More plugins isn’t more features — it’s more surface area for things to break. Every plugin is code you didn’t write, running on every request, that you now have to keep updated and secure.
That doesn’t mean zero plugins. It means each one earns its place: does it solve a real problem, is it well maintained, and is it worth the performance and security cost? Often a few lines of custom code beats a 40,000-line plugin.
How we keep a site lean: audit what’s installed, remove the dead weight, and build the small bits ourselves.