Choose where WordPress plugins load

Freesoul Deactivate Plugins PRO lets you set add-on-loading rules for specific WordPress contexts. Rules can cover individual pages and posts, publicly queryable custom posts, post types, archives, term archives, search results and custom frontend URLs. PRO also adds controls for backend pages and custom backend URLs, with various rules available for logged-in and logged-out users.

When a plugin is disabled in a context where it is not needed, its PHP code does not execute there. This can reduce plugin assets, HTTP requests and database queries. Preview a page with selected extensions disabled to investigate possible conflicts or compare behavior without changing the public website.

Review plugin use and troubleshoot actions

PRO suggests plugins that may be unused on the frontend and backend, and can check for unused plugins after content updates. Recording Ajax and Post activities helps identify the actions where a plugin may need to be disabled.

Clean up assets and WordPress activity

• Clean up REST APIs, translated URLs and cron jobs, and deactivate general bloat.
• Manage settings autoloading.
• Deactivate stylesheets and scripts from remaining active plugins, the theme and WordPress core.
• Import and export FDP options, and use bulk actions to activate or deactivate plugins in FDP settings.
• Generate automatic GTMetrix and Google PageSpeed Insights reports.

Account for device behavior

You can deactivate plugins for mobile devices, but a mobile rule applies across all mobile pages. For rules on selected mobile pages, use the integration with Specific Content For Mobile. When serving separate mobile versions, configure the caching plugin to keep desktop and mobile caches separate to avoid possible issues.

Check permalink requirements for permanent deactivation

Permanent plugin deactivation supports the Day and name, Month and name, and Post name permalink structures, plus custom structures ending in %postname%. Other structures are unsupported for permanent deactivation. Plugins that change permalinks, such as Permalink Manager Lite, may prevent it.

A practical process is to review where each plugin is needed, check the unused-plugin suggestions, set rules for the relevant pages or actions, and preview the changes. Use activity recording when investigating unexpected behavior, then apply cleanup controls and compare performance reports.