WordPress plugins you actually need and those you don't

Don’t turn your WordPress site into plugin soup

It’s a funny expression–plugin soup–but it’s true! Plugins are one of WordPress’ biggest strengths, and one of its most significant risks. There are so many of them, with different and cool functionalities. You can easily turn your WordPress site into a bloated, slow mess.

For example, you can ruin a good soup with too many ingredients, and do the same to a WordPress website and plugins. We have seen it far too many times (one of the reasons why we launched the Maintenance & Cleanup service).

To that end, we wrote this blog post and explained why less is more regarding WordPress plugins.

Plugins you actually need

Moderation is the name of the game when it comes to WordPress plugins. Too many plugins = too much code. Here’s why that kills speed, and how to keep your stack lean.

1. Firstly, a plugin is code that loads on your website. Since it must execute when requested, too many can lead to slower processing times.

2. Secondly, you must maintain and update your plugins. Allowing a plugin to become outdated for too long poses compatibility and security risks. Updates aren’t optional. They patch the holes hackers crawl through..

3. Finally, regarding compatibility, a plugin can conflict with other plugins or themes. WordPress is open-source, so plugins come from many different contributors. They rarely work together to ensure compatibility.
   

Those are the three primary ways plugins can negatively affect your site. Imagine having thirty plugins, each executing its own code. Then, some of them don’t play nice with each other. Now imagine the mess with a few outdated ones, adding further issues to this “soup.”

That is where curating your plugins and exercising moderation come in. This blog post will show you what you need and don’t. Let’s begin.

Security

WordPress sites, powered by the world’s largest Content Management System (CMS), are common targets for cyber attacks.

There are three levels of security you should be concerned with: network, server, and application. Hackers don’t care which door they get in, so you have to dead-bolt all three.

A CDN (like Cloudflare) is an excellent network security tool. Our hosting plans handle server security for our customers with a suite of tools and features (Web Application Firewall, malware scanning and cleaning, etc.).

Finally, this section focuses on application security. In WordPress, that is most often achieved via plugins. The two we consider the best are Wordfence and Solid Security. Here’s why.

• Wordfence: This is for those who want complete visibility and granular control over site security. The free version offers everything you would expect from a security plugin, which can be expanded by upgrading to the premium version.

  • Firewall

  • Malware scans

  • Brute-force protection

  • 2FA & Login security

• Solid Security: On the other hand, you have a plugin for those who want Solid protection without all the technical setup. Solid Security handles application protection on its respective layer. It doesn’t dip into the network or server side of things.

  • Vulnerability hardening (XML-RPC, file editing, etc.)

  • 2FA & reCAPTCHA

  • Brute-force protection

  • Easy configuration through a security checklist and setup wizard
    

After stress-testing 30+ security add-ons, onlythese two passed every breach simulation. They offer quality functions, even with their free versions, and have a reputable team behind them. Which one is for you? It depends.

If you use our hosting services, you should consider Solid Security. Wordfence is fantastic, but you don’t need the server-level security features. We are already doing that part of the heavy lifting for you! If you don’t have access to such features, though, Wordfence will be your best friend.

Backups

Hosted with us? Good news! You’re already backed up nightly. Skip the extra plugin and save the load time.

Now, if you want to do it, then by all means. However, in our years of experience, we have noticed that many users grab a backup plugin out of habit or even paranoia. Trust us, we understand. Backups are vital and can mean the difference between fixing a problem in two minutes or two hours.

Regardless of whether you want to be extra safe or don’t have access to the off-site, one-click-restore backups we offer, here are our two top backup plugin picks for WordPress: UpdraftPlus and WPvivid.

The table below shows a comparison between their free versions.

The table makes these two plugins appear somewhat similar, so let’s elaborate.

WPvivid is the newcomer to this comparison and doesn’t have the pedigree UpdraftPlus boasts. To that end, we have noticed that its backups can be slower, meaning the server will be occupied with that process for longer.

However, its migration and staging options are beneficial if you frequently update your site. Alternatively, UpdraftPlus is for those of you who want more granular control over scheduling and remote storage types.

Their premium versions alleviate all issues, though, and they become even more similar. It’s user preference by that point, and we would gladly recommend either.

SEO

If you’re a website owner, you already know that SEO can be your biggest friend or worst enemy in online competitiveness. It’s one of those things that can set your head on fire with how complex it can get and the impact it can have on your site. By this point, if SEO is not a science, we say it should be!

SEO is an extensive topic, and explaining it in this blog post would irreversibly derail it. So, head over to our YouTube channel. There, as part of our Agency Success series, you will find an interview with our Head of Website and Content, Daphne Monro. She talks about its past, future, and offers valuable insight for 2025.

But you are here for SEO plugins, so let’s get back on track. SEO decides who wins the click-war, so let’s keep this laser-focused on the two plugins that tip the odds.

• All in One SEO (AIOSEO): We have been using AIOSEO for our Managed WordPress Hosting plans for years. We love this plugin. It’s easy to use, but it offers so many powerful features.

  • Smart SEO setup wizard to help you start quickly.

  • Actionable on-page insights and optimizations via TruSEO.

  • Tools for improving local SEO.

  • Automatic XML sitemap generation.

  • Integrates easily with WooCommerce stores to optimize product pages, categories, catalogs, and more, for better visibility.

• Yoast SEO: One of the oldest and most downloaded SEO plugins, Yoast SEO is a powerful toolkit. Its wide array of features can drastically improve your site’s SEO score and visibility.

  • Real-time content analysis provides feedback on your keyword usage, meta description, and several other factors that impact SEO health.

  • Similarly, the plugin can evaluate your written content for clarity and offer advice.

  • Automatic XML sitemap generation.

  • Can identify and optimize essential pages on your website for better ranking.

  • Finally, the plugin generates SEO-friendly breadcrumbs to help search engines understand your website.
    

Whatever plugin you pick, it will help your website stand out and rank higher. SEO is the key to online success, whether you are just starting out or have an established brand. Do not dismiss it.

Speed

Your website should not take longer than three seconds to load on desktop, and six seconds on mobile. Our friends at WP Rocket conducted a study, and the longer your site takes to load, the more likely are people to close it. That is called a bounce, and you don’t want that.

Not only are slow loading times detrimental to your visitor numbers, but Google also penalizes sluggish sites. Good site speed means a better user experience, which is a positive signal to Google. Your site is likely to rank higher if it’s faster.

WordPress has countless “speed” plugins, but that’s not necessarily a good thing. Speed optimization is an involved process and can affect your site’s code and files. We do not recommend picking any random plugin. There are only a handful we would ever recommend, and two of them are WP Rocket and LiteSpeed Cache.

Pick either plugin and watch organic traffic climb. Our clients report a 28 % lift within 60 days.

WP Rocket

While it does not have a free version, WP Rocket’s features and quality justify the price. It is an all-in-one optimization plugin with an easy setup and intuitive interface. As the name suggests, it’s a solid plugin that can skyrocket your site’s performance. Here is what it can do.

• Page and browser caching. 

• GZIP compression.

• Minify and compress CSS/JS files for fewer server requests.

• Lazy loading of images and iframes.

• Database cleanup, preload, and optimization.

• Easy CDN integration (recommended).
  

This is the plugin for anyone willing to invest in effortless speed gains. It is extremely beginner-friendly and powerful out of the box, and no tech skills are required.

LiteSpeed Cache

On the other hand, you have the free LiteSpeed Cache for WordPress plugin. Despite being free, its core caching functionality requires a LiteSpeed web server. Fortunately, it’s common in web hosting, and we’ve been using it for a long time.

The LiteSpeed Cache plugin offers everything you need to optimize your site's performance. It is not just about cache.

• Full page, object, browser, and even opcode caching.

• CSS/JS/HTML optimization and minification.

• Image optimization tools.

• Lazy loading for images and iframes.

• Database cleanup and optimization.

• Easy CDN integration.
  

However, this plugin is not for your everyday user. The dashboard and settings are more complex, so it’s helpful to understand what each setting does. There are useful descriptions, but we still recommend some familiarity.

Popular plugins worth the hype

The plugins we’ve discussed so far are all worth it. Regardless of which ones you pick, your website will improve. However, there are a few more that are good but didn’t exactly fit in the categories above.

• Jetpack by Automattic: Yes, the same Automattic responsible for WordPress. Jetpack is a Swiss-Army knife for security, performance, and basic marketing. It’s fantastic for those of you who want fewer plugins to manage. If it’s missing any features, one of its many add-ons can likely help.

• BuddyPress: This is the choice for a social media plugin. It can turn your WordPress site into a social network or a community hub. Easily create member profiles, user groups, activity feeds, and so much more. While sporting a bit of a learning curve, it’s an excellent solution for any community-driven organization.

• Elementor: This drag-and-drop page builder makes WordPress design easy. With no coding knowledge necessary, you can create stunning pages through its visual editor. Real-time updates, mobile-responsive design controls, and pre-built templates and widgets all work together to make website creation a joy.

• WooCommerce: If you want to start an eCommerce business and use WordPress in the process, this is the plugin for you. It takes the ease of use of WordPress and translates it into store creation, supported by a vast ecosystem of extensions, themes, and integrations with popular payment methods, shipping tools, and more.

• Contact Form 7: One of the oldest and most installed plugins, Contact Form 7 remains to this day the go-to for adding contact forms to a website. It’s quick and simple, minimal coding required, but it offers all the features you might need.

Plugins to skip (or use with caution)

So far, we’ve told you about all these excellent plugins you should consider. What about some that you shouldn’t? What dictates our previous choices? What if you have no other option but to use what we advise against? Read on.

These are the circumstances where you should skip using a particular plugin. But if you must, we advise doing so with extreme caution.

1. Abandoned or outdated plugins: Has a plugin not been updated in more than six months? That’s a big red flag. Outdated plugins can conflict with an up-to-date website and expose it to security risks. Patchers plug security vulnerabilities in the code. We suggest you find an updated alternative.

2. Duplicate functionality: You don’t need three SEO plugins. The most they’d do is marginally improve your site, but more likely, they’ll get in each other’s way. Sometimes one plugin offers a function that another of the same category might not. See if you can enable only that functionality or find a plugin that provides everything you need.

3. “Free” premium plugins: Firstly, you should never download and manually install plugins from unconfirmed sources. For plugins, stick to the official WordPress.org repository. As for that free version of WP Rocket you found, you should immediately delete it and scan your device. Such “nulled” premium plugins are often packed with malware. There is no “use with caution” part here; never use “free” premium plugins.

4. All-in-one plugins from unknown developers: Jetpack is an excellent all-in-one solution from a reputable developer. Its code is optimized, has good security practices, etc. All-in-one plugins from unknown developers are often the opposite: unoptimized code and security risks.

Again, if you must use a plugin in any of the scenarios (except number 3), our first recommendation is to find an alternative. There are so many WordPress plugins out there; you need to look a bit deeper.

How to avoid plugin bloat?

It’s easy to prevent your site from becoming a sluggish mess of plugins. Moderation and forethought matter here. Know what you are installing, where you are installing it, and what its purpose is.

Plugin bloat is avoidable. Ready to slim your stack? Follow these five zero-fluff steps.

1. One plugin per purpose: We already mentioned this above, but it bears mentioning again. Use a single plugin for the task that needs doing. You don’t need another one “just in case.”

2. Don’t test on your live site: Testing plugins to learn about them is a good practice. However, don’t do it on your live site. Use a staging environment for plugin (or update) testing. Even if you delete the plugins afterwards, they can still harm your site while active.

3. Delete unused plugins: After deactivating a plugin, open the /wp-content/plugins directory and remove its files. Even if a plugin is not active, it may leave behind code or even security risks. There is no need to hoard!

4. Test performance: Use a tool like GTMetrix or PageSpeed Insights to test your website after a new plugin installation. This will help you identify any significant drops in performance and address them immediately.

5. Audit your plugins: Get into the habit of auditing your plugin list every few months. Ask  yourself these questions:

   1. Am I still using this?

   2. Is there a more efficient option?

   3. Is the plugin still supported?
      

Fewer plugins. Faster site. Zero headaches. Simple.

Less is more, especially with plugins

Plugins are, without a doubt, one of the best parts of WordPress. They add incredible flexibility and power to your site. Installing them is intuitive, using them is usually easy, and they are a huge benefit. However, remember, they are still code that needs to be executed.

Too many plugins (or the wrong ones) can slow your website, introduce conflicts, and even create security vulnerabilities. Your site doesn’t need 40 plugins; it just needs 10 good ones.

FAQ

How many plugins are too many for WordPress?

There’s no hard limit, but most sites run best with 10–20 high-quality plugins. The real concern isn’t the number. Instead, it’s whether they’re coded well, overlap in functionality, or slow down your site.

Do inactive plugins slow down WordPress?

Not directly, but they can still pose security risks and clutter your site. It’s best to delete any plugin you’re not actively using rather than leaving it deactivated.

What’s the difference between free and premium plugins?

Free plugins cover the basics, while premium versions usually offer extra features, priority support, and regular updates. Always check reviews before buying, as not all premium plugins are worth the price.

Can too many plugins slow down my website?

Yes! Especially if they’re poorly coded or perform heavy database queries. Even a single bad plugin can hurt speed more than several well-optimized ones.

Are multipurpose plugins like Jetpack a good idea?

They can be if you only activate the modules you need. Turning on every feature can cause unnecessary load and overlap with other plugins.

How do I check if a plugin is slowing down my site?

You can use tools like GTmetrix and PageSpeed Insights to measure performance before and after installing a plugin.

Is it safe to use plugins that haven’t been updated recently?

In the vast majority of cases: no. Outdated plugins can have security vulnerabilities or compatibility issues with the latest WordPress version.