Wordpress Plugins NOT To Install
Everyday there’s a new a post with ‘My Favourite Plugins’ etc, so I thought I’d be a bit different and create a list of the Wordpress plugins NOT to install.
Over, the last couple of weeks I’ve had a few big traffic spikes that have caused my Wordpress installation problems. Upgrading to the next highest tier with PowerVPS didn’t solve the problem, and even despite having 2 caches running, my site was slowing down and even shutting down at times.
I discovered that the cause of my problems were certain plugins, and after removing them my CPU load returned to manageable levels. Unfortunately, not before I’d missed out on a significant number of new readers.
Here are the plugins I’d recommend removing or disabling if your server is starting to strain:
The free translator plugin by the same developer that I was using was causing major problems for my server under load, so I spent $30 on the new premium version as it promised performance improvements. The premium Translator Plugin Pro did translate pages faster, but it still killed my server so I had to turn it off after 5 minutes. I haven’t had much joy getting my money back which is a shame…
UPDATE: Angsuman very kindly took a look at my blog and optimised the plugin, as well as giving me many other useful tips. I now thoroughly recommend this plugin.
Luckily I found the free Global Translator Plugin which does the same job without killing my server.
- Gravatars
These plugins seem to be resource drains because they are constantly pinging the server to see if new images are available. Use with caution
Despite singing this plugins praises, under load it was causing me major problems. I think what was happening was that because of the high load my site was under, the list of posts generated by Readers Posts was constantly changing which meant that my APC/WP-Cache2 caching combo wasn’t working as every page load was unique.
I don’t know why, but this plugin was causing problems. Use with caution.
Are there any other plugins that have caused you problems, or do you have any performance tips you want to share?
Bookmark & Share
Related Posts
- Are Google Blocking 3rd Party Translation Services?
- Site Problems Update: Culprit Was Readers Post Plugin
- Why You Should Think Twice Before Using Translator Plugins
- WordPress Blog Housekeeping
- WordPress Optimisation: Control When Plugins Are Loaded
- Optimise Your CSS File
- Added Two New Plugins To Increase WordPress Spam Protection
Comment by Angsuman Chakraborty on 30 December 2006:
We did extensive testing with the WordPress object cache to identify performance bottlenecks, if any. We couldn’t find any inherent problem.
It can cause performance penalty only when the memory is low and too many Apache processes are allowed. With caching enabled each Apache process (or Thread), serving a WordPress page request, caches at most 125 php objects (we only contribute one of them) which can increase memory consumption.
As a result kswapd (swap manager) comes into play and at high loads it tends to swap too often and ends up consuming most of the CPU cycles itself instead of allowing actual processing.
So if you are on a low end machine with low RAM or if you are sharing the machine with lots of other users then you can experience performance issues. However you can easily solve it by either increasing the memory or reducing the maximum number of Apache processes you serve.
Comment by Angsuman Chakraborty on 30 December 2006:
Translator plugin Pro uses dual caching to speed up your access time. The first level cache doesn’t use the WordPress object cache and will improve your performance even with standard caching disabled. The second level cache uses WordPress Object cache. This allows us to serve your translated pages much much faster.
Pingback by 我爱wordpress » 四个没必è¦Â安装的wordpressæÂՊȦ on 12 December 2006:
[...] http://www.connectedinternet.co.uk/2006/12/01/1125/ [...]
Pingback by Aufzynden! » Schlechte Nachrichten sprechen sich schneller herum als gute… on 6 December 2006:
[...] Alles wunderbar, bis auf der englischen Seite connectedinternet mal stumpf behauptet wird, dass mein Plugin ressourcenfressend wäre und deswegen auf gar keinen Fall installiert werden dürfe. Selbstverständlich hat der Autor sich nicht die Mühe gemacht vorher mal mit mir in Kontakt zu treten. Ich habe von diesem Artikel erst erfahren, als ich einen Pingback von einer spanischen Seite bekomme habe! [...]
Comment by Jerry on 4 December 2006:
software and scripts from Angsuman are what i personally call “crapware”. it was no big surprise that one of his plugins was on your list of troubled plugins.
Comment by Everton Blair on 4 December 2006:
What’s the link for the ajax version?
Comment by Stefan on 4 December 2006:
@Everton Blair: If your are singing the praises of my plugin try my ajax-version and we both will be happy
Sincerely Stefan
Trackback by tips4blogger on 3 December 2006:
4 Wordpress Plugins die Du meiden solltest…
…
Comment by Everton Blair on 2 December 2006:
I can’t account for the pingbacks Stefan, but the problem wasn’t my caching. The problem was that because each page load was unique when my site was busy because of the readers post plugin, it was neutralising the caches.
If you read my other posts I was recently singing the praises of your plugin. the problem is that is doesn’t work will with sites that are getting a lot of traffic, where caching is essential.
Comment by Stefan on 2 December 2006:
Hello,
I think it is a little unfair to set Readers_Post on this list. First your problems have something to do with your kind of caching and not with the plugin. Second you could mail with my to solve the problem. It’s not the best thing to get to know about your marking my plugin by pingbacks from other foreign blogs, but not from you. Third have a try with my ajax version of showing the latest read post and your caching problem is solved at all.
Best regards
Stefan