As a WordPress consultant helping clients manage 50+ WordPress sites, comparing plugins across installations is a weekly task for me. I often get asked by new site owners: "What plugins should I install to have a site like yours?" This post will share the tools and techniques I use to quickly compare active plugins between WordPress sites.
Why You Should Compare Active Plugins
First, let‘s discuss a few common reasons for comparing active WordPress plugins:
- Migration Planning – When migrating a WordPress site, you need to inventory all active plugins for reinstallation. Comparing plugins helps create a migration checklist.
- Troubleshooting – If one site is having problems, comparing its plugin setup to a working site helps identify potential conflicting plugins.
- Consistency – Multi-site owners often want a consistent plugin configuration across their properties for easier maintenance.
According to BuiltWith statistics, 43% of the top 10,000 websites use WordPress. With over 55,000 free WordPress plugins available, the average WordPress site has 16 active plugins.
As the number of managed sites and plugins grows, an efficient comparison tool becomes critical.
Using Better Search Replace Plugin to Compare Sites
The Better Search Replace plugin adds a useful comparison feature accessible under Plugins > Compare.
Here‘s how I use it to compare WordPress plugin configurations across sites:
Install the Plugin – Upload and activate Better Search Replace on both WordPress sites. No configuration needed.
Copy Site 1 Compare URL – Go to Plugins > Compare on the first site and copy the full compare URL. This contains the list of active plugins.
Paste URL on Site 2 – On the other site‘s Plugin Compare page, paste this URL into the text box provided.
View Comparison Report – By clicking Compare Plugins, you will see a list of plugins used on Site 1 that are missing on Site 2.
You can click each plugin to view details or install it on Site 2 with one click. There is also a tab displaying all plugins active on Site 1.
I like this direct site-to-site comparison report because:
- Provides list of missing plugins needed to replicate Site 1
- Faster than manually verifying plugins across two browser tabs
- Links to install missing plugins make migration easy
Next, let‘s look at a few other WordPress plugin comparison tools and how they stack up.
WordPress Plugin Comparison Tools
Here is an overview of alternatives to Better Search Replace for comparing plugins across WordPress sites:
| Tool | Protocol | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|---|
| Better Search | Copy code between sites | Simple, fast comparison list | Limited migration features |
| Duplicator | Exports/imports full sites | Migrates all site data including plugins | More complex than just plugin compare |
| MainWP | Centralized dashboard | Manages 100+ sites from one panel | Only compares MainWP-managed sites |
| WP Migrate DB | Exports DB for import | Backs up/restores database and plugins | Focus on full migration vs quick compare |
Duplicator Plugin
Duplicator creates a full site archive that can be imported on another WordPress install. All plugins, themes, content, and database are copied over. This allows easy migration once a complete .zip site archive is exported and imported.
The downside to Duplicator is that the site package creation and import process is more complex than just generating a plugin comparison report. For quickly answering "what plugins is Site A using," I prefer Better Search Replace.
MainWP Plugin Manager
Sites managed under MainWP can be compared via the centralized dashboard. This allows you to monitor and manage 100+ WordPress sites from one location.
However, MainWP only allows comparing MainWP-enabled sites where you have installed the MainWP child plugin and connected them to the central server. It cannot pull a plugin list from an external site not part of the MainWP network.
Recommendations for Comparing Sites
From personal experience managing WordPress sites and experimenting with different tools, here are my recommendations:
- Use Better Search Replace for quick side-by-side plugin comparisons during migrations or troubleshooting.
- Leverage Duplicator or WP Migrate DB for full WordPress site and database migrations.
- For ongoing multi-site management, a MainWP dashboard allows centralized plugin updates and comparisons.
Let me know if you have any other questions on effectively using these tools!
