How To Disable WordPress Plugins On Pages They’re Not Used (Reduces CSS/JS)

Disable plugins on specific pages wordpress

If PageSpeed Insights tells you to reduce CSS/JavaScript, disabling WordPress plugins on specific pages can help.

Some plugins load across your entire website even when they’re not being used (WooCommerce and page builder plugins are notorious for this). Unfortunately, this adds CSS/JavaScript bloat which you can usually see in the coverage report of Chrome Dev Tools.

The classic example is disabling your contact form plugin everywhere but the contact page. However, there may be other plugins you can disable in certain areas of your site. And while disabling plugins on pages is a great start, there are more ways to reduce CSS and JavaScript.

 

1. Choose An Asset Unloading Plugin

Perfmatters, Asset CleanUp, Plugin Organizer, and Gonzales can all disable plugins on pages/posts. However, if you’re using WP Rocket or SiteGround Optimizer, Perfmatters addresses many parts of core web vitals with features not found in those plugins, like hosting fonts/analytics locally, bloat removal, and the script manager is also easy to use.

Asset CleanUp SG Optimizer WP Rocket FlyingPress Perfmatters
Script manager x x x
Delay JavaScript x x
Remove unused CSS x x Inline Separate file Separate file
Critical CSS x x x
Host analytics locally x x x x
Smaller GA tracking code x x x x
Host fonts locally x x
Font-display: swap
Exclude above the fold images x By class By URL By number By number
Preload critical images x By class By URL By number By number
Lazy load background images x Inline Helper class Helper class CSS
Specify image dimensions x x
Preload links x x
Preload scripts/styles x x x x
Disable XML-RPC x x x
Disable Heartbeat x
Move wp-login x x x x
Change autosave interval x x x x
Limit post revisions x x x x

 
Perfmatters vs asset cleanup

 

2. Enable The Script Manager And Test Mode

In your Perfmatters settings, enable the script manager in the Assets tab.

Perfmatters enable script manager

Next, view any page on your site and go to Perfmatters → Script Manager.

Perfmatters script manager menu

Enable test mode. This prevents your website from breaking when disabling plugins by only showing changes to logged-in admins. Asset CleanUp also has a test mode, but I’m not sure if other asset unloading plugins do. If your plugin doesn’t have test mode, create a staging site. When you’re done disabling plugins, remember to deactivate test mode to publish changes.

Perfmatters test mode

Also enable display dependencies which shows you all plugins using jQuery (removing any jQuery-dependent plugins can speed up your website). You’ll be able to see this in the next step.

Jquery plugin dependencies 1

 

3. Disable Plugins On Pages/Posts

Head back to your script manager and you can see plugins loading on the page.

Perfmatters disable plugins on specific pages in script manager

Common ways to disable plugins:

  • Everywhere but posts (you only use a social sharing plugin on posts).
  • Everywhere but pages (you only use a page builder plugin to design pages).
  • Everywhere but current URL (you only use a contact form plugin on the contact page).
  • RegEx (you only use your review schema plugin on posts containing “review” in the URL).
  • You can also disable plugins on mobile devices as well as logged in + logged out users.

Here’s what disabling your social sharing plugin “everywhere but posts” looks like:

Disable social sharing plugins perfmatters

RegEx disables plugins based on URL patterns. For example, only loading a plugin in a certain category (screenshot below). Perfmatters also has documentation on using Regex for multiple categories, WooCommerce shop archive pages, LMS custom post types, and search result pages.

Perfmatters disable plugins with regex

If you’re not using Gutenberg, you can disable wp-block-library which can save around 90kBs. If you do use wp-block-library, consider preloading it in your Perfmatters “preloading” settings.

Disable wp block library perfmatters

This is why I don’t recommend page builders:

Elementor javascript perfmatters

 

4. Check For Errors

If you enabled test mode, make sure you’re logged in to WordPress since only logged-in admins can view changes. Assuming you don’t see errors, deactivate test mode to publish the changes.

Perfmatters disable test mode 1

 

5. Test Impact On CSS/JavaScript Files

Open your site in Chrome Dev Tools and view your coverage report.

Rather than testing your site in PageSpeed Insights which can take 28 days to update, this shows a better view of your largest CSS/JS files and which plugins they’re loading from (shown in the URL). Other than plugins and page builders, third-party code is usually the biggest culprit.

Unused css chrome dev tools

 

6. Use Free Plugins To Unload Assets

Swift Performance has a plugin organizer found in Settings → Plugin Organizer. There are several rules to disable plugins based on the URL, whether it’s an Admin page, user role, etc.

Swift performance plugin organizer

Plugin Organizer is used by enabling selective plugin loading in the general settings. Now edit a page or post, and you can click each plugin to enable it (green) or disable it (red). You can also disable plugins by post type or WordPress managed URL. I’ve used Plugin Organizer, it’s alright.

Plugin organizer

Plugin Load Filter supports disabling plugins by post format type, custom post type, JetPack modules filtering, WP embed content, and URL filtering. Just go to the settings and toggle where you want each plugin to be disabled. It also has a few additional settings shown below.

Plugin load filter 1

Freesoul Deactivate Plugins is another good option and has a perfect 5 star review as of writing this. Just like you would with the others, head to the settings, select the type of content you want to edit (top tab), then enable or disable plugins on that content by toggling each one.

Freesoul deactivate plugins

 

7. Configure Perfmatters With More Optimizations

Perfmatters has a lot more settings outside the script manager.

I recommend going through that tutorial I linked to, especially if you’re using WP Rocket or SiteGround Optimizer. View the table in step #1 of this tutorial to learn which features your cache plugin lacks, then use Perfmatters to make additional optimizations. Be sure to only enable 1 feature between Perfmatters and your cache plugin to avoid duplicate functionality.

Perfmatters settings
View tutorial

 

 

Frequently Asked Questions

How to disable WordPress plugins on certain pages?

Perfmatters, Asset CleanUp, and several free plugins can disable plugins on specific pages/posts. Be sure to enable test mode to prevent your site from breaking while doing it.

Which asset unloading plugin is best?

While all asset unloading plugins disable plugins where they're not used, the biggest difference is UI/UX and any additional optimizations. For example, Perfmatters has many optimizations not found in WP Rocket or SiteGround Optimizer that help with web vitals.

Do unused plugins slow down my site?

Yes, plugins slow down your site. Whether it's because they add CSS/JavaScript bloat or increase memory usage, using lightweight plugins and removing unused plugins is still important. How much they slow it down depends on the plugin as well as the code quality.

How do I find my slowest plugins?

Chrome Dev Tools coverage report shows which plugins add the most CSS/JavaScript, or you can use Query Monitor to find slow plugins by viewing the Queries By Component tab.

Have a question? Hit me up in the comments.

Tom

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5 Comments...

  1. I appreciate your article! Good stuff. Just a note: I had to ask for a refund for PerfMatters and it looks like I’ll have to switch to Asset CleanUp.

    I use Simple Custom CSS & JS for custom CSS, and Perfmatter forces either disabling the custom CSS plugin or leaving it alone, while Asset CleanUp allows individually disabling custom CSS on a per page/post basis.

    PerfMatters support was good and friendly. They confirmed there’s no option for me to selectively control my custom CSS, unfortunately.

    Reply
  2. Even I am using Breeze for a couple of months. It works well and free.
    Does Breeze give good performance with wp-rocket?
    And Last one..
    Is Perfmatters lightweight plugin?

    Reply
    • Perfmatters is lightwight, yes. I personally use WP Rocket on Cloudways, not Breeze. They need to make some improvements in Breeze if they want it to replace WP Rocket. It lacks too many features now.

      Reply

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