Plugins Slowing Down Your WordPress Site? Here’s What to Do
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Numerous WordPress websites rely on plugins—and it's no surprise, as they're vital for creating versatile and multifunctional websites with WP managed hosting. While plugins offer numerous benefits, they can also come with a few shortcomings.
You may face performance drops or even security risks. Hence, it is crucial to be aware of how to identify slow WordPress plugins—and how to avoid them, especially if your website runs on a MariaDB hosting server. In this article, we will explore ways to spot deficient WordPress plugins, and ensure peak performance of your website.
How to Detect Slow WordPress Plugins?
WordPress plugins are an excellent tool for introducing additional features to your website. Unfortunately, at times, they can negatively impact your website loading speed and hamper your admin access. To spot this issue, try using a plugin performance profiler or a web analysis tool that highlights what’s slowing things down.
If you're unsure which plugin is causing slowness, try turning them off and test for any improvement in your website's speed. Ultimately, it's simply dependent on how neatly coded your website is and how the plugins respond to your website. There are methods for reviewing WordPress plugins to remove the ones that are slowing down your website or to substitute them with a comparable solution.
1. Disable Plugins Individually
A seamless way to pinpoint slow plugins is by deactivating them and reloading the website. This will shortlist which plugins affect your loading speed and to what extent. You don't have to do this using any third-party websites or other plugins (which may also affect your website speed).
2. Utilize WordPress Plugin Performance Analyzers
Several plugin-based solutions scan your installed WordPress plugins to determine if they make your website slower.
a. Query Monitor
Query Monitor is a full-featured solution that notifies you of PHP and HTTP errors, duplicate DB queries, and script problems. It also displays page load speed, memory consumption, and much more.
While it offers you a lot of statistical insights, you might find it difficult to understand what exactly relates to your plugins. If you already have WordPress expertise, this is among the best plugins for finding any plugin bottlenecks.
b. New Relic APM
New Relic APM is server-based software that monitors and determines whether there are any performance flaws on your website and assists in digging into their cause. It gives information such as CPU and memory utilization, server-level errors, and loading time.
New Relic APM also examines the time taken to execute the functionalities. It is a very effective solution, though one needs to take their time mastering it.
c. GTMetrix
GTMetrix is a speed test website that collects performance data for your website and produces a report with the number of HTTP requests, page load time, and a breakdown for every file, image, and script. Each section gives thorough results and suggests potential solutions to help identify slow plugins.
How to Achieve Peak Performance?
Apart from substandard web hosts, there are numerous factors that can lead to performance issues. Here are a few ways to accelerate your website.
1. Remove or Replace Slow Plugins
With the methods mentioned above, it should be simple to identify slow WordPress plugins. With some careful analysis, you can find alternatives to essential plugins that may be influencing website performance. Unused or rarely used plugins can be disabled or removed.
Although deactivated plugins won’t slow down the page loading, it’s wise to remove them because they could be infected when your website is under attack.
2. Set up Your Plugins
At times, plugins include extra features that come pre-integrated. For instance, the SEOPress plugin activates all the options available. However, having all of these checked will take significant time to load the website even if the functionalities are not being utilized.
3. Optimize and Cache using Plugins
By experimenting with various plugins and testing various methods to load data, optimization and performance plugins can enhance your loading speed. Caching plugins save files and images temporarily so that when users revisit the website, their browser is not required to make so many HTTP requests. It leads to improved speed and usability.
4. Use CDN Services
Content Delivery Networks are a wonderful solution if your visitors reside around the globe. CDNs use a node network to distribute data in an efficient manner depending on the location of the website visitor. MilesWeb’s comprehensive WordPress plans include built-in Edge CDN powered by Cloudflare with more than 280 points of presence spanning the world.
5. Keep your Website Updated
This suggestion applies to all facets of your website — WordPress core, plugins, themes, and even underlying technologies like PHP and MySQL. Newer releases can offer improved speed and performance as well as repair any security loopholes.
What To Consider When Selecting WordPress Plugins
Having a substandard plugin installed can cause unforeseen effects— from sluggish performance to your website being hacked. Let's examine a few aspects you will want to take into account to prevent potential harm.
1. Support and Knowledge Base
It is a good indication if a plugin is supported by its creator and has a knowledge base for common problems. Plugins available in the directory have sub-forums through which users can convey their problems to developers and fellow users, and developers can pass on their supporting documentation to the clients.
Things to watch out for:
The way replies are answered. If requests for support are being proactively responded to, it indicates that they are concerned about their clients.
How quickly replies are given. The longer the response time, the more likely they are to have contacted someone else.
2. Active Users and Updates
Many active installations typically indicate that the plugin meets the requirements of many users—which is another positive indication.
The "Last updated" segment is equally significant, as it indicates that the plugin continues to be developed and new features and security updates are being introduced.
3. Ratings and Reviews
As we look further into WordPress.org, we can analyze reviews and ratings of the plugin by its users. On this page, you learn how many individuals have downloaded the plugin and what individuals say regarding the plugin. This can let us know if a plugin really performs as it is meant to or if it contains security or performance problems.
Conclusion
Now you understand how to inspect slow plugins on your WordPress website. An appropriate WordPress hosting provider can be the driving force behind your website’s speed and performance. You'll experience enhanced speeds with MilesWeb's optimization and integrated CDN; however, apart from that, they have a lot to offer. MilesWeb also promises a broad range of performance monitoring tools for effortlessly recognizing and troubleshooting performance issues.
MilesWeb has been at the forefront of WordPress hosting for decades. By choosing their managed WordPress hosting, you get the support of certified and experienced technical admins. They will take care of server IT infrastructure, letting you channel your energy into shaping your brand’s success.
