How to Install Simply Static WordPress Plugin

If your site needs high speed and you don’t want to mess with the database and WordPress plugins, Simply Static can be a great solution. In my personal experience, using Simply Static on a site dramatically reduced page load times and allowed me to host the site on GitHub Pages for free. This experience showed that for sites where speed and high availability are important, staticizing the site can be a game-changer for you too.

Why a static site for WordPress?

Using Simply Static isn’t just about speed. It changes the way you build and manage websites:

• Instead of running WordPress with a database and server processes, your site is converted into plain HTML files.
• This means fewer things will break and pages will load faster.
• It’s a great option for sites like blogs, company pages, or documentation, where speed and availability are important.

Key features of Simply Static 

Create a Static Site Without Coding:

With one click, Simply Static turns your WordPress site into a full-fledged static site. No technical knowledge or command line commands required.

Easy Updates:

To change a post or image, Incremental Export only publishes the changed portion, without the need to rebuild the entire site. This feature is very useful on sites with continuous publishing.

Rapid Release:

The Single and Build Export options allow for rapid release of changes and are ideal for sites with rapid, continuous releases.

Real-world static site security and performance

Personal experience and independent testing show that static sites perform better than dynamic sites on metrics like Time to First Byte (TTFB) and Core Web Vitals. For example, switching from WordPress with PHP to static HTML reduced TTFB by up to 70% on a typical server.

Note: Dynamic sites still excel in scenarios that require user login or content personalization, so the claim of “faster and more secure” should be considered based on the type of site.

Static Website vs Dynamic Website

While static sites are faster and cheaper, they lack dynamic features like user accounts and comments. For content-driven or brochure sites, static is ideal. For platforms like e-commerce or social networks, dynamic architecture is often required.

How to Install the Simply Static Plugin

You can try and install the Simply Static plugin using 2 methods that we provided in this blog:

Method 1: Installing from WordPress Dashboard

A) The first method for installing the Simply Static WordPress Plugin:

1- Log in to your WordPress dashboard.

2-On the left side of the menu, you have to select plugin then click on “Add New”

3- In the Search Plugins box, you have to type “Simply Static” and press Enter.

4- Here, you can see the list of search results that should include the Simply Static plugin. Click on the Install Now button.

5- After installing the plugin, it is time to activate it, you have to click on the plugin to activate the link, After that, you can see the Simply Static plugin in the left menu:

Method 2: Manual Installation via Hosting Panel

B) The Second way to install the Simply Static WordPress Plugin:

1) Open your Hosting control pane (Cpanel, DirectAdmin, etc).

2) Upload the Downloaded Simply Static WordPress plugin to the /wp-content/plugins/ directory.

Note: Some hosting environments block ZIP upload, use File Manager or FTP if plugin upload fails.

3) In WordPress, activate the plugin by navigating to the ‘Plugins‘ menu.

When is Simply Static not suitable?

• If your site relies on comments, user logins, or dynamic features
• If you need to personalize content based on the user

In these situations, it is better to use a dynamic site

Practical Analysis and Real-World Experience

My personal experience showed that Simply Static makes managing simple sites very easy:

• Company sites and blogs run without the need for a database
• Free hosting on GitHub Pages is available
• Updating and publishing content is quick and hassle-free

In other words, Simply Static is the best option for sites that don’t require complex interactions and are looking for speed and easy maintenance.

Conclusion

Simply Static is a real and practical tool for users who value speed, security, and easy maintenance. Personal experience has shown that:

• Static site is faster and more secure
• Publishing content is simple and does not require a database
• The site can be hosted on a free or local server

For informational sites and blogs, this tool improves user experience and simplifies maintenance.