I Replaced 6 WordPress Plugins With One — Here's What Happened

The Plugin Stack Problem I maintain a handful of WordPress sites. Not massive — a few thousand pages each, modest traffic. But they need regular care: database cleanup, performance checks, config changes, the usual. Over the years, I accumulated a familiar stack of utility plugins: WP-Optimize — database cleanup (revisions, transients, orphaned data) Query Monitor — spotting slow queries and hooks Autoptimize — frontend optimization (defer scripts, clean head) WP-CLI custom scripts — autoload analysis, one-off database checks WP Config File Editor — because editing wp-config.php over SSH gets old Force Regenerate Thumbnails — after changing image sizes Six plugins (plus custom scripts) for tasks I ran weekly or monthly. Each with its own update cycle, settings page, and overhead. I know the argument: "deactivate them when not in use." Sure. But I need them regularly enough that toggling them on and off is its own chore. And some — like query monitoring — only help when they're running.