Choosing WordPress Plugins: Red Flags to Avoid

Plugins are the reason WordPress is so powerful. They are also responsible for 96% of all WordPress vulnerabilities. Every plugin you install is a calculated risk, and knowing how to spot a bad one before it compromises your site is a skill every WordPress user needs.

The Plugin Problem

The WordPress plugin ecosystem is a double edged sword. Over 60,000 free plugins give you incredible flexibility to build almost anything. But that same openness means anyone can publish a plugin, and not everyone follows secure coding practices.

In 2024, there were over 8,000 WordPress vulnerabilities reported. 96% of those were in plugins. Vulnerable plugins are the single biggest reason WordPress sites get hacked, accounting for nearly 56% of all successful attacks.

The problem is not that WordPress is insecure. WordPress core is maintained by a dedicated security team. The problem is that the average site runs 20 to 30 plugins, and each one is maintained by a different developer with different standards.

What Most People Get Wrong

In my experience, the biggest mistake is trusting star ratings without reading actual reviews. A plugin can have 4.5 stars because the developer's friends all left positive reviews when it launched. The real information is in the recent 1 and 2 star reviews. Those tell you what is actually going wrong.

The second mistake is assuming popular means safe. I have seen plugins with millions of installs that had critical vulnerabilities for months before patches were released. Popularity does not equal security. It just means more attackers are looking for holes.

The third mistake is installing plugins for problems you do not actually have. Every plugin you add increases your attack surface. I have audited sites with 40 or 50 plugins when they only actively used 15 of them. Each unused plugin is just sitting there waiting to be exploited.

The fourth mistake is thinking deactivated plugins are safe. They are not. Deactivated plugins can still be exploited. If you are not using it, delete it completely.

Red Flags to Watch For

One red flag does not necessarily mean a plugin is dangerous. But two or three together should make you think twice. Here is what to look for.

If a plugin has not been updated in over six months, it could be incompatible with the latest WordPress version or, worse, contain known security vulnerabilities that will never be patched. A sparse update history or long gaps between updates suggests the developer has moved on. Check the Last updated date on the plugin page. If it says over a year ago, proceed with extreme caution.

Visit the plugin's support forum on WordPress.org. Are there unanswered questions piling up? Is the developer ghosting users? If the developer is not actively responding to issues, they are probably not actively maintaining the code either. A poorly maintained plugin could have security flaws or compatibility problems that will never be addressed.

A plugin that has been around for years but has very few active installations is a warning sign. Either it does not work well, or users have abandoned it for better alternatives. Check the Active installations count and the ratings distribution.

Sometimes popular plugins get sold to new owners. If a plugin has a new developer with no prior history, be careful. Some buyers acquire plugins specifically to inject malicious code into websites that already trust the plugin. Check the developer's profile. Do they have other plugins? How long have they been active? A brand new developer taking over an established plugin is a red flag.

If a simple plugin asks for permissions it should not need, or if its file size seems unusually large for what it does, something might be wrong. Bloated plugins can contain hidden malicious functions or poorly optimized code that will slow down your site.

The Nulled Plugin Trap

Nulled plugins are pirated versions of premium plugins that have been modified to bypass license verification. They are free, which is why people use them. They are also almost always infected with malware.

The modifications that remove license checks also make it trivial to add backdoors, data stealers, and SEO spam injectors. Once installed, this malware can be extremely difficult to remove because it spreads throughout your site.

The risks include hidden backdoors that give hackers persistent access, data theft of customer information and credentials, SEO damage from spam link injections, dormant threats that activate weeks or months later, and no updates or security patches ever.

If your site gets blacklisted by Google because of malware from a nulled plugin, the cost of recovery will far exceed what you saved by not buying a license. I have seen businesses spend thousands cleaning up malware that came from a $50 plugin they thought they were getting for free.

Where to Find Safe Plugins

The official WordPress plugin directory is the safest source. Every plugin undergoes basic review before listing. It is not perfect, but it is far safer than random downloads from the internet.

If you need premium plugins, stick to established marketplaces like CodeCanyon or buy directly from developers with good reputations. Research the developer before purchasing.

Before installing any plugin, check the WPScan Vulnerability Database. It lists known vulnerabilities by plugin name. A quick search can save you from installing something that is already compromised.

Before You Install

Before adding any plugin to your site, run through this checklist. Check the last update date. Anything older than 6 months is risky. Read the reviews. Look for patterns in negative reviews, especially mentions of security issues or broken functionality. Check active installations. Very low numbers for an old plugin are a warning. Research the developer. Do they have other plugins? Are they responsive in forums? Search vulnerability databases. Make sure there are no known unpatched issues. Test on staging first. Never install untested plugins directly on a live site.

After You Install

When a vulnerability is discovered in a plugin, it gets announced publicly. That means hackers know about it too. The window between disclosure and patch is when most attacks happen. Enable auto updates for plugins, or check for updates at least weekly.

Deactivated plugins can still be exploited. If you are not using a plugin, delete it completely. The same goes for themes. Every piece of code on your server is a potential attack vector.

File integrity monitoring alerts you when plugin files change unexpectedly. This catches both compromised updates and direct file modifications. If a plugin file changed and you did not update it, something is wrong.

How Many Plugins is Too Many

There is no magic number, but every plugin you add increases your attack surface. The average WordPress site runs 20 to 30 plugins. The question is whether you actually need all of them.

Audit your plugins periodically. Remove anything you installed just to try and forgot about. Consolidate where possible. If two plugins do similar things, pick the better maintained one and remove the other.

The goal is not to have as few plugins as possible. It is to have only the plugins you actually need, from developers you can trust, with updates you actually apply.

The Reality

Plugins make WordPress powerful. They also make it vulnerable. The difference between a secure site and a compromised one often comes down to plugin choices.

Stick to reputable sources. Watch for red flags. Keep everything updated. Delete what you do not need. These basics will protect you from the vast majority of plugin related security issues. That is why we built our plugin to monitor your installed plugins and alert you when something needs attention. The plugins you choose are a reflection of how seriously you take your site's security.