How do I stop third-party scripts from slowing my store?

Mostly yes. It's about how and when they load, not whether you have them. Tracking pixels and analytics should load with async/defer so they don't block rendering, and anything non-essential (chat widgets, onsite popups) can be deferred until the page is interactive or the user scrolls.

Where possible, consolidate: route tags through one manager instead of hard-coding each, and drop duplicates you forgot you installed. The goal is keeping the main thread free during the first couple of seconds so your content paints fast; the trackers can fire a beat later without anyone noticing.