Hi everyone,
I’m new to WordPress development, I’m used to a custom CMS.
To have more polyvalence, I want to try multiple CMS and I decided to start by WordPress.
So far, I like how easy it is to create custom template and post\_type, especially with tools like Carbonfields or ACF.
But I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed by the plugin part. So I would like to have your opinion:
Do you install plugin (and how many) or do you leave WordPress as clean as possible ?
Also, I would like to know if possible which plugins, because I spent a lot of time, and I’m still not sure.
There are plugins makers that propose a big ecosystem at a price that looks like to good to be true (WPMU dev) and there is the most used one.
Here is my contribution:
**Plugins :** Yes, 5-6 max to avoid outdated or security breach
**Security :** Wordfence or Solid Security
**Performance :** WPRocket, WPOptimize, W3 Total Cache or Perfmatters
**Form :** NinjaForm, Forminator or Gravity form
**Spam :** CleanTalk or Askimet
**SEO :** Yoast or Rank Math
**Image :** Converter for Media PRO or Imagify (depend on performance plugin)
And of course WPMU Dev that regroups all of this for only 3$/~~15$~~ a month 🤔.
Thanks all for your help.
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Numbers of plugins is not as important as the quality of plugins. Using WC (one plugin) is much more heavy then adding a few plugins with a simple function.
I have WC sites with 50+ plugins that load fast for users and the back end moves well.
For sucrity, get a good host that will be proactive in protecting your site.
Also make sure you use a good theme. If you have a bloated theme, this will slow down your website.
If you need a host and are looking to do it on a budget:
Runcloud.io base plan and use [Hetzner Cloud](https://runcloud.io/blog/hetzner) with it. You’ll get a great performance VPS and pay around $10-16 a month to start. Then put Cloudflare free on top. Later on upgrade your runcloud.io account to a higher plan, as it comes with some good features.