Plugins are life saviors. They add the much needed advanced functionality to a website.
There are plugins available for almost everything in WordPress. As a result, users tend to use those plugins whenever they face some trouble.
But, everything has its pros and cons.
Many plugins can significantly impact the performance of your website. Often you hear questions like, “Will it slow down my website if I install too many plugins?”
It is to answer such questions that we have tailored for you. It includes everything you need to know about plugins and how you can make the most out of WordPress plugins. Keep reading to learn more.
What happens if you install too many plugins?
If you’re using plugins, the first and foremost thing to check is your website’s speed.
As per Neil Patel, 40% of visitors leave sites that take more than 3 seconds to load. And guess what:
Plugins can escalate the loading time of your website, causing your website to slow down. So, it is essential to keep track of the number of plugins you use on your website.
However, speed is not the only side effect of plugins. Sometimes, plugins from suspicious sources can cause problems of the security breach. Cases of crashing websites and lack of reliable services are reported time and again.
Security Issues
Security is and has always been the most crucial element of a business website.
All the hard work you put in a website can go to waste if your website is vulnerable to security threats. Your website becomes prone to hackers.
Problems occur when malicious scripts are embedded in the code of a plugin. So, whenever you install or run the plugin, all your crucial data can be hacked easily.
Outdated plugins are another threat to your website. Thus, it is essential to check if the plugin is updated frequently or not.
Unfortunately, if your website gets hacked, it can harm a brand’s reputation. So, just like any other software, you need to check details about the plugin before you use it.
Reliability issues
WordPress is an Open source project. This means anyone can use, change, and contribute to the project. But, at the same time, it also makes WordPress susceptible and raises reliability concerns.
Since most of the plugins are free, users might download the faulty plugin. Some plugins are poorly coded, causing the site to crash as well. Thus, reliability is a major concern while looking for a plugin.
Do not use plugins that come from unreliable sources. You can face issues with even the best popular WordPress plugins.
Speed and Performance
There are many tools that you can use to test the speed of your website. The amount of code it needs to load generally determines the website loading time.
When you use too many plugins, it can affect the website’s performance as more plugins consume more computing power and data. So, the fewer the codes, the better it is for the speed and performance of your website.
Besides that, there are other methods you can use to speed up your WordPress site. Here’s an ultimate guide to speed up WordPress. If you want to know more, make sure you go through the article thoroughly.
How many plugins are too many?
The number of plugins used in a website differs from website to website and users to users. Though there is no fixed number, it is always good to keep your plugin count in check.
You can decide how many plugins you want to use depending on the type of hosting you use for your website. For budgeted cloud-based hosting, you can use 1-5 plugins for a single website. Likewise, for dedicated server hosting or other premium packages of cloud hosting, you can use 5-20 plugins without any hassle.
There’s no strict rule for adding plugins to your website. But one thing is for sure. You need to constantly regularly and update your website if you want to get the best out of WordPress plugins.
Here’s what you can do to manage plugins in your WordPress site.
How to manage plugins in your WordPress site?
Plugins are essential for adding functionalities to your website. At the same time, using way too many plugins can impact your websites’ speed and performance. Follow the steps below to manage your plugins properly:
Use plugins only when necessary
For small websites, a few plugins can work together well to fulfill user needs. However, for a large website, you’ll need to manage your plugins efficiently.
Firstly, avoid using plugins that serve no purpose for you. Yes, thousands of plugins available, but it doesn’t mean you need to get them all. For example, Google Analytics may or may not be useful all the time. You can download such plugins only when you need it, use it and then uninstall it again.
Before installing a new plugin, do not forget to check it properly. Likewise, you can also keep your website efficient by only using essential plugins.
Frequent updating
Most of the WordPress approved plugins come with frequent updates. These updates are necessary to fix bugs in the older versions.
If not updated, these bugs can become a security threat to the website. So, check for updates frequently and update your site regularly as well.
To get the best out of the plugin and your website, you need to update your WordPress site.
Check source and disable inactive plugins
Whenever you install a plugin for your website, always check if the plugin is from a reliable source. If the source is unreliable, the plugin may have codes that are vulnerable to attacks. Hackers can easily attack and access your website.
Also, if your site has plugins that are not being used/inactive, it is best to uninstall them. An inactive plugin takes up resources and is a medium for hackers to connect to your website.
While looking for plugins, check when the plugin was updated. If it has not been updated for over a year, look for other options.
Conclusion
Plugins are an inseparable part of WordPress. But, having too many plugins is a problem as well. If your site is large, we suggest you use 20 plugins at max. If it is a small website, use no more than 5 plugins. You have to know what kind of plugins are required for your site. So, for your ease, we have listed the Best WordPress Plugins for Blogs. This way, your website performs better and is safe.
Follow the instructions above, and you won’t face any problem with website lagging and such. If you’re wondering how many plugins are too many, we hope you found answers to your questions in the article below. Please let us know how helpful it was in the comment section below.
