What’s one one more plugin…

Plugins are a wonderful part of the WordPress ecosystem.

They enhance the functionality of WordPress by letting you add complex features in minutes, avoid reinventing the wheel, and dramatically cut down development time.

But there’s a caveat.

With more plugins, especially poorly coded ones, comes a drag on performance and increased security risks.

The drag on performance

Performance issues rarely come from just one plugin. But if you stack up a load of redundant, under-used plugins, you’ve got yourself a cost on the speed & performance.

Plugins, by their very nature, add additional code to your application. That code needs to be parsed and rendered accordingly. Even lightweight plugins add extra bloat and processing time. That’s everything from extra database queries to run, more scripts and styles to load and additional processes.

Too many plugins is one of the biggest causes of slow sites that we see. That and un-optimised media and a lack of caching.

Basically, the more code WordPress has to execute, the slower it gets.

The increased risk

More plugins, as mentioned above, adds more code that could contain vulnerabilities.

You’re also increasing the number of authors you trust by running their code on your website. And in some cases, especially where plugins may seem abandoned, the authors may not respond quickly enough or at all, when security issues are found.

Further to this, you have individual craftsmanship…

Not all plugins are created equal.

Some are rock-solid and professionally maintained. Others look like they were written at 3am during a caffeine crash and never touched again.

So many plugs and plug extensions plugged into a wall socket – look familiar?

What can you do about it?

1. Audit your plugins regularly

Every quarter, biannually or every year, ask yourself:

• Do we still need this?
• Is any functionality duplicated across our plugins?
• Are there better alternatives?

2. Replace multiple small plugins with one well-built one

One solid form builder beats five micro-plugins that all do different bits of the job.

3. Stick to reputable developers

Premium doesn’t mean perfect, but it usually means maintained.

Check:

• Update frequency
• Active installs
• Reviews
• Changelog activity

If it looks abandoned, treat it as such.

4. Use custom code when it’s lighter

A simple snippet is often faster than a full plugin.

Just make sure you actually know what you’re doing or get an expert involved – it’s not wise to blindly copy and paste off the internet.

5. Keep WordPress, plugins, and PHP up-to-date

Many of WordPress’ security issues stem from people not updating things.

You’ll often find speed & performance boosts come packaged in with updates.

6. Avoid “mega plugins” where possible

Page builders, multipurpose frameworks, bloated toolkits; while great for beginners, not ideal for performance-critical sites.

Final Thoughts

Plugins are brilliant, they’re one of the reasons WordPress powers so much of the web.

But a smart site uses the right plugins, not all the plugins.

A lean, well-chosen stack will always outperform a bloated one, and it’ll be far safer too.

Get in touch if you need a spring clean of your website or just some plugin advice in general.