Time is of the essence. Fortunately, there is a way to keep you from wasting valuable time and energy on installing WordPress plugins one-by-one in several websites—it is possible to do a bulk install, even pre-configured and ready to go.
Just to make things clear, plugins are only available on self-hosted sites running software from WordPress.org, and not on WordPress.com sites. This is due to “various security reasons,” according to WordPress documentation, and also because the most common plugin functions are already integrated into WordPress.com.
Favorites
In order to quickly install your most-used WordPress plugins, you can favorite all of your desired plugins on WordPress.org so they are easily visible in your profile, then install them one-by-one. However, it will not be possible to favorite plugins not hosted on WordPress.org.
WP Install Profiles
Another method is to first install one plugin—the WP Install Profiles plugin.
The WP Install Profiles plugin, as its name implies, creates customized installation profiles or downloads ready-made ones for you to use in your WordPress website. Using this plugin, you can choose several WordPress.org plugins then install them in bulk with one click.
WPCore
Another option is WPCore, a plugin which creates collections you can upload instantly to any WordPress site. After creating a free account, you can build a plugin collection on the WPCore website. You should then install WPCore as a plugin.
After some configuration and tweaking, WPCore will pull in all the plugins included in your collection to your site.
WP Favs
The WP Favs plugin is a bulk plugin installation and activation tool that lets you import plugin lists from wpfavs.com, or lets you get your favorites from WordPress.org.
In order to use this plugin, you have to register an account at the WP Favs website, then create your own lists or browse lists that others have created. This plugin is very similar to WPCore.
Multi Plugin Installer
The Multi Plugin Installer is a plugin that allows the installation of plugins saved on your computer, or downloaded from the WordPress.org site.
Once the plugin is installed in your website, it can be used to install plugins in bulk or save a list of these plugins for later use.
Upload plugins from GitHub, themes
WProller is a plugin that allows you to update the WordPress core, add plugins not only from WordPress.org, but also from GitHub, upload themes in addition to your own plugins, and create and save installation profiles.
WProller is so named because after selecting your desired plugins and themes, among others, it rolls everything up into a single installation zip file. It also allows you to customize settings such as the title of your WordPress site, the site description, and timezone, and lets you remove the “Hello Post” and “About Page,” among others.
Desktop Server
The Desktop Server plugin allows for the creation of WordPress development environments. If you purchase the commercial version, there is a “Blueprints” feature which would allow developers to automate WordPress configurations.
These blueprints will allow you to configure themes, plugins and settings that can be used repeatedly in several websites.