Plugin

A plug-in (or plugin, add-in, addin, add-on, or addon) is a seperate software component that adds a specific feature to an existing platform.

One of the most common plug-ins are the huge range (more than 40,000) of third party plug-ins available for Wordpress software where developers can search from a database and then connect the most relevant tools to a website.

Plug-ins are become more and more popular due to the ability to find and connect multiple pieces of software into one product without to need to build custom software. Whilst software plug-ins are handy, the main issue for developers in ongoing maintain as updates are often required to be done on a regular basis as third parties update their tools.