Jetpack is a set of plugins developed by Automattic to bring WordPress.com functionality to WordPress.org users. Despite the fact that it is one of the most downloaded plugins in the directory, many do not like the way it forces users to connect with WordPress.com to use modules that have no need for the API. Until you connect, the plugin shows an annoying banner through out your dashboard. Not to mention that a lot of these modules worked just fine in the past without the authentication until those plugins were merged into Jetpack. This was the reason why we forked the Carousel element and released Carousel without Jetpack plugin. Well if you are one of the users who are annoyed by these marketing gimmicks, and you want other features than just the carousel, then you would love this. In this article we will show you how to get Jetpack features without a WordPress.com account using Slim JetPack.
First thing you need to do is install and activate Slim Jetpack plugin. Slim Jetpack is developed and maintained by Howard Mei as an independent fork of Jetpack. It is not maintained or developed by Automattic even though the plugins directory mentions Automattic as an author.
After activating the plugin, go to Settings » Slim Jetpack. There you will see available modules. You can selectively activate the modules you need, and you do not need WordPress.com account to activate these modules.
Slim Jetpack plugin supports the following modules:
- Carousel
- Sharing
- Spelling and Grammar
- Gravatar Hovercards
- Contact Form
- Tiled Galleries
- WP.me Shortlinks
- Shortcode Embeds
- Custom CSS
- Mobile Theme
- Beautiful Math
- Extra Sidebar Widgets
- Infinite Scroll
Slim Jetpack is not compatible with Jetpack so you can not use the two plugins together. If you need the Subscription module, WordPress.com Stats, or other modules that rely on WordPress.com API, then you have to use Jetpack instead.
While Jetpack is an awesome set of plugins, the marketing part makes it extremely annoying. But the beauty of open source is that people can build upon it. Slim Jetpack is an excellent alternative for users who want majority of Jetpack’s modules without connecting to WordPress.com. What are your thoughts on this issue? Would you be using this on your site?
Nice one, but this plugin has not been updated in the last two years. I am worried about compatibility and security issues. Is there any other way? It’s 2017 already (hoping).
Seems to be a good news for WordPress users, The Pack combines the power of so many different WordPress plugin into one plugin and also uses the power of WordPress.com cloud servers. This is really awesome. Going to Jet Pack my blog now.
Thanks for this.
One question though: Jetpack says that in order to use the (rather nice, if data- and processing-heavy) tiled galleries, one has to go through WPs Photon CDN; in fact Photon is automagtically turned on as soon as one uses a tiled gallery. How does this work with Slim jetpack?
You don’t have to use Photon to use the Gallery Carousel. That functionality works without photon.
Thanks for heads up peeps, but uploading all this lot just to use 1 or 2 of the features feels wrong.
I think that Lucas above said it all…
“While each can be enabled and disabled, each module still weighs in the plugin structure, it would be nice to install these seperately”
Thanks for the article. I was considering using the jet pack subscription module for my comments, so I will have to see if I’ll go with the slim instead. Thanks again.
Sounds very good … thanks for sharing.
While this is a fantastic plugin there is one thing that really annoys me.
That is the load of a bundle plugin instead of each individual module.
While each can be enabled and disabled, each module still weighs in the plugin structure, it would be nice to install these seperately, without having to load them all together in one bundle.
We have to think about how we install these MEGA plugins in order to achieve small improvements.
But this might just be my opinion.
Totally agreed with you. This is why we only launched Carousel without Jetpack because that was the only one we needed. In our opinion, having one plugin that does that one thing the best is the way to go.