What Are Plugins? #
Plugins are add-on components that extend WordPress functionality beyond its core features. They let you add new capabilities to your site without writing code yourself.
Plugins are created by third-party developers and can be free or premium (paid). Once installed and activated, they integrate with your WordPress site to provide additional features, modify existing behavior, or add entirely new functionality.
Our multisite network has a variety of plugins available to you for activating on your websites. You will also find that some plugins mentioned in our documentation require special permissions to be enabled.
Enabling Plugins #
From WordPress Dashboard:
- Click on the Plugins menu item
- Scroll through and search for the plugin you need
- Click “Activate” on the desired plugin
Why Limit Plugin Use #
Performance Impact: Each active plugin adds code that WordPress must load and execute. Too many plugins slow down your site, increasing page load times and potentially frustrating visitors. Every plugin adds database queries, processing overhead, and additional HTTP requests.
Security Risks: Plugins are common security vulnerabilities. Poorly coded, outdated, or abandoned plugins create entry points for hackers. More plugins mean more code to keep updated and more potential security holes to monitor. While we do our best to mitigate the risk, if an issue arises, we may need to deactivate a problematic plugin on our multisite network, potentially breaking parts of your website.
Compatibility Issues: Plugins can conflict with each other or with your theme. Two plugins trying to modify the same functionality may cause errors, broken features, or even crash your site. The more plugins you have, the harder it is to identify which one is causing problems.
Database Bloat: Many plugins store data in your WordPress database. Over time, especially with deactivated or deleted plugins that don’t clean up properly, this creates unnecessary database overhead that slows your site.
