Dave McCourt thinks some thoughts...

Here is my list of plugins I install on every site:

Utility

• Admin Menu Editor
  Great for simplifying the WordPress Admin menu
• Advanced Custom Fields
  Simply the most useful plugin for WordPress development
• Google Analytics Dashboard for WP
  Adds Google Analytics to the WP dashboard
• Force Regenerate Thumbnails
  Re-makes all images if I need to tweak or add an image size
• Insamity
  Automatically resized large uploaded images to be more manageable
• Redirection
  Manages URL redirects for short URLs, 301s and 404s
• WP No Category Base
  Removes the /category/ part from URLs
• WP Remote
  Monitor and update multiple WordPress installs
• WP Super Cache
  Simple but fast caching plugin

Theme

• Category Template Hierarchy
  Adds the ability to have additional category templates (parent-category.php etc)

 SEO

• Yoast SEO
  The definitive WordPress SEO plugin

Security

• Activity Log
  Logs site activity
• Clef
  Essential two factor authentication (TFA or 2FA) app
• WordFence
  Malware scan and basic security monitoring