The 6 Best Opera Plugins of 2021

Transform Opera into your favorite browser with these six plugins

By
Susan J. Owens
Susan Owens
Susan J. Owens
Writer
  • Ohio State University
Former Lifewire writer Susan J. Owens is a tech writer focused on AI, blockchain, and virtual machines. Her work appears in InformationWeek, Entrepreneur, and Fast Company.
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Updated on January 4, 2021

Opera is a popular web browser developed by​ a Norwegian company called Opera Software AS. It's available to download for Windows, Mac, and Linux systems. Users enjoy Opera's clean look and fast web browsing experience, but adding excellent plugins takes Opera to new levels of efficiency and productivity. Here's a look at six essential plugins to consider.

01
of 06

Manage Passwords: LastPass

LastPass for Opera plugin
What We Like

  • Syncs data across mobile phones and computers.

  • Auto log-off options.

  • Info is encrypted and decrypted locally on your machine.

  • Stores credit card information.

What We Don't Like

  • To enable syncing across devices, as well as family sharing, you'll need to pay for Premium. 

LastPass is a password manager that creates one primary password, allowing you to log in to your favorite sites with one click. With an auto-fill feature, LastPass remembers your usernames, passwords, and other information for multiple accounts. 

02
of 06
Social Fixer for Opera plugin
What We Like

  • Create predefined filters to hide specific posts, including sponsored posts and political posts.

  • Make photos anonymous by hiding friend and group names. 

What We Don't Like

  • Still shows ads for suggested pages and people you might know.

  • Not available for mobile browsing.

This Opera plugin includes a feature called Stealth Mode to make it easy to scan Facebook quickly to catch up on the latest updates. Like buttons and comment areas are hidden, allowing you to quickly scroll through the News Feed. Without the ability to like, comment, or interact, you can quickly absorb the content you want.

03
of 06

Get a Virtual Gmail Assistant: Boomerang for Gmail

Boomerang for Gmail Opera Plugin
What We Like

  • Perfect for sending emails to people in different time zones. 

  • Postpone emails to appear at the specific time you're ready to respond. 

  • Set alerts when you don't receive a response to your email. 

  • Perfect for scheduling birthday emails. 

What We Don't Like

  • The Basic (free) version has a limit of 10 message credits per month. Boomerang counts each email that is scheduled and tracked toward the credits.

  • Read and Sent confirmations are added to the email thread and can make your inbox confusing to navigate.

If you want to know if and when your emails have been read, or schedule a specific email for a later date, try Boomerang for Gmail. Boomerang makes it possible to integrate email scheduling, reminders, and read notifications.

Boomerang comes with a free 30-day trial of Boomerang Pro, which includes unlimited message credits. No billing information is gathered during the free trial. After 30 days, if you don't choose to subscribe to one of the paid subscriptions, you can continue to use the free Basic plan.

Paid versions of Boomerang include:

  • Personal, which costs $4.99 per month, includes unlimited message credits.
  • Pro, which runs $14.99 per month, includes smart response with machine learning, inbox pause, and recurring messages.
  • Premium, which costs $49.99 per month, automatically Boomerangs every message and offers a slew of other features, including Salesforce integration.

Download the Android or iOS Boomerang app to extend its capabilities to your mobile devices. 

04
of 06

Keep Track of the Weather With a Click: Gismeteo

Gismeteo Opera Plugin
What We Like

  • Instantly see detailed weather conditions with a click on the icon to display a pop-up window. 

  • Shows hourly updates of the temperature forecast.

  • Global weather news is available in the news feed.

What We Don't Like

  • No way to minimize the icon on the Opera desktop to keep the temperature on top.

  • Navigation language is awkwardly translated from Russian.

  • Temperature defaults to Celsius.

The Gismeteo extension gives you instant access to your local current temperature as well as an hourly weather forecast. Select your city in the settings menu, and use search to find out what's happening in other cities. Gismeteo lets you customize features, including skins, icons, and language.

05
of 06

Create a Customized Firewall: uMatrix

screenshot showing how to configure uMatrix for Opera
​
What We Like

  • Shows how websites have collected information from your browsing history.

  • A single click allows you to whitelist or blacklist requests for data. 

What We Don't Like

  • This extension can be intimidating at first. It requires a learning curve. 


If you want to customize your privacy settings while browsing with Opera, take a look at uMatrix, a point-and-click matrix-based firewall. Once installed, uMatrix works in block-all mode but allows you to create exceptions. You decide what type of data can be downloaded. 

06
of 06

Use Your Favorite Chrome Extension in Opera: Install Chrome Extensions

Install Chrome Extensions Plugin for Opera
What We Like

  • Works quickly and seamlessly for any Chrome extension you can't live without.

What We Don't Like

  • The Opera plugin only works for extensions, not Chrome Themes. 

  • Not available for the mobile version of Opera. 

While the Opera extension library has quite a bit to offer, it doesn't have the variety of extensions available on Chrome. With Install Chrome Extensions, you can have your cake and eat it too. After you add this plugin, visit the Chrome Web Store while using the Opera Browser. When you find an extension you want to add, open it, and click the green button in the upper-right corner that says Add to Opera.

From the Chrome Web Store page, find your extension and click Install. You're redirected to the Chrome extension page, where you'll click Install again to add to Opera.

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