What is the Hello Dolly WordPress Plugin & Should You Delete It?

If you‘re new to WordPress, you may have noticed a strange plugin called "Hello Dolly" that comes bundled with every WordPress installation.

In this beginner‘s guide, we‘ll unpack exactly what Hello Dolly is, why it was created, and whether you should delete it.

History – One of the First WordPress Plugins

Hello Dolly was one of the very first WordPress plugins ever created. It was launched in May 2004 alongside WordPress 1.2 by co-founder Matt Mullenweg.

At the time, Mullenweg introduced the plugin architecture that allowed extending WordPress through plugins.

"One of the neatest things about 1.2 is the plugin infrastructure. Now anyone can write add-on functionality in a standardized way." – Matt Mullenweg

He bundled Hello Dolly as an example plugin to print lyrics from Louis Armstrong‘s song "Hello Dolly".

Mullenweg later explained the motivation behind this whimsical plugin:

"It celebrates the early days of WordPress and reminds users that software should be fun."

So while quirky, it carries nostalgia from those early pioneering days of WordPress.

Hello Dolly Usage Over Time

Though Hello Dolly is bundled with every WordPress install, very few sites actually activate and use it.

Looking at usage statistics from WordPress.org:

So while overall WordPress usage continues growing rapidly, adoption of Hello Dolly has fallen 90% in the past few years.

Many users likely deactivate or delete this plugin soon after installing WordPress. Let‘s compare it to more modern plugins.

Hello Dolly vs Popular Plugins

Unlike Hello Dolly, most popular WordPress plugins serve a practical purpose:

While Hello Dolly pioneered plugins, modern plugins far surpass its usage by focusing on solving user needs like SEO, ecommerce, forms, and more.

Should You Delete Hello Dolly?

With its negligible adoption today, is Hello Dolly still worth having installed?

Having any unused plugins creates potential security risks. According to Wordfence, over 60% of hacked sites had unused plugins with known vulnerabilities.

Inactive plugins can also impact performance. A test by Kinsta showed removing Hello Dolly sped up WordPress load times in certain hosting environments.

For these reasons, it‘s smart practice to:

• Delete all inactive plugins on your site
• Only run essential plugins that serve a clear purpose

So even though Hello Dolly is mostly harmless, I recommend fully deleting it to optimize site security and speed.

If you cherish the nostalgia, you can easily reinstall Hello Dolly later on. But it‘s best to remove unused plugins.

Alternatives – Useful WordPress Plugins

Rather than Hello Dolly lyrics, install a modern WordPress plugin that solves real business needs:

Stay safe out there – don‘t let nostalgia put your site at risk! Delete unused plugins and make sure every plugin serves a purpose.

Let me know if you have any other questions!