Check another plugin’s status from WordPress

WordPress, being one of the most popular content management systems, provides an ecosystem enriched with thousands of plugins. These plugins contribute significantly to the functionality and flexibility of a WordPress website. Managing multiple plugins, however, often involves checking their updated status, activation states, or compatibility with other plugins. Developers and site administrators may sometimes need to check the status of another plugin programmatically or through the admin interface for performance tuning, debugging, or integration purposes.

TL;DR

In WordPress, checking the status of another plugin can help you confirm whether it is active, updated, or compatible with your site setup. This can be achieved through admin menus, plugin files, or using WordPress functions like is_plugin_active(). Additional tools and APIs also allow developers to interact with plugin data. Understanding this process is essential for smooth plugin integration and site performance.

How to Check Another Plugin’s Status in WordPress

There are multiple ways to determine the current status of a plugin in WordPress. Whether a plugin is active, inactive, outdated, or missing, these methods help you manage your site more efficiently or develop conditional code that depends on certain plugins.

1. Check via the WordPress Admin Dashboard

The easiest way to check the status of installed plugins is through the WordPress backend interface:

From the WordPress dashboard, go to Plugins » Installed Plugins.
You will see a list of all the plugins currently installed on your website.
Each plugin shows its status: active plugins will be highlighted and have a ‘Deactivate’ link, while inactive ones show an ‘Activate’ option.
Below each plugin’s name, update availability and compatibility details may also appear.

This method is intuitive and ideal for non-developer users managing their own websites.

[h-img]wordpress plugin dashboard interface ui[/ai-img]

2. Use WordPress Functions to Check Plugin Status

Developers often need to check plugin status programmatically within themes or other plugins. WordPress offers built-in functions for this purpose:

`is_plugin_active()`

This function allows you to check whether a specific plugin is active:

include_once( ABSPATH . 'wp-admin/includes/plugin.php' );

if ( is_plugin_active( 'woocommerce/woocommerce.php' ) ) {
    // WooCommerce is active
}

Ensure that you include the plugin.php file first, which is located in the wp-admin/includes directory. Otherwise, you may encounter an error when calling is_plugin_active().

`is_plugin_inactive()`

This is the inverse of is_plugin_active() and can be used to confirm that the plugin is not currently operational:

if ( is_plugin_inactive( 'hello-dolly/hello.php' ) ) {
    // Hello Dolly is not active
}

3. Check Plugin File Existence

Sometimes, you may want to confirm whether a plugin is installed (regardless of its activation status). Use the following PHP function:

if ( file_exists( WP_PLUGIN_DIR . '/plugin-folder/plugin-file.php' ) ) {
    // Plugin is installed
}

This method is particularly helpful if you’re building a plugin extension or integration and want to determine if the dependent plugin exists in the system.

4. Use the Plugin API

WordPress provides a Plugin API that can be used to retrieve a wide range of information about a plugin, especially from the WordPress Plugin Repository. Although more complex to implement, it’s effective for fetching data such as:

Latest version available
Compatibility information
Plugin author details
User ratings and reviews

Sample usage with plugins_api():

$plugin_info = plugins_api( 'plugin_information', array(
    'slug' => 'contact-form-7',
    'fields' => array(
        'short_description' => true,
        'sections' => false,
    ),
) );

This requires using AJAX or calling from within WordPress admin to prevent unnecessary delays on frontend performance.

5. Using WP-CLI for Administrators

For system administrators or developers with terminal access, the WP-CLI tool offers a quick way to check plugin statuses. Run the command:

wp plugin status

This will list all plugins along with their status (active, inactive, must-use, or network-active).

To check the status of a specific plugin:

wp plugin is-active woocommerce

It will return exit status 0 if the plugin is active, or exit status 1 if inactive.

[h-img]terminal wp cli plugin status[/ai-img]

6. Plugins That Help Manage Other Plugins

Several management plugins exist that can help monitor and control the status of other plugins. Examples include:

Plugin Organizer – Allows you to reorder and selectively load plugins.
WP Rollback – Enables rolling back plugins to a previous version, useful after version conflict.
ManageWP Worker – Integrates with the ManageWP dashboard to show plugin statuses across multiple websites.

These tools provide plugin insights that go beyond simple activation or deactivation, giving performance, history, and compatibility data.

7. Watch Out for Multi-site Considerations

If you’re operating a WordPress multisite network, plugin behavior differs slightly. Network-activated plugins are active for all sites in the network. You must check plugin status accordingly:

if ( is_plugin_active_for_network( 'plugin-folder/plugin-file.php' ) ) {
    // Plugin is active across the network
}

This function is especially important for administrators working in a networked environment where standard plugin activity checks may not apply universally.

Why Checking Plugin Status Matters

Understanding and monitoring plugin statuses is crucial because:

It prevents plugin conflicts and site errors.
Enables conditional logic for theme or plugin behavior based on active plugins.
Keeps the site secure and performance-optimized by spotting outdated or inactive components.
Helps third-party developers ensure compatibility with core functionalities or extensions.

Conclusion

Whether you’re a site administrator or developer, checking the status of another plugin in WordPress is both a fundamental and essential task. With a variety of methods at your disposal—from admin interface checks to WordPress functions and CLI commands—keeping track of plugin behavior is efficient and actionable. As WordPress continues to evolve, mastery over plugin management ensures better performance, security, and integration across your projects.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q: Can I check the plugin status without accessing the admin dashboard?: A: Yes, developers can use WordPress functions like is_plugin_active() or WP-CLI commands for CLI access users.
Q: Is there a way to automatically deactivate a plugin if another required plugin is missing?: A: Yes, using activation hooks in your plugin, combined with is_plugin_active() or file_exists(), you can set conditions and deactivate your plugin conditionally.
Q: Can plugins be partially active?: A: No, plugins are either active, inactive, or must-use (MU). However, some plugins may disable certain features if dependencies aren’t met.
Q: How do I monitor plugins across multiple WordPress sites?: A: Tools like ManageWP, MainWP, or InfiniteWP let you check and update plugins across multiple WordPress installations from one dashboard.
Q: Does plugin status checking affect site performance?: A: Not significantly, especially if implemented properly using internal WordPress functions and avoiding frontend-heavy calls.