WordPress Plugins You Don't Need Anymore (With Free Hosting!)
Discover which WordPress plugins become obsolete when you switch to a headless Astro frontend—and how free hosting on Vercel, Netlify, or Cloudflare can save you hundreds per year.
WordPress plugins solve real problems. But with a headless Astro frontend, many of those problems simply don't exist anymore. Here's a breakdown of the plugins you can eliminate—and the money you'll save.
Why Most Plugins Become Obsolete
WordPress plugins exist to add functionality that the platform lacks. With a static Astro frontend:
WordPress Plugin Need
Astro Static Site
Let's go category by category.
Performance & Caching Plugins
Plugins you can eliminate:
- WP Super Cache
- W3 Total Cache
- WP Rocket ($59/year)
- LiteSpeed Cache
- WP Fastest Cache
- Autoptimize
WordPress + Caching Plugin
Request → Check cache → Cache miss? → PHP → DB → Build HTML
- • Cache invalidation complexity
- • Cold cache = slow response
- • Cache storage costs
- • Configuration headaches
Astro Static Site
Request → CDN serves pre-built HTML file
- • Every response is "cached"
- • No invalidation needed
- • Global CDN included free
- • Zero configuration
Savings: $0-59/year + eliminated complexity
Security Plugins
Plugins you can eliminate:
- Wordfence ($119/year for premium)
- Sucuri ($199/year)
- iThemes Security
- All In One WP Security
- Shield Security
WordPress Threats
- • SQL injection
- • PHP code injection
- • Brute force on wp-admin
- • Plugin vulnerabilities
- • Theme vulnerabilities
- • XML-RPC attacks
- • File upload exploits
- • Session hijacking
Static Site Security
- • No database to exploit
- • No PHP execution
- • No public admin URL
- • No plugins to hack
- • No themes to exploit
- • No XML-RPC
- • No file uploads
- • No sessions
Your WordPress stays private/firewalled
Savings: $0-199/year + peace of mind
SEO Plugins
Plugins you can eliminate:
- Yoast SEO ($99/year for premium)
- Rank Math (Pro: $59/year)
- All in One SEO ($49.60/year)
- The SEO Framework
SEO: Plugin vs Native
PhantomWP imports your existing SEO data from Yoast/RankMath automatically
Example Astro frontmatter with SEO:
---
title: "My Blog Post Title"
description: "A compelling meta description for search engines"
date: 2024-11-05
seoTitle: "Custom SEO Title | My Site"
ogImage: "/images/social-share.jpg"
canonical: "https://mysite.com/blog/my-post"
---Savings: $49-99/year
Backup Plugins
Plugins you can eliminate:
- UpdraftPlus ($70/year for premium)
- BackupBuddy ($80/year)
- VaultPress/Jetpack Backup ($120/year)
- BlogVault ($89/year)
WordPress Backups
- Components: Database, uploads, themes, plugins, core
- Backup size: 500MB - 5GB+
- Restore time: 10-60 minutes
- Versioning: Limited
Git-Based Workflow
- Components: Repository files only
- Backup size: 1-50MB
- Restore time: 30 seconds
- Versioning: Every commit
Savings: $70-120/year
Image Optimization Plugins
Plugins you can eliminate:
- Smush ($60/year for pro)
- ShortPixel ($4.99/month = $60/year)
- Imagify ($9.99/month = $120/year)
- EWWW Image Optimizer
WordPress Plugins
- Upload → Plugin processes async
- Creates multiple sizes
- Converts to WebP
- Lazy loading via JS
- Monthly processing limits
Astro Image Component
- Build-time optimization
- Auto-generates sizes
- Auto WebP/AVIF
- Native lazy loading
- Unlimited processing
Savings: $60-120/year
Total Annual Savings
Let's add it up:
| Category | WordPress | Astro |
|---|---|---|
| Caching | $59 | $0 |
| Security | $119 | $0 |
| SEO | $99 | $0 |
| Backups | $70 | $0 |
| Image Optimization | $60 | $0 |
| Page Builder | $59 | $0 |
| Plugin Subtotal | $466/yr | $0/yr |
| WordPress Hosting | $120-300 | N/A |
| Static Hosting | N/A | $0 (Vercel) |
| WP Backend Only | N/A | $0-48 |
| Grand Total | $586-766/yr | $0-48/yr |
Annual Savings: $538-766 | ||
Free Hosting Options for Your Astro Site
With a static Astro frontend, you qualify for generous free tiers:
Vercel
Recommended
- Unlimited bandwidth
- 100GB storage
- Automatic HTTPS
- Global edge network
- Preview deployments
Netlify
Great for forms
- 100GB bandwidth/mo
- 300 build minutes/mo
- Automatic HTTPS
- Global CDN
- Form handling
Cloudflare Pages
High traffic
- Unlimited bandwidth
- Unlimited requests
- 500 builds/month
- Automatic HTTPS
- Global network
What You Might Still Need
Not everything disappears. You may still want external services for:
| Need | Free Options | Paid Options |
|---|---|---|
| Comments | Giscus, Utterances | Disqus |
| Search | Pagefind, Fuse.js | Algolia |
| Analytics | Plausible, Umami | Google Analytics |
| Newsletter | Buttondown free tier | ConvertKit, Mailchimp |
| Forms | Netlify Forms, Web3Forms | Formspree |
The difference? These are services, not plugins. They don't slow down your site or create security vulnerabilities.
Conclusion
WordPress plugins solve real problems—but many of those problems don't exist with a modern static frontend:
Add free hosting on top, and you're looking at $500-750 in annual savings plus a faster, more secure site.
Ready to eliminate plugin overhead?