Hello mktonline and welcome to WebmasterWorld [webmasterworld.com]

With all due respect, your question is like asking how many shoes you can have, or for a mechanic, how many tools you can have. You can have as many as you want. Just keep in mind that you will need to ensure that they are all necessary and keep them functional.

Plugins are not magic, they are designed to simplify tasks that people can handle if they learn some coding skills in most cases. Some themes reduce the need for plugins by including better tools. So you can see there is no way to know how many or which plugins any person might need or want. It is a situation where the site owner or their workers have tasks and decide which plugin (if any are needed) can handle it best.

It is not uncommon for plugins to cause problems with other plugins. When something goes wrong with a WordPress site, the first suggestion for troubleshooting is to disable all plugins and test by enabling them one at a time. For these reasons, the common sense strategy is to use as few as possible. Make sure that the plugin is required, that it does what you need it to do, that it is not compromised and that it is kept up to date.

There is a place to investigate plugins before you install and you can find that link in our WordPress Forum Charter [webmasterworld.com] where you can also find a link to the WordPress Plugins. Personally, I would not use a plugin that did not come from there because plugins have been known to be an easy route for malware and other security risks and WordPress.org Plugins have been vetted. Plugins have access to your core WP files so you want to be careful of who has the keys.

Show me a page with thirty stylesheets and I’ll show you a page whose owner never met a theme, plugin or addon they didn’t like. (No exaggeration. I’ve counted. Won’t somebody please think of the users? ;))

I'd also add, the more plugins you add the harder it is to keep it updated.

The answer is that you can have as many plugins on a Wordpress site as you wish. You should choose wisely, though.

The first taste of a candy is divine. With each extra lick the great feeling becomes less and less, until, once you finished the candy the last bit did not taste all that good after all. And you gained weight.

This is the same with Wordpress plugins. If you absolutely need some functionality that WP or your theme do not provide, then yes, go ahead and install it. Note that for each plugin installed is more code for the user to get through (slows down load time), that may have a security bug (easier to hack into site), the higher the possibility of collisions between plugins (site does not work/crashes), and more to ensure you are up to date (more maintenance).

Do not run an obese Wordpress site. Slim and trim has so many benefits. If you are asking about the max number of plugins then you're not thinking about the negative implications of your diet. Less is more.

Maybe the question should be approached from the other side: What’s the optimal number of WP plugins? At what point do you need to step back and say that it’s time to start from scratch, to figure out exactly what functionality you need, and which plugin or combination of plugins will best achieve the results you want?

Stylesheets may be a useful analogy here: If a given page--whether CMS or hand-rolled--calls more than {some absolute number, to be discussed in other venues}, you’re doing something wrong. Below that number, there’s wiggle room and judgement calls.

Plugins frequently use their own stylesheets, some let you edit that with settings, some don't. My favorites used to allow you to remove theirs with a checkbox to indicate you had it covered in your own .css file. I say 'used to' because that guy retired and I've never found a decent replacement. PHP 7.4 caused errors and it needed to go.

You can often visit the plugin's folder and find a stylesheet there which you can download/edit/upload but you will need to repeat that with every update. Just another reason not to load up on them and to stick with proven, known suppliers. Donating to the good ones might help ensure they keep at it.

I'd also add, the more plugins you add the harder it is to keep it updated.

- the most recent WP update (5.5) has checkboxes to choose which plugins you can set to 'auto-update' BUT unless you are very confident about the supplier, think hard, because folks have been known to buy up plugins for their own plans.

While I do not run WP for myself, I do support some clients who use it.

In general the clients with the fewest plugins have the least problems. Conversely, those with the most plugins also seem to do okay (for the most part) since they have a dedicated person doing their content and manage the site day by day and can see when something goes south very early.

The ones who have the most problems with plugins are those that insert one without actually understanding what it REALLY does, only what they HOPE it does. Cleaning up that mess can be frustrating and time consuming.

Just an observation. I will add this one caveat: Plugins are third party working for themselves, not you, and thus don't actually know your business. They can make errors either early or late that can cause YOU problems... and can do it with any update they provide. In my opinion install only the MOST CRITICAL TO YOUR MISSION plugins and ignore the rest!

The more plugins you have, the greater risk of being hacked. Plugins are the #1 vector for wordpress attacks.
[zdnet.com...]

How Many Wordpress Plugins?

A multiple of 2, (2, 4, 6, 10 but not 8)

Or better, don't use Wordpress which is slow and bloated by design.

There are many plugins for a WordPress site, every plugin has his different work or mission. As you have mentioned that you want to update your products so you can go to the page in Wordpress and edit whatever you want to edit. I have used the Elementor Plugin. You can try it.

If you need too many plugins, it can mean that your actual Wordpress theme needs either an upgrade or it was a mistake to select for your project. Find a better one.