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    Home » News & Updates

    Plugin Audit

    Published: Jan 19, 2021 · Modified: Sep 16, 2022 by Skylar · 27 Comments

    Below is a list of services and plugins that we've tested to be compatible with our recommended setup, and offer support for.

    Incompatible simply means that we don't offer support for sites with the plugin installed because of issues we've encountered on other sites.

    As a general philosophy, users land on your site looking for the recipe and that can be delivered with a very simple, basic HTML page. Anything that adds clutter and complexity to this one simple task is going to negatively impact user experience, and cause you maintenance and troubleshooting headaches.

    Except for Yoast, WP Rocket, newsletter signups, recipe cards and ads, you want to avoid embedding unnecessary plugins like the plague (or be prepared to pay a lot of money for developer help).

    Jump to:
    • Pagespeed
    • Pagebuilders
    • Gutenberg
    • SEO
    • Accessibility
    • Security
    • Spam
    • Analytics
    • Non essential
    • Image optimization
    • Social
    • Comments
    • Recipe Card
    • Forms
    • Newsletters
    • Consent banners
    • Non plugins

    Pagespeed

    For simplicity sake, let's just say that the ONLY pagespeed plugin you need is WP Rocket. Ditch anything else.

    Incompatible

    • Jetpack
    • Jetpack Boost
    • Autoptimize
    • SGOptimizer
    • Flying images
    • W3 Total Cache
    • WP Super Cache
    • WP Optimize

    Compatible

    WP Rocket

    Pagebuilders

    Incompatible

    • Beaverbuilder
    • Publishpress
    • Elementor
    • Divi
    • Visual composer
    • Themify

    Compatible

    None - use the block editor

    Pagebuilders are used to build landing pages with specific styles and custom functionality, and while they can be useful for specific landing pages, they simply aren't appropriate for recipe posts.

    Gutenberg

    Incompatible

    • Disable Gutenberg
    • Classic Editor

    Compatible

    None - use the block editor

    As of 2021, everybody should be using the block editor ("Gutenberg").

    SEO

    Incompatible

    • Redirection
    • Rankmath
    • Schema Plus

    Compatible

    Yoast

    While Yoast implements a lot of necessary parts (such as schema), it isn't going to do the SEO work for you - you still need to do keyword research. Ignore Yoasts content suggestions in the post editor.

    Accessibility

    Incompatible

    • Accessibe
    • Userway
    • pojo / one-click accessibility

    Compatible

    None

    Accessibility plugins do NOTHING to help you, and actually make you less compliant. See this resource on accessibility plugins.

    Security

    Incompatible

    • Really Simple SSL

    Compatible

    A proper host (eg. BigScoots, Agathon)

    Spam

    Incompatible

    Compatible

    • Akismet
    • Antispam Bee

    Analytics

    Incompatible

    • MonsterInsights
    • Google Analytics Dashboard WP (GAD WP)
    • Google Analytics for WordPress
    • Sitekit by Google

    Compatible

    Embed the analytics code manually - you don't need stats in the dashboard

    Non essential

    These plugins are either part of an outdated setup, or interfere with modern best practices and should be removed.

    Incompatible

    • Gallery (of any kind)
    • Lightbox (of any kind)
    • Instagram widgets (of any kind)
    • Javascript-based filter
    • Woocommerce
    • WP User Avatar
    • Better click to tweet

    Compatible

    Just remove them

    Image optimization

    Incompatible

    • Smush
    • SGOptimizer
    • Jetpack

    Compatible

    Shortpixel or Imagify

    Social

    Incompatible

    • Shareaholic
    • Social warfare

    Compatible

    Grow by Mediavine

    Comments

    We recommend relying on the core WordPress comment system rather than unreliable third-party services.

    Incompatible

    • WP Discuz
    • Disqus
    • Thrive comments
    • Jetpack comments
    • Commentluv

    Compatible

    Remove it and rely on the core WordPress comments system

    Website owners are also responsible under the GDPR for which third parties they allow on their websites.

    Disqus fined 2,500,000 Euro over GDPR violations

    Recipe Card

    Incompatible

    • Zip recipes
    • Easy recipes
    • Recipe card blocks
    • WP Ultimate Recipe
    • Blossom recipe maker
    • Cooked
    • Cookbook

    Compatible

    • WP Recipe Maker
    • Create
    • Tasty Recipes

    Forms

    Incompatible

    • WP Forms
    • Contact Form 7
    • WPForms
    • Ninja forms
    • Gravity forms
    • Jetpack

    Compatible

    Non - simply list your email address on the contact page and make sure you're using Cloudflare to block bots

    Newsletters

    We recommend avoiding embedding newsletter forms on every page and instead, creating a dedicated subscribe page.

    Consent banners

    For GDPR and CCPA, there are various laws you need to comply with. Unfortunately this is a very specific and technical area, that we specialize in as a theme company, so we can't officially recommend or support this.

    • Cookie Law Info
    • Easy Notification Bar

    Non plugins

    We also recommend removing javascript/links to "badges" or "networks" as these provide no user value and only benefit the site being linked to, not you eg.

    • foodgawker
    • healthyaperture
    • gluten free blog network
    • finding vegan
    • "top 100 blogs" etc.
    • nfca

    If these were implemented by loading javascript or external images, they can have serious negative impacts on pagespeed and CLS.

    We also recommended removing:

    • anything in the "Before Header" widget area, as this can cause CLS issues
    • any category drop-down menu (recipe index, sidebar)
    • any date-based filtering option
    Example of a date-based filter (AND drop-down) that we don't recommend

    More

    • Modern 404
    • Private Label Rights (PLR)
    • Focus
    • Process Shots

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Kristi says

      March 15, 2021 at 12:08 pm

      Very useful! Thank you. I had web redesign done before I added the Feast plugin and the designer added some plugins that don't think I'm using but am not entirely sure, and I'm a little scared to remove them without being entirely confident that my site doesn't need them. Is there any way to know for sure which plugins are REALLY being used or is their someone who can do a plugin audit for me?

      Thanks!
      Kristi
      http://www.true-north-kitchen.com

      Reply
      • Skylar says

        March 16, 2021 at 11:42 am

        We've put together a service to do this for you: https://feastdesignco.com/product/pagespeed-audit

        Reply
    2. Keith says

      March 15, 2021 at 12:41 pm

      Any thoughts on
      W3 Total Cache for pagespeed
      and
      Google Sitekit for analytics?

      Reply
      • Skylar says

        March 15, 2021 at 5:07 pm

        The only caching plugin we recommend or support is WP Rocket. W3 Total Cache doesn't do an adequate job and doesn't have the dozen other features WP Rocket has.

        Sitekit seems buggy and is an inferior experience to the normal Google Analytics interface. There's no need to have embedded analytics.

        Reply
    3. Joana says

      May 21, 2021 at 7:44 am

      Thank you so much for this! Quite useful and imediately saw results on google page speed insights! Just a small question concerning Woocommerce. I am about to launch some digital products and was thinking of using woocommerce. Is it totally incompatible with the theme? Do you have any suggestions?

      Reply
      • Skylar says

        May 21, 2021 at 10:31 am

        We don't recommend or support woocommerce: https://feastdesignco.com/how-to/set-up-woocommerce-shop-genesis/

        You're free to ignore this, but we won't offer any assistance with troubleshooting issues that may be related to woocommerce being installed.

        Recipe sites simply do not have the right type of traffic to run a successful ecommerce site - the revenue it generates is never worth it. Recipe traffic is not purchase intent traffic. Woocommerce adds too much complexity for a recipe site to operate successfully. They're two different businesses entirely.

        Reply
    4. Kelly Stilwell says

      May 26, 2021 at 6:47 pm

      Super helpful! Thanks for all you do!

      Reply
    5. Kaitlin says

      October 25, 2021 at 2:55 pm

      Any thoughts on Akismet (anti-spam plugin)?

      Reply
    6. Ayla Clulee says

      November 10, 2021 at 1:38 pm

      I have Akismet anti-spam and jetpack as well as WPRocket. After reading this, I am thinking do I really need them all together?
      Thank you
      Ayla

      Reply
      • Skylar says

        November 10, 2021 at 3:25 pm

        Akistmet and WP Rocket are fine as they perform separate functions. We recommend removing Jetpack 100% of the time - no questions asked.

        Reply
        • Ayla Clulee says

          November 11, 2021 at 3:29 am

          Thank you, Skylar!
          What do you recommend I use to check the site stats in detail? That's why I am using the Jetpack plugin.

          Reply
          • Skylar says

            November 11, 2021 at 11:46 am

            Manually implementing Google Analytics is the best route: https://feastdesignco.com/how-to/add-google-analytics-tracking-code/

            Checking site stats "just because" should be avoided - analytics is a tool to answer specific, useful questions. Daily traffic numbers are meaningless.

            Reply
            • Ayla Clulee says

              November 12, 2021 at 12:57 am

              Ok, thank you very much!

              Reply
    7. Cheryl says

      January 19, 2022 at 10:25 pm

      Hi. Great list, thanks!

      1) You mentioned removing javascript/links to "badges" or "networks". I submit images to Foodgawker. Is that the same thing?

      2) Re Analytics, I have GA Dashboard but it is deactivated. Is it ok to delete it? I do use Site Kit by Google. Where do I embed GA manually in order to delete Site Kit?

      3) Re Gutenberg, are you saying you can't use Classic Editor too? I still have many in the Classic editor (haven't converted all my posts yet). Is this bad?

      4) I have WP Rocket, but also Jetpack ONLY for stats (which I love). To what extent will this hurt my site.

      5) You said we shouldn't have category menu drop downs? Isnt this critical to navigation?

      Thanks for your advice, Cheryl

      Reply
      • Skylar says

        January 20, 2022 at 11:14 am

        Hey Cheryl!

        1) Yes, this includes any external site including FoodGawker. There's ZERO reason for you to link to these sites and send your readers to them. Your goal is to keep readers on your site.

        2) Tutorial: https://feastdesignco.com/how-to/add-google-analytics-tracking-code/

        3) The block editor allows you to edit classic editor posts. Remove any gutenberg or "classic editor" plugin - there's no need for this and we've seen it cause major issues

        4) We 100% recommend removing Jetpack in 100% of cases. We will not offer support for sites that have Jetpack installed at all.

        5) See: https://feastdesignco.com/food-blog-site-structure/

        The navigation menu is there to get you to indexes or actual pages. Drop down menus are bad for mobile devices. They're cumbersome for screen readers. We recommend against their use in almost all situations.

        Reply
    8. TheDashleys says

      January 24, 2022 at 5:37 am

      I am struggling to figure out how to deactivate and remove Jetpack from my plugins as I do not have a deactivate button available. Instead it says Jetpack is automatically managed for you. (I pay for WordPress Business) Appreciate your help with this.

      Reply
      • Skylar says

        January 24, 2022 at 8:33 am

        Our themes and setup is not compatible with wordpress.com hosting. You should migrate to self-hosted WordPress immediately to avoid larger issues down the road. You can find our recommendations at https://feastdesignco.com/hosting/

        Reply
    9. Sam says

      January 27, 2022 at 2:03 pm

      I'm looking to commit to your plugin, but I currently use JetPack for site backups. Do you have a recommended alternative for that?

      Reply
      • Skylar says

        January 28, 2022 at 10:37 am

        Hosting is the primary source of backups. We see lots of people using Updraft Plus but this is outside our area of expertise and not something we can vouch for.

        Reply
    10. Garima Goel Lal says

      April 29, 2022 at 7:28 am

      If I want to sell my PDF cookbooks (it will be through a service like Sendowl) and programs (through services likes Teachable), should I be able to do it through the Feastplugin?

      Reply
      • Skylar says

        April 29, 2022 at 7:41 am

        It wouldn't be through the Feast Plugin - you'd simply create a normal WordPress page that hosts the content/javascript and built with the block editor.

        You don't need any special plugin for this.

        Reply
    11. Jacqui Wilson says

      May 04, 2022 at 7:19 pm

      I'm getting a crazy amount of bot spam comments on my posts. I have Akismet but it isn't stopping them. Big Scoots suggests trying https://wordpress.org/plugins/antispam-bee/. Is this compatible with Feast & Foodie Pro?

      Reply
      • Skylar says

        May 05, 2022 at 7:30 am

        We haven't tested anti-spam plugins and as it's not theme related, is not something we offer support for. You can test BigScoots suggestion, or hire Nerdpress, who has experience managing this.

        Reply
    12. Teri Wallingford says

      June 05, 2022 at 3:35 pm

      Hello, is your feast plug in supported on siteground?
      thanks

      Reply
      • Skylar says

        June 06, 2022 at 5:48 am

        There generally aren't direct plugin conflicts with hosts who properly install and configure the plugin.

        There does tend to be non-themee/plugin issues with lower quality hosts and we don't recommend many hosts for this reason.

        You can find our list of recommended hosts at https://feastdesignco.com/hosting/

        Reply
    13. Anton says

      October 30, 2022 at 2:07 am

      Hi,
      I use the feast plugin.
      My hosting is on Cloudways and by default my WordPress install includes their own Breeze Cache plugin. They also use Varnish cache on the server level, which I can turn on/off. These weren't on the Feast Plugin incompatibility list above, any issues with them with Feast?

      Reply
      • Skylar says

        October 30, 2022 at 8:04 am

        The only caching plugin any site ever needs is WP Rocket. Do not use two caching plugins.

        We couldn't possibly list off every caching plugin out there but no in-house or less popular caching plugin will ever keep up with WP Rocket. The funding and pace of development is simply too far ahead of anything else out there. There are simply no acceptable alternatives, and at $49/year there's no need for alternatives - this is CHEAP.

        You should replace EVERY caching plugin with WP Rocket, period.

        Reply

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