A2 Optimized WP – Turbocharge and secure your WordPress site
by A2 Hosting · Performance
Make your site faster and more secure with the click of a few buttons
Try it live opens a temporary test site in your browser, which can take about 20 seconds to load. Plugins that rely on outside services or a full server may not work completely there.
Health
C 58/100
Stale
Active installs
60K+
≈65K estimated
Momentum
+22%
downloads vs prior 30d
Biggest opportunity: Swap “cache” and “optimize” for “optimized” and “largest contentful paint”. “cache” isn't earning its slot: you're not in the first 24 results for its own search. “optimized” sits at #20 untagged, close enough for a declared tag to move it up. “optimize” isn't earning its slot: you're not in the first 24 results for its own search. “largest contentful paint” sits at #23 untagged, close enough for a declared tag to move it up. All five slots are taken, so one has to go.
58 health vs 69 average across 1,806 Performance plugins
Install conversion
How it's measured →2.9%
of downloads still active
At least 60K of 2.1M lifetime downloads are still running, above its category: the median Performance plugin keeps 1.4%, across 1,099 plugins.
Downloads count every update, not just first installs, so older and more frequently released plugins read lower. Compare against other Performance plugins, not across the directory. wp.org reports active installs as the bottom of a band, so the real rate is this or higher.
Details
Recent review vibe
read from the latest 12 reviews to 2026-02-10Older reviewers praise big speed gains on A2 hosting, but the newer ones report broken sites, buggy behaviour and clashes with A2's own tooling that support can't untangle.
Directory ranking optimization
How it's scored →How well this listing is tuned to rank in WordPress.org search, on the factors an owner controls. Not popularity, optimization.
Well optimized
Most to gain: Update recency
Updated 628 days ago, past the ~180 days where wp.org starts discounting
Tested up to WordPress 6.7.11; the current branch is 6.8
3.1★ over 43 reviews, smoothed to 3.64★
5 of 5 tags set · short description in place
To rank higher: Last updated 628 days ago — ship an update; wp.org decays a listing's search weight after ~180 days.
Get the full rank-higher report →Search visibility
How it's tracked →Directory searches this plugin turns up in, and which way each one is moving. WordPress.org publishes no history of search positions, so this starts the day we first tracked a keyword and never backfills.
38
Momentum
Losing ground
-0.2
Velocity
places per keyword, 23d
15%
Breadth
of keywords climbing, 23d
+0.1
Acceleration
recent half vs earlier
wp.org is where the directory puts the plugin for that search. On merit is where it would sit if results were ranked on rating, support and updates, without the install boost. The last column is how far the wp.org position moved, from our first reading in the last 90 days to the latest.
| Keyword | wp.org | On merit | wp.org move, 90 days |
|---|---|---|---|
| a2 hosting your tag | #1 | #1 | 0 |
| optimized | #20 | #22 | down 1 |
| largest contentful paint | #23 | #20 | down 1 |
| cache your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| optimize your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| site performancerequires at least: 5.1 your tag | Not checked yet | ||
| speed your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
13 searches this plugin appeared in over the last 90 days, 3 listed. 10 left out as unrelated or noise (years, numbers, stray words). 3 of its tags aren't in the top 24 for their own search.
What to do about it
- Swap “cache” and “optimize” for “optimized” and “largest contentful paint”. “cache” isn't earning its slot: you're not in the first 24 results for its own search. “optimized” sits at #20 untagged, close enough for a declared tag to move it up. “optimize” isn't earning its slot: you're not in the first 24 results for its own search. “largest contentful paint” sits at #23 untagged, close enough for a declared tag to move it up. All five slots are taken, so one has to go.
Daily downloads
Since 5 Oct 2022 · 1,488 days · wp.org + Plugin Pulse archive
30-day downloads
Rolling 30-day volume · peak 102.4K · peaks are release surges
Directory rank vs rivals
wp.org popularity rank over time · higher is better · when a rival's line climbs above yours, they've overtaken you
Rating trend
Star average over time · dips mark rough releases
Health trend
Composite health score, snapshotted daily
Update activity
How busy the existing users are, measured as downloads in the last 30 days for every 1,000 active sites. A spike means a new release everyone's pulling; a long, slow decline means an aging user base that updates less.
Release cadence
No release in a yearHow often this plugin actually ships. A steady rhythm is the maintenance signal a single "last updated" date can't show.
0
releases in the last 12 months
1.7y ago
latest release · v3.0.13 · 10 Feb 2025
93
tagged releases on record
Recent releases
What its installed base runs
via wordpress.orgShare of active installs on each version of this plugin · 84% run the current release. Green is the current release; a big slice on older versions is a user base that has stopped updating.
Estimated active installs
The public count shows “60K+”. Our estimate pins where the real number sits.
Crossed into this band 6 months ago; a band this size takes about a year or more to cross, which places it about 52% of the way through.
Install history since 9 Dec 2019
Recent reviews
All reviews on wp.org ↗- ★★★★★ saardvark9mo ago
Broke any site I used it on. Great concept, poorly executed
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ Pablo2.2y ago
“Your site has 880 autoloaded options (size: 6 MB) in the options table, which could cause your site to be slow.” Query check: SELECT option_name, length(option_value) AS option_value_length FROM wp_options WHERE autoload='yes' ORDER BY option_value_length DESC; option_name: a2opt-benchmarks-frontendoption_value_lengh: 5431864 A2 Hosting Support answer (After many messages): “We understand your concern about the ‘a2opt-benchmarks-frontend’ option and its size. You’re absolutely correct that this option is related to A2 Optimized. To clarify, this option stores performance benchmark data collected by the A2 Optimized plugin. While the size is significant, it’s important to emphasize that this data is only autoloaded in the backend while you’re signed in and will not impact your frontend performance in any way.” CONCLUSION: A2OPTIMIZED DOES THE OPPOSITE, BUT DON´T WORRY. This topic was modified 1 year, 10 months ago by Pablo.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ DDDDD2.2y ago
The A2 Optimize plugin is fundamentally a good idea but very poorly coded with numerous bugs and inconsistencies. It also seems to have significant incompatibilities with A2 TurboHub which leads to endless tail chasing as fixing something in one breaks something in the other. It’ll be great when (or if it ever) works stably but I’ve probably wasted 7-10 days failing to get it sorted. A2 support, normally very good, don’t seem equipped to deal with with the combination of their own plugins as they believe they have fixed specific issues without realizing that they have just created an issue elsewhere.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ lbdesign2.8y ago
Update 1: The plugin seems to have been improved since my first review. Update 2: A2 tech support intervened and helped reconfigure the plugin, using their CDN. It’s much better now after their help. Original review: I’m an A2 customer. I had a bad time with this plugin a few years ago. I’ve since run on A2 without their plugin. I tried it again today, and with the basic optimizations switched on, my mobile score dropped by 6 points. It’s now uninstalled yet again, and I won’t be making this mistake a 3rd time. There are too many good optimization plugins out there to choose from. This topic was modified 2 years, 1 month ago by lbdesign. This topic was modified 2 years ago by lbdesign.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ Chris3.5y ago
First off, if you are having any issues with this plugin (I see a few negative reviews), like me, you probably don’t know what you are doing. I had issues too because I didn’t know the best way to set this up. I jumped on a call with A2 support (ask for Jake, he’s the man!) to get mine fixed up correctly, and the site is now blazing fast. A score of 100 on page speed insights desktop, 77 on mobile (a very respectable result for a review site with ads and Amazon plugins), and an A on GTmetix. There’s no way to BS if you check with third-party tools, and they hit the bullseye. If you don’t know what you are doing, get this set up correctly with the A2 team. You’re site will definitely benefit.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ lindaholley3.5y ago
A-2 hosting just optimized my website. far so good, lets see how this plays out. I am excited about the potential outcome or a faster website.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ natkrul3.6y ago
A2 Hosting support installed this plugin for my site and it has sped it up by 91%. Thank you.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ rom1our3.6y ago
The plugin works very well with the Litespeed Cache plugin. In my case I had to disable Litespeed because my proxy (Ezoic) is not Litespeed compatible and in this case also the object cache is disabled, which caused major problems. In conclusion, my observation is that the plugin brings a decisive advantage in conjunction with Litespeed Cache. This topic was modified 3 years, 3 months ago by rom1our. This topic was modified 3 years, 3 months ago by rom1our.
Read on wp.org ↗
Latest updates
via wp.org changelogRecent releases and news for this plugin
- — Version 3.0.10 Automatically clean out old front-end benchmarks results as they were getting quite large for some sites. 3.0.10
- — Version 3.0.8 Fixed an issue where sites with low memory limits and tens of thousands of large images may experience problems loading the A2 Optimized dashboard. 3.0.8
- — Version 3.0.7 Revised list of Best Practices Built-in Disk Caching will now auto-detect and apply optimizations for WooCommerce 3.0.7
- — Version 3.0.6.6 Tested with WordPress 6.4 Additional A2 TurboHub functionality Small bug fixes 3.0.6.6
- — Version 3.0.6.4 Tested with WordPress 6.2.1 Adjusted timeouts with pulling data from Google Pagespeed API 3.0.6.4
- — Version 3.0.6 Tested with WordPress 6.2 Feature to use bcrypt for storing password hashes Feature to remove old backups of wp-config 3.0.6
Security history
via Wordfence IntelligenceThe 1 disclosed vulnerability is patched in the current version (3.0.13). Sites still on an older version should update.
Vulnerability records provided by Wordfence Intelligence. Copyright 2012-2026 Defiant Inc. License and terms.
CVE records: Copyright 1999-2026 The MITRE Corporation. CVE terms of use.
Behavioral tests
via WP HiveAutomated install-time checks, tested on PHP 8.1.12 · WP 6.7.1
Languages
via translate.wordpress.orgTranslated into 1 language, 0 at 90% or more
AI assistants
How it's measured →Whether ChatGPT and Claude name this plugin when asked the category question, and whether the readme gives them something to quote.
Not measured yet for this plugin’s topics. Its tracked searches are not among the measured topics. See the topics measured so far.
Readme readiness
7 of 8 pass · checked 31 Oct 2026Can an assistant quote this readme? Eight deterministic checks over the wp.org listing, no model involved.
- ✓ Says what it does "Make your site faster and more secure with the click of a few buttons"
- ✓ Has a FAQ 4 questions in the FAQ.
- ✓ FAQ asks real questions 4 of 4 read like questions a user would type.
- ! Names who it is for Never says who the plugin is for or what they use it for.
- ✓ Names what it works with Mentions WooCommerce, Jetpack.
- ✓ Headings and lists 3 headings and 2 lists.
- ✓ Enough to quote 5,048 characters of description.
- ✓ Tags match the text 4 of 5 tags appear in the text; "site performanceRequires at least: 5.1" does not.
Growth timeline
Install-tier crossings we have observed, and how long each tier took to outgrow
- 2026-05-09 70K+ → 60K+ down after 205 days in tier
- 2025-10-16 80K+ → 70K+ down after 660 days in tier
- 2023-12-26 70K+ → 80K+ up after 193 days in tier
- 2023-06-16 60K+ → 70K+ up after 220 days in tier
- 2022-11-08 50K+ → 60K+ up after 887 days in tier
- 2020-06-04 40K+ → 50K+ up after 437 days in tier
- 2019-03-25 30K+ → 40K+ up after 65 days in tier
- 2019-01-19 20K+ → 30K+ up after 708 days in tier
Competes with
The plugins that solve the same job, ranked by shared tags then reach, closest match first. The letter on the right is each plugin's health grade (A best, F worst).
-
10Web Booster – Website speed optimization, Cache & Page Speed optimizer 60K+ installs · 4.6★ · 3 shared tags A -
Cachify 9K+ installs · 4.5★ · 3 shared tags C -
BerqWP – All-In-One Optimization for Core Web Vitals, Cache, CDN, Images, CSS & JavaScript 4K+ installs · 4.2★ · 3 shared tags B -
WP Fastest Cache – WordPress Cache Plugin 1M+ installs · 4.9★ · 2 shared tags A -
Jetpack Boost – Website Speed, Performance and Critical CSS 200K+ installs · 4.6★ · 2 shared tags A -
Aruba HiSpeed Cache 100K+ installs · 3.5★ · 2 shared tags B
Embed this report card
Drop a live Pulse card for A2 Optimized WP – Turbocharge and secure your WordPress site into a readme, a review or a deck. It updates itself.
<iframe src="https://plugins.wpmayor.com/embed/a2-optimized-wp" width="480" height="300" style="border:0" loading="lazy" title="A2 Optimized WP – Turbocharge and secure your WordPress site — Plugin Pulse"></iframe> A2 Optimized WP – Turbocharge and secure your WordPress site: 60K+ active installs, 3.1★ (43 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-10-31. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/a2-optimized-wp
Spotted a number that looks wrong? Report a data issue and we'll check it against the source.