How many plugins can I install in WordPress?
Many of you ask me: is it bad to have many plugins in WordPress ? How many plugins can be installed in WordPress? In order to answer these questions, we first need to understand what a plugin is and how it works.
A plugin is a small application that is installed in WordPress and that gives it extra functionality. There are plugins of all kinds, of all prices and, in principle, there is nothing that prevents you from having more or fewer plugins installed. In fact, you can have a WordPress with 20 plugins and everything works perfectly.
It is important to understand that each website is different and that the same plugin can work correctly in one WordPress installation and not in another. And what is this due to? The contracted hosting , the web server configuration , other plugins that are installed, etc., may be agents capable of generating conflicts and / or affecting the correct functioning of the website.
SO CAN I INSTALL ALL THE PLUGINS I WANT IN WORDPRESS?
That’s right, you can install all the plugins you want; however, this is not the best practice . You must bear in mind that plugins are a fast and comfortable way to increase the functionalities and capabilities of our WordPress, but it has consequences: by installing them you will increase the code that the server has to process and, therefore, the time and resources it will consume in doing so.
HOW CAN I GET IT RIGHT WHEN INSTALLING PLUGINS?
While it is true that having many plugins can cause a website to take longer to load, it can also happen that a WordPress installation has problems with just one plugin. And it is that the great aspect to take into account is not so much the quantity, as the quality of your code , that it is well done. A badly programmed plugin can destroy our website, generate conflicts and even security holes.
So, with all this, our advice is as follows:
- Common sense . Analyze first if you really need the functionality that you are going to install.
- Always look for plugins that are compatible with the version of WordPress you have installed.
- Download them from trusted websites .
- Go for those that get good reviews .
- Make sure they are updated with some frequency.
- Eliminate those plugins that you do not need since, by not using them, you probably do not worry about updating them, which can put the security of your website at risk.
- And, very important, that there is good support behind it and that the developer responds to the different incidents that may arise for its users.
As specialist WordPress developers , we have worked on innumerable projects, attending to different needs, which have allowed us to know many and very good plugins. Some of them we use by default in all our projects. From ttandem we show you a small list with some of those that we recommend installing on a website and that you may find interesting to know:
- WordPress SEO by Yoast : It allows you to control and improve the SEO of your website easily and quickly.
- Akismet : If you have a blog, this plugin is very useful to limit spam.
- WPML : Do you want to have your WordPress site in several languages? This can be your plugin. Easily add the languages you need. In this case it is a paid plugin but, from my point of view, it is worth it.
- Gravity Forms , In a very simple way you can create forms for your website. It is true that there are other free plugins that also allow you to have similar functionality in some aspects, but they are not as complete. In addition, you even have add-ons that on occasion may be interesting for you.
- Simple 301 Redirects : When you remove or change the url of a page that receives considerable traffic, it will be essential to be able to inform Google that it has changed. With this plugin you will be able to do this type of redirection easily.
- Duplicator : Interesting plugin to make a duplicate of your website. Thanks to it you will be able to perform a new installation identical to the duplicate website.
- Wordfence : Complete security suite for WordPress. It offers extra protection to your installation: real-time protection, alerts, file scanning (both the WordPress core and your themes and plugins), Firewall, etc.
- WP-DB-Backup : Plugin to make a backup of your WordPress.
We know that there is a very wide variety, but here we wanted to collect those plugins that we consider essential . In future articles we will talk about many others that we hope will help you to meet your needs. And you, which ones do you use?
