PublishPress Plugins and Large Sites

Note: for this discussion, we'll define very large sites as those with over 1,000 authors or 100,000 posts or 100,000 users. We also have a more in-depth guide to sites with large numbers of users.


We are always cautious when people ask us, “Can PublishPress plugins run on very large websites?”

The quick answer is “Yes, we carefully optimize our plugins.”

However, answers are rarely that simple when discussing very large sites. Many factors need to be considered, including these:

  • The limitations of the WordPress core. With over 100,000 users, some parts of the WordPress core start to encounter problems.
  • The servers and databases running your site.
  • Other plugins and themes you have installed.
  • Issues with our plugins that may appear very rarely, and only on the biggest sites.

It is never easy for any website software to support large numbers of users and content. Optimizing software so that it works at scale is always a challenge. And WordPress does have some specific issues that can cause problems with very large sites. If you have a very large site here is some advice:

  • You may need a developer available to help you tackle these problems.
  • You may need to consider code rather than the WordPress UI to manage user changes. Tools like the WP-CLI are designed to handle this kind of scale.
  • You should absolutely test PublishPress plugins on a development site before going live. This is always good advice for all websites and all plugins, but we strongly recommend it in this scenario.