Your WordPress is down, or are you being lazy like the sloth?
This could be irritating when your website goes slow, and you are now able to figure out the reason behind it.
Have you faced the same? I am sure you have. Everyone does.
No one wants to stay on a slower website, so it’s quite wise to keep an eye on your website’s speed.
Reasons why WordPress Slows Down
There are many reasons behind WordPress performance issues.
One of them is the messy database.
- Messy Database: That means files that are not in use but still stay there. So, it’s better to clean that regularly. but doing it manually could be tricky.
I have already written an article on how we could clean up the WordPress database in just a few clicks.
1. Inefficient Code
Some plugins are built with bulky or outdated code, which can overwork your CPU. When plugins don’t use efficient coding practices, they require more resources, leading to slow performance.
2. High-Database Usage
Certain plugins rely heavily on database queries. Every time a visitor loads a page, these plugins request data from the database. If the plugin is poorly optimized, it can bog down your CPU, causing delays.
3. Overloading Background Processes
Some plugins run processes in the background, like cron jobs, backups, or caching. While these can be helpful, they also put a load on your CPU, especially if they’re not well-optimized.
Guess what, fortunately, it’s there. We are going to see how a plugin lets you know which plugin is slowing down your website.
Sounds Amazing?
Let’s look at how to find out which plugins are affecting your site.
Find out Slow WordPress Plugin: P3 WordPress Plugin Detector
Though, it’s quite difficult to point out any of the culprit plugins manually. We can do that by uninstalling WordPress plugins one by one, or else you can also deactivate all the WordPress plugins in one go from the database.
But, finding it manually could be time-consuming. So here let’s see it with the help of a plugin.
- Step 1: Download the P3 (Plugin Performance Profiler) plugin, then install and activate it.
This plugin is not updated for quite some time. But, works fine with the latest WordPress versions as well.
- Step 2: Navigate to Plugins – Installed Plugins, and look for the P3 Profile plugin.
- Step 3: Hit the Scan Now link button.
This will scan your whole site and install plugins in just a few minutes. Be patient, because the next will be the big thing for you.
For creating this tutorial, I have installed more plugins, so that we can see the changes in the load time and impact of the slower plugins.
There you go, all the results will be displayed, which will include
- Total plugins installed
- Load Time of your site
- Plugin Impact on the Load Time
- SQL queries running per visit along with a pie chart of the plugins:
By, looking at the pie chart, we see a few of the plugins like Jetpack and Wordfence security plugin taking more time to load.
These were just a few examples of the other fast plugins. But yes, Jetpack and WordFence have great benefits for your site.
Now, this is quite easy to find out the plugin that had an impact and slowed down your site.
Though you have already found out about it, now it’s time to uninstall those plugins. But, before deactivating those plugins, it would be great to find alternative plugins.
Bonus Tip: It’s always wise to install plugins, on any of your demo sites before putting them on your main site. The plugins and themes always leave some files even after installing them. Moreover, experiments should not affect your main site at all.
Once done with removing the slower plugins and replacing their alternatives. Make sure you clean your WordPress database.
And finally, test your site speed, you will be able to boost up site speed. You can give it a try on the Pingdom Website Speed Test. We should always use a WordPress plugin performance monitor which could notify what’s going wrong with your site.
Do share, how you could able to boost your site speed after finding better alternatives. And which WordPress plugin detector do you already use?
I would love to hear your thoughts, which could be useful for fellow readers too! Do share this article if it helps you so that others can also take advantage and boost their site speed by removing the slower plugins.
1. Jetpack
Jetpack is packed with features, but with all that functionality comes a price: high CPU usage.
- Why It’s Slow: It’s a jack-of-all-trades plugin, handling everything from security to social sharing. However, enabling all these features can cause an overload on your CPU.
- Solution: If you only need specific features like social sharing or contact forms, consider dedicated plugins for those tasks.
2. WooCommerce
WooCommerce is the go-to plugin for e-commerce, but it’s also a bit of a heavyweight.
- Why It’s Slow: With complex queries, background processes, and extensive options, WooCommerce is resource-intensive.
- Solution: WooCommerce itself is necessary for online stores, but optimizing your store with add-ons like “WooCommerce Booster” can help distribute load effectively.
3. Yoast SEO
This plugin is beloved by content creators, but Yoast SEO can slow down your site if it’s not configured properly.
- Why it’s Slow: Yoast SEO uses background processes for features like XML sitemaps and readability analysis.
- Solution: Limit the use of certain features. For instance, disable readability analysis if it’s not essential.
4. Elementor and Other Page Builders
Page builders, especially drag-and-drop ones like Elementor, are CPU-hungry.
- Why it’s Slow: The custom styling, animations, and widgets that make page builders great can also bog down your site.
- Solution: Use a lightweight theme optimized for your page builder and only use essential widgets.
5. Broken Link Checker
This plugin runs constant background checks to identify broken links, which can be a significant strain on your server.
- Why it’s Slow: It regularly scans all your pages and posts, checking each link for accuracy.
- Solution: Use online tools like Ahrefs or Google Search Console to find broken links and update them manually. Deactivate the plugin when not in use.
Conclusion
In the quest for a feature-rich WordPress site, it’s easy to fall into the trap of overloading it with plugins. Unfortunately, slow WordPress plugins that increase CPU usage can negatively impact your site’s performance and drive visitors away.
By identifying heavy plugins, optimizing your site, and using only necessary plugins, you’ll be able to maintain a snappy, user-friendly website that’s enjoyable for visitors. Remember, less is more when it comes to plugins! Stick to essentials, monitor performance, and keep an eye on updates. Your site — and its users — will thank you.