Finding & Installing QGIS Plugins
Because QGIS is opensource, individuals and groups can create and share plugins for specific purposes that other users can install and use. This tutorial walks through the process of finding and installing QGIS plugins.
Included in this tutorial:
Accessing the Plugins Window
Installing Plugins from Repository and ZIP File
View Installed Plugins
Software version in examples: QGIS-LTR 3.40.5-Bratislava
Credits: Sally Kaye and L. Meisterlin (2026)
Accessing the Plugins Window
To open the Plugins window, click through Plugins > Manage and Install Plugins on the Main Menu.
navigating to the plugins window
Installing Plugins
Option 1: Install from Repository
Most plugins that you will need can be found and installed from the QGIS repositories. In the side menu of the Plugins window, click Not Installed to view a complete list of available plugins. Scroll up and down to browse, or use the search bar to look up a specific plugin. You can view a brief description of a plugin’s functionality, as well as the plugin’s creator and upload date, by clicking on the name of the plugin in the list. When you have found the plugin you would like to install, click Install Plugin.
In the example below, we browse through a few plugins, then search for the NextGIS QuickMapServices plugin and install it. This common plugin is useful for accessing publicly available basemaps and web map services.
browsing through the plugin repository and installing a plugin
Option 2: Install from ZIP File
Although usually unnecessary, it is also possible to install plugins from a ZIP file. Plugin files can be searched and downloaded from plugins.qgis.org/plugins/ or provided by an external organization.
In the side menu of the Plugins window, click Install from ZIP then click the three dots button to the right of the text box to navigate files. Once you have selected the plugin ZIP, click Install Plugin.
installing a plugin from a ZIP file
View Installed Plugins
Click Installed to view all installed plugins; this includes a number of plugins that are automatically installed when QGIS is downloaded as well as any additional plugins you have installed. Here, we can see the plugin we installed in the last step.
viewing all installed plugins