WordPress is undoubtedly the most famous CMS (Content Management System) because it is the most accessible to novice web users (or almost). However, it is not true that just anyone can quickly take control and launch a well-functioning WordPress website. Did you know that reducing the number of WordPress plugins to secure your website is a serious step to consider?
Indeed, one of the bad practices that many WordPress users adopt is related to the number of installed plugins.
With around 58,559 free plugins available on the official WordPress repository (at the time of writing this article), one can be easily tempted by this multitude of extensions with various functions. Within a few days, our website becomes a veritable "catalog" of WordPress plugins, but also a website with impacted performance and potentially penalized rankings with Google and others!
What is a WordPress plugin/extension?
Before going further, and before explaining more about the interest of reducing the number of WordPress plugins to secure your website, we'd like to make sure we're talking about the same thing. What is a WordPress plugin and what exactly is it for?
WordPress plugins are like apps for your website. They help you add new features to your website, such as creating an online store, adding contact forms, etc.
Like WordPress itself, plugins are also written in the PHP programming language. PHP code runs on your website's hosting server and uses its resources.
That's why you should choose a good WordPress host that provides you with easy-to-manage tools and resources to run your website efficiently.
How can a WordPress plugin become a danger to your website's security?
Here are four scenarios that can harm your website concerning your WordPress plugins:
- If you don't update your plugins;
- If one or more WordPress plugins have been "abandoned" by their developers. This means they no longer receive updates;
- If you're using so-called free versions of normally paid plugins. They're called "nulled" versions, and they usually pose risks;
- If you no longer use certain plugins but still leave them on your website.
You can imagine that reducing the number of WordPress plugins to secure your website is a justified technique when you learn what a plugin can represent in terms of threats.
What is the maximum number of plugins I can have?
Here is a misleading question that many people ask themselves, and which unfortunately is the subject of numerous "clickbait" blog articles that provide answers as false as the question itself!
Our answer to this question: There's no magic number!
The number of WordPress plugins not to exceed is simply the number your website needs to function well and achieve your goals. Period!
You decide what role your site will play for your business. So, you decide which plugin to install. Therefore, you certainly won't install plugins you don't need! Reducing the number of WordPress plugins to secure your website requires you to create your own list of plugins not to exceed.
No one can or should give you a specific list of WordPress plugins to install, including us. However, we could help you determine the plugins you should use on your website.
Why shouldn't you install many WordPress plugins?
Since WordPress 1.2 (when WordPress plugin support was added), plugins have become a real blessing for users. However, everyone is tempted to install and try everything, which can quickly lead to chaos!
So here are the three main reasons why you should not install many plugins or WordPress extensions. These same reasons will convince you that reducing the number of WordPress plugins to secure your website is not just an option. It's recommended!
To limit the weight of your WordPress pages
Remember, plugins are written in PHP. This means that browsers must load them just like the core of WordPress. A large number of installed plugins inevitably means additional loading time for your website's pages.
Currently, everyone agrees that a slow-loading website does not encourage visitors to spend more time on it. A user is quickly discouraged by a slow website and ends up leaving to visit competitors' web pages!
To limit hacking risks
There are good plugins and not-so-good ones, just like in any field. Not all developers have the same level of vigilance when it comes to security.
Also, WordPress updates occur at a steady pace, which normally requires plugin developers to keep up. Unfortunately, not everyone does it well.
Many installed plugins can thus become potential security vulnerabilities. This is precisely the point related to hacking, which is why we will never stop reminding you of the importance of reducing the number of WordPress plugins to secure your website.
To limit conflicts between extensions and/or your theme
Here's a common issue on a WordPress site!
Out of ignorance, many WordPress users install plugins without knowing that the activated theme on their website already includes other "native" plugins that do the same thing.
Take the example of a contact form. Almost every WordPress theme comes with a contact plugin, which generates a code to insert in specific locations on your site to display a messaging interface for contacting you. It turns out that a third-party contact form plugin appeals to you for one reason or another. You install it on your WordPress site and activate it. You don't really know what's going on "under the hood" in terms of plugin conflicts!
What to do before installing a WordPress extension?
In general, it's hard to diagnose whether a plugin might harm your site before installing and activating it. However, here's a short list of preliminary measures to reduce the likelihood of your site falling victim to a faulty plugin.
Before installing a plugin:
- Check the number of active users on the plugin
- Check the plugin's last update
- Verify the number of bugs reported to the plugin developer
- Has it been tested with the latest version of WordPress? (What percentage compatibility?)
- Does the plugin support team respond quickly and accurately to user questions?
If a plugin has a large number of active users and is regularly updated, you can consider it reliable and expect it to be bug-free. However, problems can still occur. Be sure to frequently check the status of your plugins and keep WordPress up to date.
How to avoid installing too many plugins? Some tips.
To help you reduce the number of WordPress plugins to secure your website, ask yourself two questions before installing a new plugin:
- Will this plugin bring real value to my website?
- Does my activated WordPress theme not contain a version of this plugin?
It's as simple as that!
This brings us to a more important step to do even before buying your domain name and installing your WordPress site with one click:
Your website creation specifications!
Take the time to think carefully about your website. Determine its goals to define its future features. This will help you make a list of necessary plugins to install. Remember? We discussed it earlier in this article.
Also, remember that you can decide to replace a plugin with a piece of code that you'll insert in your website's functions.php file. This solution requires the intervention of a WordPress coding specialist: a service you can acquire if you have a budget for it.
WordPress Toolkit, a tool to manage your plugins from cPanel
Since you seem to be a WordPress user, let us introduce you to the WordPress Toolkit.
It's an extension for cPanel that adds a range of useful functions. The basic (free) version, available from cPanel, enables you to perform the following actions:
- Install new WordPress websites
- Migrate and delete WordPress installations
- Perform security checks across your entire site
- Manage your site's indexing on search engines
- Password-protect your website
- Manually update your WordPress installation, themes, and plugins from cPanel, rather than your WordPress dashboard
The cPanel team had already announced the upcoming launch of a paid version of the WordPress Toolkit, which will allow you to do even more.
We invite you to read our article: WordPress Toolkit: Managing a WordPress site has never been easier!
We have activated the WordPress Toolkit for FREE for all our shared web hosting, WordPress hosting, and cloud hosting offers.
Before we let you go...
Reducing the number of WordPress plugins to secure your website is one of the steps that every site owner should know. Although WordPress is a well-known CMS supported by an active community, it is also a victim of its own success, and daily attacks on websites powered by this popular content management system number in the thousands.
