Plugins and Fast WordPress Sites – It’s not the Number of Plugins, It’s the Quality | WP Engine DXP
Read about the more crucial areas of site speed and the most common myths about how to make WordPress load fast.
TL;DR: The number of plugins you have doesn’t really matter if they’re well coded.
If every entry level tech support person at every shitty hosting company would read this, we might be able to get somewhere.