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✅ 1. Use the Query Monitor Plugin (The Sherlock of WP)

Install from wp-admin:

• Go to Plugins → Add New
• Search: Query Monitor
• Activate it

Then:

• Visit your frontend and admin pages
• You’ll see a Query Monitor bar showing:
  • Slowest queries
  • Plugins responsible for them
  • REST API calls
  • Hooks or AJAX running slow

⚠️ Important: Use it during traffic or load spike hours if possible.

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✅ 2. Use WP-CLI to Profile Plugins (CLI-style Diagnosis)

Install WP-CLI if not present:

curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wp-cli/builds/gh-pages/phar/wp-cli.phar
chmod +x wp-cli.phar
sudo mv wp-cli.phar /usr/local/bin/wp

Navigate to your WordPress root:

cd /home/{User}/public_html

Then check plugin status:

wp plugin list --fields=name,status,update

Now disable ALL plugins temporarily:

wp plugin deactivate --all

Test site. If the CPU/memory load drops:
➡️ Yes! A plugin is causing the problem.

Now re-enable one by one:

wp plugin activate plugin-name

Monitor after each activation.

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✅ 3. Temporarily Rename the Plugins Folder (Emergency Mode)

Go to:

cd /home/{User}/public_html/wp-content/
mv plugins plugins_backup
mkdir plugins

Reload your site. If it loads blank/basic and load drops — it was plugin-related.

To restore:

rm -rf plugins
mv plugins_backup plugins

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✅ 4. Check for Plugins That:

• Use cron (newsletter, backup, sync)
• Send API requests (analytics, social feeds)
• Create shortcodes that query DB heavily
• Call external scripts (chatbots, forms)

Some frequent offenders:

Plugin Type	Risky Examples
Page Builders	Elementor (with complex widgets)
Backups	UpdraftPlus, BackWPup (if set hourly)
Security	Wordfence (with live traffic scan)
SEO	Rank Math (if auto-crawling enabled)
Email	MailPoet, Newsletter (on auto-send)
Stats	Jetpack, MonsterInsights

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🔥 Ultimate Trick: Enable WP Debug Log to Trace Requests

Edit wp-config.php:

define('WP_DEBUG', true);
define('WP_DEBUG_LOG', true);
define('WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', false);

Then check:

tail -f /home/{User}/public_html/wp-content/debug.log

This can reveal PHP warnings or notices from faulty plugins.

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🧠 Recommendation Summary

Task	Benefit
Use Query Monitor	Shows slowest plugin/query
Use WP-CLI	Disable/enable to isolate offender
Rename plugins dir	Quick diagnosis
Check debug.log	See background errors
Use server logs	Combine with /var/log/httpd/access_log