Do Inactive Plugins Slow Down WordPress? Should You Delete Them?

Most WordPress website owners test out a bunch of plugins over the years, and they often stay there on the Plugins page of the dashboard, deactivated.

Recently, one of our readers asked us whether those inactive plugins impact site speed and if it is safe to hit the delete button.

It’s a question many WordPress users wonder about, so this article will explore whether deactivated plugins impact WordPress performance and whether it is truly safe to delete them.

What Are Deactivated or Inactive Plugins in WordPress?

The best thing about WordPress is that you can extend it using WordPress plugins. When you install a WordPress plugin, WordPress downloads the plugin file to your web hosting server.

In order to start using a plugin, you will need to activate it.

You can install plugins and activate them later.

You can also deactivate a plugin that you tried but didn’t find useful. You can see all your installed plugins (both active and inactive) on the Plugins page in the WordPress admin area.

Active plugins are highlighted in blue, and inactive plugins show a ‘Delete’ link below them.

Do Inactive Plugins Slow Down WordPress?

No, inactive or deactivated plugins do not slow down WordPress. To understand that, let’s see how WordPress works behind the scenes.

Each time a user requests a page from your WordPress site, WordPress starts a loading process. During this process, it only loads active plugins installed on your website. All inactive plugins are totally ignored and are not loaded or even looked at.

Even if you have dozens of inactive plugins installed on your WordPress website, they won’t affect the performance of your site or make it slow.

The only time WordPress looks for inactive plugins on your site is when it loads the ‘Installed Plugins’ page in your WordPress admin area. Even then, it only looks for the plugin’s header file and does not load the plugins themselves.

If your WordPress site is slow, then inactive plugins are definitely not the reason. You may want to check out our step-by-step guide to speed up WordPress and boost performance.

Should I Delete Inactive Plugins in WordPress?

The reason why WordPress allows you to deactivate plugins instead of directly deleting them is that sometimes you may just want to switch off a plugin temporarily.

If you plan to use that plugin soon, and you fear that deleting the plugin will delete its settings, then you should keep it.

Otherwise, there is really no point in keeping the inactive plugins installed on your website. In fact, they can be quite problematic at times.

For example, whether or not you are using that plugin, WordPress will still show you updates for those plugins. This can be a bit annoying, particularly if you have many regularly updated plugins installed on your site.

Inactive plugins can be harmless, but they are still executable files. In case of a hacking attempt, these files can get infected or can be used to install malware on your site.

As a WordPress security precaution, you should delete any inactive plugins that you do not intend to use. You can learn how to do this in our beginner’s guide on how to properly uninstall a WordPress plugin.

Expert Guides on WordPress Plugins

We hope this article helped answer your questions about deactivating WordPress plugins and deleting inactive plugins. You may also want to see some other articles related to best practices for plugins in WordPress:

• What Are WordPress Plugins? And How Do They Work?
• Beginner’s Guide: How to Choose the Best WordPress Plugin
• When Is It Worth It to Buy Premium WordPress Plugins? (Explained)
• How Many WordPress Plugins Should You Install? What’s too many?
• How to Properly Update WordPress Plugins (Step by Step)
• Should I Update WordPress or Plugins First? (Proper Update Order)
• Is It Safe to Use Outdated WordPress Plugins? (Explained)
• Should You Install Plugins Not Tested With Your WordPress Version?
• WordPress Plugin vs Functions.php file (Which is better?)

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