WP Speed Tip #9 – Clean Up Unused Plugins and Themes (Don’t Just Deactivate Them)

Why It Matters

Many WordPress users think deactivating a plugin is enough.

It’s not.

Even deactivated plugins:

• Stay in your file system
• Show up in plugin scans
• Are vulnerable to exploits if not updated
• Slow down admin functions like plugin checks and updates

Same goes for themes: that old bloated theme you “tested once” is still sitting in /wp-content/themes/.

What Happens If You Don’t Clean Up:

• You get bloated update requests on every admin load
• Security risk increases (unused but exposed code = attack surface)
• Backup size increases unnecessarily
• Site scans take longer
• You forget what’s active and what’s not

The Fix: Delete, Don’t Deactivate

Go to:

Dashboard → Plugins → Installed Plugins

1. Deactivate anything you’re not using
2. Then click “Delete”
3. Repeat for all except what’s active and critical

For themes:

Dashboard → Appearance → Themes

• Keep only:
  • Your active theme (e.g. GeneratePress/Blocksy)
  • One fallback default (e.g. Twenty Twenty-Four)
• Delete the rest

Pro Tip: Delete Sample Content Too

• “Hello World” post
• “Sample Page”
• Default comment
• Unused image sizes in Media Library
• Unused shortcodes or plugin junk left behind (like from Elementor)

Bonus: Use This WP-CLI Command (for advanced users)

wp plugin delete plugin-slug
wp theme delete theme-slug

Fastest way to clean up large installs.

Real-World Impact

A client site with 21 deactivated plugins dropped its backup file size from 340MB to 95MB just by deleting unused ones.

Bookmark this tip. Next:
“Tip #10 – Lazy Load Like a Pro (and Know When It’s Not Working)”