<p>I don't believe there's any significant impact in having multiple small plugins vs. one big plugin. It's probably safe to say that there is a <em>small</em> amount of overhead in loading each plugin separately, but that effect is probably negligible.</p>

<p>Personally, I'd keep all of that functionality combined into a single plugin. You say they are for "different, likely unrelated, things", but I'm guessing that they all serve a larger purpose of handling the <strong>business logic</strong>. If you haven't already, you may want to check out the <a href="https://github.com/lindseydiloreto/craft-businesslogic">Business Logic template</a>, which is designed as a starter plugin for exactly this type of scenario.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-03-16T18:18:32.697Z
2016-03-16T18:18:32.697Z
Lindsey D
<p>I'm finding that occasionally (especially on larger sites), there are little bits of functionality that I need that Craft doesn't offer out of the box. The functionality is usually simple and relatively specific, so I find myself quickly writing little plugins that do the job. Currently I've been creating separate plugins for each bit of functionality I need which can result in some sites having upwards of 5 or 6 small plugins, along with any other plugins that I might be using.</p>

<p>This led me to wonder, when it comes to keeping our Craft installs running as cleanly and efficiently as possible, which is better:</p>

<p>a. Having one large plugin that does multiple different, likely unrelated, things.</p>

<p>b. Having multiple smaller plugins, each doing their own thing.</p>

<p>From a development standpoint I find that having separate plugins makes life easier because everything is more organised, but is this having an impact on Crafts performance?</p>

<plugins><performance>
One large plugin vs multiple smaller plugins
# One large plugin vs multiple smaller plugins

(Asked by: username_0 on 2016-03-16)

I'm finding that occasionally (especially on larger sites), there are little bits of functionality that I need that Craft doesn't offer out of the box. The functionality is usually simple and relatively specific, so I find myself quickly writing little plugins that do the job. Currently I've been creating separate plugins for each bit of functionality I need which can result in some sites having upwards of 5 or 6 small plugins, along with any other plugins that I might be using.

This led me to wonder, when it comes to keeping our Craft installs running as cleanly and efficiently as possible, which is better:

a. Having one large plugin that does multiple different, likely unrelated, things.

b. Having multiple smaller plugins, each doing their own thing.

From a development standpoint I find that having separate plugins makes life easier because everything is more organised, but is this having an impact on Crafts performance?

**Tags:** plugins, performance


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2016-03-16. Score: 4 | Accepted answer

I don't believe there's any significant impact in having multiple small plugins vs. one big plugin. It's probably safe to say that there is a *small* amount of overhead in loading each plugin separately, but that effect is probably negligible.

Personally, I'd keep all of that functionality combined into a single plugin. You say they are for "different, likely unrelated, things", but I'm guessing that they all serve a larger purpose of handling the **business logic**. If you haven't already, you may want to check out the [Business Logic template](https://github.com/lindseydiloreto/craft-businesslogic), which is designed as a starter plugin for exactly this type of scenario.


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