Many non-techy people ask how many WordPress plugins can be installed on WordPress site. Some people say that installing too many plugins will affect website speed, performance and security.
In this article, I’m going to talk about the misconceptions about WordPress plugins and how plugins can and cannot affect your website.
How Do WordPress Plugins Work?
Before we talk about how many plugins are too many. Let’s take a look at how plugins actually work on WordPress website.
Plugins are like apps. They can add new features or functionality to your website. Plugins are written in the PHP programming language, just like WordPress itself. The PHP code will run on your website’s server and consume the server resources.
That means your web host plays an important role in ensuring your website runs efficiently with plugins. Do not use some cheap shared hosting plans. I personally recommend using WPX hosting, which is optimised for performance at an affordable price.
Why Are WordPress Plugins Essential?
The number of WordPress plugins available has grown to more than 50,000. It does not include thousands of premium plugins. That makes WordPress so powerful as for whatever function or feature you want to add to your website, you will likely find a plugin.
WordPress itself just provides a basic framework for publishing. Without plugins, your website is plain and dull.
Why Do People Think Plugins are Bad For Website Performance?
Plugins are the extension of WordPress to allow more functions to be built for the website. But many people are worried about performance, security, reliability issues caused by plugins.
Many people, including the web designers, developers, web hosts, advise users to have fewer plugins and blame the plugins for slow site speed.
However, the problem is how many WordPress plugins are too many?
Actually, the quantity of WordPress plugins is not the issue. It is the quality of plugins that matter. You can install dozens of well-coded WordPress plugins without any issues. But one poorly coded plugin alone can slow down your site.
When there are plugin conflicts, it’s true that websites with fewer plugins are easier to troubleshoot. You can identify the problem easier with fewer plugins.
However, it doesn’t mean having many plugins itself is not good. Instead, you should be careful of what plugin you install on your website. You should always do research about the plugin before installing it so that you can avoid some poorly coded plugins.
How Many WordPress Plugins Should You Install?
Most websites have at least 20-30 plugins. Some have more than 50 plugins as the website grows and needs more advanced features.
In my opinion, you can install as many WordPress plugins as you want, as long as it is necessary for your website or business.
You shouldn’t experience serious performance issues if you only choose high-quality plugins.
How to Choose the Best WordPress Plugin?
For free plugins, you can search on the WordPress.org plugin directory. By looking at a plugin’s rating and reviews, you can have an idea about the quality of the plugin. Also, you can see if the plugin is updated regularly and how many websites have installed it.
As for premium plugins, you can easily find a lot of reviews or testimonials by googling. I recommend doing some due diligence about the plugin company. Make sure to choose some reputable ones.
If you are just starting out and have no ideas about what plugins to install, you can browse my favourite plugins listed on the homepage. I’ve tested all these plugins and all work pretty well for me.
Conclusion
WordPress plugins are not harmful for your website. It’s very powerful for adding any functionalities you like for the website and helps you grow your business. Actually, it saves you a lot of money on hiring developers.
I hope this article helps you understand more about WordPress plugins. If you have any questions about WordPress plugins, feel free to leave a comment below and let’s discuss.