Blacklisted WordPress Plugins to avoid

Blacklisted plugins

“Your Hosting Provider has blacklisted the following plugins…”
No web designer wants to see this message when checking their managed wordpress accounts. Hosting servers such as Website Domain Service are working to protect the integrity of hosted accounts. Suspected plugins are sometimes deleted from user accounts.

In some cases the hosting service will “remove” a plugin that is suspected of being compromised, then email the administrator to let them know. “Better safe then sorry” said owner Joe Birch of In-House Graphics. “I like that my website hosting service is watching my back. Bad guys are always working to find a crack in a website.

Plugins on the blacklist:

Note: This is not an exhaustive list of disallowed plugins. Just a list of the most used as of October 2017. It is a best practice strategy to remove these plugins even before your hosting platform does it for you. (Not all hosting platforms will perform this level of security. You should contact your hosting service to see what level of help they offer.)

Plugin name Category More info
6scan-backup Backups Abandoned/unsupported plugin
6scan-protection Duplicate functionality Abandoned/unsupported plugin with duplicate functionality
adminer Duplicate functionality See description of category below
adsense-click-fraud-monitoring Performance See description of category below
broken-link-checker Performance Instead, use client software on your computer or an external service
contextual-related-posts Related posts See description of category below
clef Security Abandoned/unsupported plugin
ezpz-one-click-backup Backups Abandoned/unsupported plugin with duplicate functionality
fuzzy-seo-booster Related posts See description of category below
google-sitemap-generator Performance Versions < 4.0 only — Instead use Google Sitemap or WordPress SEO.
google-xml-sitemaps-with-multisite-support Performance Instead use Google Sitemap or WordPress SEO
InfiniteWP Client Security issues Versions 1.3.8 and below – vulnerability details
jr-referrer Stats See description of category below
MailPoet Security issues Versions 2.6.6 and below — vulnerability details
p3-profiler Unnecessary / nonfunctional No longer receiving updates
portable-phpmyadmin Duplicate functionality See description of category below
referrer-wp Stats See description of category below
seo-alrp Related posts See description of category below
sgcachepress Unnecessary / nonfunctional From customers migrating from SiteGround, unneeded
similar-posts Related posts See description of category below
statpress Stats See description of category below
synthesis Unnecessary / nonfunctional From customers migrating from Synthesis, unneeded
the-codetree-backup Backups Abandoned/unsupported plugin
toolspack Security issues Vulnerability details
updraft

Note: We do not blacklist UpdraftPlus.

Backups Abandoned/unsupported plugin
w3-total-cache Caching See description of category below
wordpress-beta-tester Unnecessary / nonfunctional Non-functional on GoDaddy Managed WordPress Hosting
wordpress-gzip-compression Duplicate functionality See description of category below
wordpress-popular-posts Related posts Versions 3.1.1 and below
wp-cache Caching See description of category below
wp-cachecom Caching See description of category below
wp-copysafe-web Security issues Vulnerability details
wp-copysafe-pdf Security issues Vulnerability details
wp-engine-snapshot Unnecessary / nonfunctional From customers migrating from WP Engine, unneeded
wp-fast-cache Caching See description of category below
wp-fastest-cache Caching See description of category below
wp-file-cache Caching See description of category below
wp-phpmyadmin Duplicate functionality See description of category below
wp-postviews Stats See description of category below
wp-power-stats Stats See description of category below
wp-slimstat Stats See description of category below
wp-super-cache Caching See description of category below
wpengine-common Unnecessary / nonfunctional From customers migrating from WP Engine, unneeded
wponlinebackup Backups Abandoned/unsupported plugin with duplictate functionality
yet-another-featured-posts-plugin Related posts See description of category below
yet-another-related-posts-plugin Related posts See description of category below