Custom WordPress plugins
Customized WordPress plugins for specific processes, better performance and stronger security. Includes free Altena Mail.
A custom plugin when standard options fall short.
Sometimes a standard WordPress plugin is too heavy, too limited or too dependent on external parties. Then we build our own plugin that does exactly what is needed: safe, fast and without unnecessary ballast.
For general functionality such as SEO, caching or basic e-commerce, marketplace plugins are usually fine. However, once a business process becomes specific, a link to its own systems is needed, or performance or security requirements go beyond what a one-size fit-all solution provides, then the work that Altena is good at begins.
Each plugin is set up as an independent module that can run in any WordPress installation. No hard assumptions about theme or other plugins, no hidden calls to external servers, and always activate or deactivate without making the site unusable.
What a custom WordPress plugin can solve.
The situations below are common, and are the direct reason not to use a marketplace plugin, but to build one that fits exactly.
Accounting or CRM link
WordPress orders, contact requests or leads that automatically land in the company’s accounting package or CRM, including VAT rules, customer matching and error handling.
Customized contact form
No Contact Form 7 with thirty add-ons, but one light plugin that has exactly the fields, validation and workflow that the organization needs, with its own spam protection.
Customer portal inside WordPress
A protected environment where customers can view invoices, project status, documents or work certificates with roles, permissions and their own interface within WP-admin.
Reservation or booking system
Availability, calendar links, payments and guest management in one plugin. Suitable for courses, rooms, materials or services.
Product configurator
Step-by-step products compose with dependencies, price calculation and output to quote or order, completely within WordPress, without external configurator tool.
Automatic reporting
Periodic email reports with numbers from the site, linked systems or external APIs. Directly in the inbox of the right people, at the right moments.
External API link
Bidirectional synchronization between WordPress and an external system (ERP, vendor portal, warehouse software or marketing platform), with retry logic and clear logging.
Internal dashboards
Specific statistics or KPIs visible within WP admin for the team. No expensive BI tool, no loose web app: where users already are.
Purpose-built plugins can also support your visibility in Google.
In addition to functional profit, own plugins also provide faster loading times, and thus higher ranking in search results.
A standard contact form plugin often loads 50 to 200 KB to JavaScript on any page of the site, even where there is no form.
Generic plugins often add more JavaScript, CSS and database queries than strictly necessary, and each additional script takes loading time, and thus position in search results. Own plugins are written with only the code that the site really needs, and load assets only when they are actually used.
The Altena Mail plugin below is a concrete example: it only loads assets on pages where the shortcode is present, and the total footprint remains below 10 KB. A heavy form package from the marketplace is 5 to 20 times larger than.
Altena SEO: a complete, stand-alone SEO plugin for WordPress.
Complete replacement or smart addition to Yoast. Provides everything a site needs: title tags, meta-descriptions, Open Graph, Twitter cards, canonical URLs, XML sitemap, robots.txt and schedule.org JSON-LD, plus Premium-like features such as IndexNow, an SEO health check, stable-content scanner, redirect-manager and per-page social previews.
Altena SEO
Stand-alone SEO plugin with automatic migration from Yoast. Lightweight, no tracking, and with extensive Dutch manual built into the admin.
SEO base
- Per Page Titles & Descriptions
- Open Graph + Twitter cards
- Canonical URLs + noindex
- XML sitemap + robots. txt
- Schema.org JSON-LD graph
Premium features
- IndexNowBing & Yandex)
- Redirect Manager with UI
- SEO health check
- Steel Content Scanner
- Per Page OG Image
Migration
- Auto import from Yoast
- Title, desc, focus kw
- Canonical & Noindex
- Seamless Switch
- Yoast can be disabled
Altena Mail: example of how we build plugins.
This plugin is an example of how Altena builds custom: lightweight, safe, without tracking and without unnecessary external dependencies. Free to download and use on own WordPress sites.
Altena Mail
Your own contact form and SMTP routing in one plugin. Multi-layer spam protection, adjustable via your own admin menu, and without external dependencies.
Contact form
- Short code
Send a message
Briefly tell us what you would like to discuss.
- Entries stored in WP-admin
- Fully adjustable notification texts
- Confirmation email to sender
- GDPR Consent built in
Spam Security
- WP Nonce (CSRF)
- Honeypot Field
- Time-trap (minimum time)
- Rate Limiting per IP
- Origin/Referer Check
- Heuristic spam detection
SMTP
- SSL, STARTTLS or plain
- Password Encrypted in DB (AES-256)
- Own From address and name
- Test mail button in admin
Under the hood.
The technical principles on which each Altena plugin is built. For those who want to know why a plugin stays light and safe.
Object-oriented PHP
Strict types, clear responsibilities by class and a structure that is tested. No 2000-line-long functions or global variables.
WordPress Native
Use of the Settings API, Custom Post Types, REST API, transients and hooks as it is intended. Do not find out your own wheel that WordPress already has a mechanism for.
Safe
Nonces for CSRF, capability checks on everything, sanitization on input, escape on output. No SQL injection, no XSS, no unsafe file operations.
Memory-efficient
Assets load only where necessary, queries are limited, and transients/cache are deployed where appropriate. No overhead on pages that the plugin does not use.
Translatable
Text-domain and strings ready for internationalization. Ready to roll out in multiple languages without having to touch code.
No vendor lock-in
Ownership of the code lies with the client, provided including documentation. No dependence on licenses that may subsequently disappear or become more expensive.
Need functionality or an integration that a marketplace plugin cannot provide?
For your own plugin development process, after a short acquaintance, a concrete assessment of scope, lead time and costs follows. Passing times for a first working version are usually between two and eight weeks.