10 reasons why your website shouldn’t depend on too many plugins for its operation.

Too many plugins on a website can have quite harmful consequences. Indeed, plugins, although sometimes beneficial for websites, have their share of problems that sometimes require our attention. In this article, we will see 10 reasons why your website should not depend on too many plugins for its operation. If all the extensions you use are crucial for your business, we’ll see how to better put them to use.For example, we could talk about how we can better choose them.

1 – A slowdown of the website

Each extension you install comes with additional CSS and JS codes. In addition, there are frequent queries that impact the display time of pages. For this reason, the slowdown of your website may have an impact.  You should therefore pay attention to this issue when installing extensions.

If having multiple extensions on your website is an absolute necessity, you can opt for Cache tools. Indeed, on WordPress, there are tools such as LiteSpeed Cache or W3 Total Cache that help compress and reduce the impact of overloading plugins. Web servers also have alternatives (for example – Nginx Reverse Proxy).

2 – Conflicts between plugins

It can happen that features of some extensions or plugins cause conflicts on your website.  Therefore, you may be faced with malfunctions or bugs.

In this case, collaborating with experts potentially helps to resolve the problem, as well as reassure yourself that the extensions work normally

3 – An increase in the vulnerability rate

Most extensions are often created by developers who are supposed to maintain them. However, sometimes the developer does not neglect the necessary validations or security flaws. When this happens, websites that integrate its tool may suffer.

The problem becomes even more important when you have multiple extensions on your website. Indeed, if your website uses 10 or 20 extensions, the time to manage the flaws can greatly increase compared to a single plugin.

Why does installing too many plugins potentially increase the vulnerability rate of a website?

Installing too many plugins on a website can increase the vulnerability rate for several reasons:

outdated plugins

If the developer does not update its plugin, it becomes potentially obsolete. Therefore, the latter may become incompatible with the latest versions of WordPress or other CMS.  This can be the source of security breaches on a website.

Malicious plugins

Some plugins may contain malware. Then they may damage your website or gain access to your user’s sensitive data. Moreover, it is usually complicated to detect malicious plugins. That’s why, before installing an extension on your website, you need to give time for validation.

Lack of plugin tracking

We particularly experienced extensions whose tracking was abandoned by the initial developer. If plugins are installed, without any regular monitoring of updates or possible security vulnerabilities, the site can become vulnerable without anyone knowing. As a result, customers become victims of the resulting safety issues.

4 – Complications with plugins updates

When you have multiple extensions on your website, updates sometimes become complex. Indeed, there is more risk of incompatibility with the most recent versions of the software you use.

Recently, we have particularly noticed that companies using websites with several extensions must use outdated versions of software.  And for good reason, each update of the extensions caused a major problem on their website.

5 – Exorbitant long-term costs

The main purpose of focusing on extensions to create websites is to reduce development costs. We do not generally realize that in the long term, we will pay considerable fees on licenses. In addition, we often do not consider the fees we pay to the developer to debug incompatibility issues and security breaches.

6 – Incompatibility with web resources

Plugins may not be compatible with all Web browsers or with all versions of your CMS, which would therefore cause display and operation issues.

7 – Maintenance required at all times

Plugins require regular maintenance. Having countless plugins to maintain can cost a lot of time and energy.

8 – Too many useless features

Plugins can include unnecessary functionality that weighs down your website.

9 – Confusion for users

Too many plugins can make your website difficult for users to navigate and use, which can lead them to abandon your site.

10 – Dependence on plugin developers

If you use too many plugins, you increase the risk of relying on developers to provide updates, patches, and technical support. In this case, using your web solution becomes cumbersome and costly.

What an Alternative to the Misuse of Plugins.

Rather than fall back on using too many plugins for your website, we generally recommend custom development of certain features. For example, we can assist you in reducing extensions by replacing them with codes directly adapted to your needs. Alternatively, take the time to better understand how the extension works. You can also check the source of the extension. If you use WordPress, perhaps prioritizing plugins on WordPress.org can help better. Indeed, a WordPress community team usually takes the time to validate plugins before publishing.

Instead of opting for the use of too many plugins for your website, we highly recommend the custom development of some features. We can, for example, assist you in reducing extensions by replacing them with codes directly adapted to your needs. Otherwise, take the time to better understand how extensions work. You can also check the source of extensions. If you use WordPress, prioritizing plugins on WordPress.org could help. Indeed, a team in the WordPress community frequently takes the time to validate the extensions before their publication.

Conclusion

If you are a company working permanently with a team of developers, installing multiple extensions on your website may have no harmful impact. However, if you don’t have the resources to always be dependent on developers, it would be ideal to opt for a turnkey solution that promises fewer future inconveniences.