.
- Traffic statistics.
- Data caching helps in decreasing server load without sacrificing content.
- User comment system with spam detection feature.
- Search engine and query tools.
- Managed mailing lists.
Key Features Of EE6 |
Key Features Of EE7 |
|---|---|
| Old Version | Latest Version | Jump menu | Entry cloning and Front-end editing |
| Member roles | Control panel branding |
| Redesigned control pane | Cookie management, along with lifetime overrides |
| Color picker field type with numerous field options. | Multi-factor authentication |
| New member template tags | The capability to create custom dashboards upon login |
ZealousWeb’s ExpressionEngine Add-Ons
The good news is that most of ZealousWeb’s EE add-ons support ExpressionEngine Version 7. Here is a list of the 14 EE add-ons by ZealousWeb that your website needs to stand out from your competitors.
Add-Ons That Support EE Version 7
1. Alpha Color Picker Field
ZealousWeb’s Alpha Color Picker Field add-on tops this chart because of its unparalleled user-friendliness and compatibility with channel entry, Fluid, Grid, and Relationship fields. This extension is popular for its valuable output in RGB, HEX, and RGBA values.
It supports ExpressionEngine V7, so you do not have to worry if you are using EE Version 7. Additionally, it also supports EE4, EE5, and EE6.
Key Features
- This add-on is compatible with Channel Forms, Grid Field, Fluid, and Relationship Field.
- Users can easily choose a color from the color picker or directly write code in the field with # as the prefix.
- Users also get the option to adjust the Alpha value of the RGB or RGBA color.
2. Smart Import Export
Another remarkable EE extension is ZealousWeb’s Smart Import Export. This add-on possesses user-friendly modules that can easily import and export channel data in XML, JSON, and CSV formats. It is compatible with EE7, EE6, EE5, EE4 and EE3.
Key Features
- This extension is easy to use and install.
- It can handle large entries while importing and exporting.
- It imports and exports channel entries without writing channel-wise queries.
- It offers support to MSM sites.
- It supports 3rd party field types such as Tags, Smart Members Field, WYGWAM, and Assets.
- It also supports all default field types for export.
- This add-on lets users Map data values to a channel’s fields when exporting.
- It allows the user to select the custom fields while importing and exporting.
- It imports and exports all the primary data like URL title, Channel title, Author, Entry date, Categories, Status, etc.
- It facilitates the filtering of entries by their Status for Export.
3. Smart Number Field
Another EE field type extension that lets users work with numbers quickly is the Smart Number field which is also ExpressionEngine Version 7 compatible. It does not allow any characters and receives the text input field with only numbers. Again, there are many third-party add-ons with which the Smart Number Field module is compatible.
Key Features
- This add-on is compatible with Channel Forms.
- It is compatible with the Fluid and Relationship field.
- It is also compatible with the Grid field.
4. Smart Compress
The Smart Compress module by ZealousWeb offers unique user-friendly characteristics. This add-on allows users to format and compress the data stored on ExpressionEngine in JS and CSS files. It lets you compress all CSS and JS files used on the front end.
This extension reduces the hassle of uploading and compressing individual files and considerably decreases loading time. It is compatible with EE7, EE6, EE5, EE4, and EE3.
Key Features
- This extension is straightforward to use and install.
- It supports SCSS and LESS files.
- It allows you to create a cache for a particular time duration.
- It lets you Beautify or Minify js files and incorporate as many files as you wish in a single list.
- Availability of several CSS formatters, which include Crunched, Compressed, Compact, Nested and Expanded. All of these allow CSS file formatting.
5. Smart Members Field
The Smart Members Field EE is another popular extension by ZealousWeb that is EE4, EE5, EE6, and EE7 compatible. An augmented field type, this add-on enables users to relate to the members in a similar manner they have related to the entries.
Key Features
- This extension allows you to manually select what you wish to list in the create or edit entry page field.
- It allows you to search among the members to relate to them.
- It offers support to FLUID and GRID field types.
- This add-on facilitates populating any member’s normal or custom member field info by allowing a custom field in the front end.
- It possesses easy front-end codes that one can use for populating data.
6. Smart Members Pro
The Smart Members Pro add-on offers a user-friendly environment. It is a membership EE extension launched by ZealousWeb, typically used for all member profile views, modifications, or additions.
Also, it comes with a wide diversity of easy methods, so you can use these to enhance the add-on quality. And the best part is that it is also compatible with EE7 and EE2, EE4, EE5, and EE6.
Key Features
- This extension allows you to import and export Members.
- It possesses Member custom fields
- The Social Login option is also there.
7. Zeal Color Picker Field
Compatible with EE7, the Zeal color picker field is another easy-to-use EE extension by ZealousWeb. It lets you extract color code information, including HTML and CSS color codes and color models (CMYK, HSV, HSL, and RGB).
This fantastic add-on is compatible with channel entry, Grid and Fluid, and Relationship Fields. It is also known for offering valuable output in HEX values.
Key Features
- This add-on is compatible with Channel Forms and Grid fields.
- One can choose a color from the color picker or directly write color code in the field with a # prefix.
8. Smart Google Analytics
Smart Google Analytics is an EE extension that provides access to a large amount of data on how users locate and establish interaction with your site. You can effortlessly carry out several things with the aid of this add-on.
For example, you can view how many individuals have visited a specific page, how much time they have spent there, and other details. It is compatible with EE version 7.
Key Features
- This extension allows you to generate multiple views or edit the ones already there.
- It comes with options that you can use to remove needless views.
- You will see many charts on the Analytics Dashboard Page, especially with Widgets.
- It supports Google Analytics 4 reports.
9. Smart Social Feed
Smart Social Feed add-on allows users to receive updates and feeds from social media platforms. One can use this to receive feeds from social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, and Vimeo.
This extension is compatible with EE7 and offers a user-friendly interface. It comes with easy-to-use methods which are meant to provide convenience to the users.
Key Features
- This plug-in offers Facebook updates of the corresponding pages promptly.
- It updates you with all the tweets for a given Twitter account.
- Users can again stay updated with Instagram posts by utilizing the Smart social feed extension.
- It also offers updates and feeds related to the user’s YouTube channel.
- It assists in fetching videos or feeds for a given channel or user ID.
10. Smart SEO
Compatible with EE4, EE5, EE6, and EE7, Smart SEO is a remarkable EE extension launched to ease the day-to-day SEO activities of Expression Engine. Users can add boundless SEO fields per their requirements by utilizing this add-on’s features.
Key Features
- Breadcrumbs and General Site Settings options are available in this extension.
- It possesses custom dynamic SEO fields.
- It facilitates social connectivity for the schema.
11. Smart Export PRO
Smart Export PRO module is a powerful EE add-on by ZealousWeb which facilitates data export from 3rd party field types and default field types. It is the evolved version of the Smart Export module and is compatible with EE version 7.
Key Features
- It supports Grid fields and Relationships fields present inside Grid fields to export.
- It offers support to Fluid fields, especially for the EE4 version.
- It also supports Relationship fields for exporting and enables users to select the base of relationship entries for exporting, i.e., Entry ID, URL title, and Title.
- This extension supports Image export by its URL.
- It supports Grid fields present inside the Fluid field. Also, it supports all relationship fields that are present inside GRID.
- It is known for handling a considerable number of entries during exporting.
- It even supports Outside data of channel fields such as Pages, SEO Lite and Categories.
12. Smart Members Subscription PRO
Smart Members Subscription PRO add-on typically facilitates member profile modifications, views, or addition. Compatible with EE7, this extension offers users a user-friendly environment and provides easy-to-use methods, which boosts the add-on quality.
Key Features
- This extension allows you to import and export members.
- It comes with Member custom fields.
- The Social Login option is also available in this add-on.
13. Smart Channel Forms
Smart Channel Forms is another recognized EE Version 7 compatible add-on by ZealousWeb. It helps you to create forms for the channel without writing any complicated HTML codes.
Key Features
- Users can set url_title and dynamic titles from the custom field
- Users can easily disable or enable the form
- A simple template tag is sufficient for setting the form
- One can easily edit the form via. entry_id primarily through the URI segment
- It allows you to restrict channel edits for another user.
- It also lets you set the return URL.
Extension Supports EE Version 6
14. Zeal Stringer
The last name in our list is Zeal Stringer, which is free to install but does not currently support EE version 7. This add-on eases stripping out all the HTML tags from a string.
Key Features
- It aids in manipulating strings or text in many ways.
- This add-on allows you to swiftly access and modifies strings by employing PHP while not enabling PHP in templates.