How to Use the Plugin Organizer to Speed Up Your WordPress Site

A slow WordPress site costs you visitors, search rankings, and sales. If your website feels sluggish after adding a few new features, then your plugins might be the hidden problem.

By default, WordPress loads every active plugin on every single page. A heavy eCommerce add-on might be loading on your simple blog posts, or a contact form script might run on your homepage where it isn’t even used. It makes no sense, and it kills your page speed scores.

The good news is you don’t have to choose between features and speed. Plugin Organizer fixes this bloated loading by letting you control exactly which plugins run on which pages.

We’ve tested this approach on multiple WordPress sites, and the performance wins can be significant. In this guide, we will show you step by step how to set up Plugin Organizer to stop unnecessary code from dragging down your load times.

How Do WordPress Plugins Affect Your Website Speed?

WordPress plugins are like apps for your WordPress site. They let you add the features you need, such as contact forms, eCommerce functionality, social media integration, and improved security.

Whenever someone visits your site, WordPress will load its core files, followed by all your active plugins. You can learn more about this process in our guide about WordPress plugins and how they work.

We’ve found that well-coded plugins are designed to load only when needed and should not slow down your entire website all the time.

However, even the best plugin developers can’t anticipate exactly how you’ll use their plugin on your specific site. We’ve seen many cases where high-quality plugins load unnecessarily, simply because they don’t know which pages actually need their functionality.

Because of this, some plugins might load their code on all pages, even when it isn’t needed. If these plugins load extra files (like JavaScript and CSS), then your website may take longer to load. See our guide on how WordPress plugins affect your site’s load time.

Don’t worry, this doesn’t mean plugins are bad! 😃 It just means you need a clever way to manage them so your site stays blazing fast.

How Can Plugin Organizer Speed Up Your Site?

Depending on the plugins you are using, some may be necessary only on specific pages, posts, or post types.

For example, you may only need some plugins in the WordPress admin area, so they shouldn’t load on the front end of the website. Or, if you use a contact form plugin, then it only needs to run on pages where your form is displayed, such as your Contact page.

Plugin Organizer is a WordPress plugin that controls your plugins in many ways so you can fine-tune your website performance. In this tutorial, you will learn how to use it to do the following:

Ready to get started? We’ll begin by installing and configuring the Plugin Organizer on your WordPress site.

How to Identify Which Plugins to Disable

Before you start disabling plugins, it helps to know which ones are actually causing your site to slow down. If you aren’t sure where to start, check out our complete guide on how to find which WordPress plugins are slowing down your site.

Generally, you can find this out by testing your website using a speed testing tool like Google PageSpeed Insights or Pingdom. These tools will show you exactly which JavaScript and CSS files are taking the longest to load.

If you notice a specific plugin (like a slider or popup plugin) is loading huge files on pages where it isn’t even being used, that plugin is a perfect candidate for the Plugin Organizer!

You can also use the Site Speed report inside MonsterInsights Pro, an analytics tool that lets you check your load times directly from your WordPress dashboard.

Install and Configure Plugin Organizer

First, make sure you have installed and activated all of the plugins you want to use. Plugin Organizer only manages plugins that are already running on your site. It can’t turn on plugins that are currently deactivated.

For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

After that, you should also install and activate the Plugin Organizer plugin.

Once you are ready, you need to head over to the Plugin Organizer » Settings page to configure your settings.

This page has several options, and we will examine each one, explaining what it does and which ones you should turn on.

• Fuzzy URL Matching allows you to enable or disable plugins for child URLs. This means that if the settings affect http://example.com/sample-page/, then they will also affect child URLs like http://example.com/sample-page/child-page/.
• Ignore URL Protocol allows Plugin Organizer to ignore the HTTP and HTTPS parts of plugin URLs. This option is turned off by default but is particularly helpful if SSL is enabled.
• Ignore URL Arguments allows you to ignore URL arguments like the characters after ‘?’ in http://example.com/page/?foo=1&bar=2. You should normally leave this setting OFF.
• Only Allow Network Admins to Change Plugin Load Order? allows only network administrators to rearrange plugin order on a WordPress multisite network. We highly recommend that you turn this setting on if you have a WordPress multisite network.
• Auto Trailing Slash adds or removes the trailing slash at the end of plugin filter URLs based on your WordPress permalink settings.
• Selective Plugin Loading allows you to selectively load plugins even if they are disabled in plugin settings. Leave this feature on to enable or disable plugins for individual content types. To use this option, you need to create an MU plugin (next section).
• Selective Mobile Plugin Loading allows you to selectively enable or disable plugins on mobile browsers.
• Selective Admin Plugin Loading forces certain plugins to load only inside the WordPress admin area and not on your website’s front end.
• Disable Plugins By Role allows you to disable plugins by user roles. You need to click the checkboxes for these roles in the ‘Role Support’ box near the bottom of the page.

Once you have toggled your desired settings on and off, don’t forget to click the ‘Save Settings’ button at the bottom of the page to store your changes.

Create an MU Plugin for Plugin Organizer

Plugin Organizer needs a must-use (MU) plugin to work properly. In simple terms, MU plugins load before all other regular plugins. Think of it like a traffic cop that steps in early to direct the flow of code, giving Plugin Organizer the special power to stop other plugins from running on a given page.

The plugin will try to automatically create this file for you, but if it fails, you will have to create it yourself.

You can easily find out whether the plugin has successfully created the MU plugin.

Simply visit the Plugins » Installed Plugins page and look for the ‘Must-Use’ link above the list of plugins. Clicking this link will show you the installed MU plugins on your site.

If you don’t see the ‘Must-Use’ plugins link, then Plugin Organizer failed to create it automatically, and you will need to create it manually.

First, you need to connect to your website using an FTP client or the File Manager app in cPanel.

You should navigate to the /wp-content/plugins/plugin-organizer/lib/ folder and download the file called PluginOrganizerMU.class.php to your computer.

Next, go to the /wp-content/mu-plugins/ folder. If you don’t have a mu-plugins folder in your /wp-content/ folder, then you need to create one.

Finally, you need to upload the PluginOrganizerMU.class.php file from your computer.

Plugin Organizer can now use this file to properly manage your plugins.

Set Up Global Plugin Options

Plugin Organizer allows you to disable certain plugins, even if they are active. These plugins will not load on any page unless they are specifically allowed in the post or page. In the sections below, we will show you how to allow them.

To set up which plugins remain active and which are disabled, you need to go to the Plugin Organizer » Global Plugins page.

On this page, you will see a list of all your active plugins, which are color-coded to show how Plugin Organizer will treat them:

• Gray (Default): The plugin is active and will load normally across your site.
• Red (Disabled): The plugin is globally disabled by Plugin Organizer. It will not load on any page unless you create a specific rule to enable it elsewhere.
• Green (Enabled): This color is used on other screens to show a plugin is being enabled by a specific rule.
• Yellow (Globally Disabled Override): This shows that a plugin was disabled on the Global Plugins page. To enable it for this specific location, simply click it until it turns green.

You can disable a plugin globally or sitewide simply by clicking it so that it turns red. Don’t worry, this does not delete the plugin’s data or break your settings; it simply stops the script from running on the front end until you specifically allow it.

On most pages in Plugin Organizer, you can also disable or enable all plugins at once using the ‘Disable All’ and ‘Enable All’ buttons at the top of the list.

With global options set, we can now selectively re-enable plugins where they are truly needed. We will walk you through enabling plugins for individual post types, single posts or pages, and specific URLs in the following sections of this article.

If you make a mistake, then just keep clicking it until it is the right color. Don’t forget to click the ‘Save’ button to store your settings once you are finished.

For example, you could globally disable (turn red) your contact form plugin. By default, it won’t load anywhere, speeding up your whole site. Then, in the following steps, you can go to the settings for your ‘Contact Us’ page specifically and re-enable it (turn it green) just for that single page.

Next, let’s look at how to selectively enable these plugins in the exact locations you need them.

Enable or Disable Plugins on the Search Results Page

You may be able to improve performance and user experience by enabling or disabling plugins on the WordPress search results page. For example, you could disable your popup plugin on that page so you don’t interrupt users during their search.

To disable or enable certain plugins on search results, you will need to visit the Plugin Organizer » Search Results page.

On this screen, simply click a plugin so that it turns red. This will disable it on the WordPress search results page. You can also make a plugin green to enable it on the search page.

By default, these settings apply to all users. However, you can create specific rules for different user roles using the ‘Role’ dropdown at the top.

Notice that any plugins you disabled on the Global Plugins page are highlighted in yellow. This reminds you they are turned off by default. You can override that setting and enable them for the search results page by clicking them until they turn green, as we did with the MonsterInsights plugin in the screenshot above.

For example, to apply settings only to your site visitors, you would select ‘Not Logged In’. To change settings for a specific logged-in group, you would select that role from the list.

You can enable these plugins so they are loaded on the search results page by clicking them so they appear green, as we did with the MonsterInsights plugin in the screenshot above.

Make sure you click the ‘Save’ button to store your changes.

Selectively Enable or Disable Plugins for Certain Post Types

WordPress lets you create your content using post types such as posts and pages. You can also create custom post types in WordPress. Plugin Organizer lets you selectively enable or disable plugins for certain post types.

For example, you can enable a plugin on pages but disable it on posts. This might be useful if you display forms only on pages and want to disable the plugin on posts.

To control which plugins work on certain post types, you need to visit the Plugin Organizer » Post Type Plugins page.

First, choose a post type by clicking the ‘Post Type’ drop-down at the top of the page. You should see options for ‘post’ and ‘page’, and if you have created custom post types they will be listed too.

To disable a plugin for that post type, simply click it so it appears red.

You can enable a plugin that you disabled on the Global Plugins page by clicking it so it no longer appears yellow.

Like the Search Plugins page above, there are different settings for logged-in users and non-logged-in users.

Don’t forget to click the ‘Save’ button to store your changes.

Group Plugins and Change Plugin Load Order

By default, WordPress loads your current active plugin files alphabetically. This alphabetical order may sometimes cause conflicts if you have one plugin that depends on another’s code.

For example, if you have an add-on plugin for WooCommerce, that add-on relies on WooCommerce’s core code to function. In that case, you must ensure WooCommerce loads first, or the add-on might break your site.

You can learn more in our guide about how to check for WordPress plugin conflicts.

Plugin Organizer allows you to manually change the plugin order and group plugins. However, you must be very careful when doing this because you could accidentally trigger new conflicts that break your site.

To rearrange the plugin load order, visit the Plugin Organizer » Group and Order Plugins page.

Plugin Organizer will display your plugins in default alphabetical order, and you can rearrange the order by simple drag and drop.

To save the new plugin load order, make sure that ‘Save Load Order’ is selected from the drop-down at the top of the page. It is by default. After that, simply click the ‘Submit’ button.

You can also group plugins by selecting ‘Create New Group’ from the drop-down menu at the top. Next, you need to enter a name for the group and select the plugins you want to add to it.

Once you are done with the group, click the ‘Submit’ button to continue. Plugin Organizer will now create the plugin group for you and add the checked plugins.

Now, if you go to the Plugins page, then you will see a new link named after your group name. When you click on it, you will see all the plugins inside that group.

Enable or Disable a Plugin on a Single Post or Page

There may be times when you wish to load or disable plugins on a specific post, page, or custom post type. Plugin Organizer lets you do this as well.

First, make sure that you have enabled support for the correct post type on the Plugin Organizer » Settings page. Make sure you click the ‘Save Settings’ button if you make any changes.

Next, go to the specific post, page, or custom post type you want to change and open the WordPress content editor.

Then, scroll down below the content editor until you come to the ‘Plugin Organizer’ section.

You will see the Plugin Organizer settings with your plugins. You can now enable or disable specific plugins as you did earlier:

• Enable a specific plugin by clicking it until it is green.
• Disable a plugin by clicking it until it is red.
• You can also enable a plugin you disabled globally by making it green.

Don’t forget to click on the ‘Save changes’ or ‘Update’ button to store your changes.

Troubleshoot Plugin Organizer Issues

Based on our extensive testing, we’ve learned that Plugin Organizer’s power to modify plugin behavior comes with responsibility. We’ve encountered (and resolved) various issues while optimizing client sites, from minor conflicts to the dreaded white screen of death.

If you lose access to your WordPress admin area, a quick way to resolve these issues is by deactivating all your WordPress plugins via FTP.

Now, this is important. Because Plugin Organizer uses a Must-Use plugin, you must also use your FTP client to navigate to the /wp-content/mu-plugins/ folder and delete the PluginOrganizerMU.class.php file. Otherwise, your site may remain broken.

Deleting this specific file removes the ‘traffic cop’ we set up earlier, which immediately forces WordPress to load your plugins normally again, restoring your access.

To uninstall Plugin Organizer, simply delete the plugin from the Plugins page in WordPress admin. This will delete the plugin and all of its settings. You can then reinstall the plugin if you want.

If you need additional guidance, check out our comprehensive list of the most common WordPress errors and how to fix them.

If you don’t see your error listed, then try our step-by-step WordPress troubleshooting guide to find the cause of the error and possible solutions.

Frequently Asked Questions About Using Plugin Organizer

Here are some of the most common questions we receive about using the Plugin Organizer to manage plugins and improve website speed.

1. Is it safe to use the Plugin Organizer on my WordPress site?

Yes, but it is a powerful tool that requires caution. Because it alters the default loading behavior of plugins, it can sometimes cause conflicts or make your site inaccessible. We strongly recommend creating a full backup of your site before changing any settings.

2. What’s the difference between disabling a plugin and deactivating it?

Deactivating a plugin turns it off completely across your entire site. Disabling a plugin with Plugin Organizer only prevents it from loading on specific pages you choose. The plugin remains active and can be enabled elsewhere, giving you precise control over performance.

3. How much can Plugin Organizer really improve my website speed?

The speed improvement depends on which plugins you’re using. If you have heavy plugins that load large scripts (like contact forms, sliders, or page builders) on pages where they aren’t needed, disabling them can significantly improve page load times and Core Web Vitals scores.

4. Do I have to create the MU (Must-Use) plugin for it to work?

Yes, the MU plugin is required for Plugin Organizer to function correctly. The tool will try to create this file automatically. If it fails, you must create it manually by following the steps in this guide to ensure all features work as intended.

5. What is the best way to manage plugins in WordPress to increase site speed?

The best way to manage plugins for speed is to use a combination of strict auditing and selective loading.

• First, delete any plugins you no longer use.
• Second, use a tool like Plugin Organizer to selectively load your heavy active plugins (like form builders or sliders) only on the specific pages where they are needed.

These strategies will keep your site lightweight and fast.

Additional Resources About WordPress Plugin Performance

With Plugin Organizer, you’re now empowered to take control of your site’s performance and ensure your visitors enjoy a faster, smoother experience.

Go ahead and apply these strategies to optimize your site, and don’t hesitate to explore our other guides on WordPress plugin performance if you want to dive deeper:

• How WordPress Plugins Affect Your Site’s Load Time (Revealed)
• How Many WordPress Plugins Should You Install? What’s too many?
• How to Disable Specific WordPress Plugins for Mobile Users
• Do Inactive Plugins Slow Down WordPress? Should You Delete Them?
• Best WordPress Caching Plugins to Speed Up Your Website

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