How to audit a WordPress site's plugins in an afternoon or two

Companies running WordPress for years often worry about large plugin counts, abandoned plugins, and breakages after updates. The article argues that the number of plugins matters less than what each one does, who maintains it, how deeply it integrates, and whether another tool already covers its job. It recommends a spreadsheet audit recording each plugin's purpose, dependent pages, update history, licensing, and risk level, plus testing deactivation on a staging copy. Plugins are then sorted into keep, merge, replace, or remove groups, with removal and merging offering the quickest wins. Teams should map the few critical user flows, such as forms, checkout, and logins, to see which plugins they depend on.