Optimization Detective
by WordPress Performance Team · Performance
Also makes 9 other plugins · 550K+ installs across the portfolio →
Provides a framework for leveraging real user metrics to detect optimizations for improving page performance.
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
B 83/100
Few reviews
Active installs
60K+
≈65K estimated
Momentum
-35%
downloads vs prior 30d
Biggest opportunity: Add “largest contentful paint”, “web performance optimization” and “detect” to your wp.org tags. You rank #4, #6 and #9 for them without listing them, close enough for a declared tag to move you up. WordPress.org counts only your first five tags, so with 3 listed these are the slots worth spending.
83 health vs 69 average across 1,808 Performance plugins
Install conversion
How it's measured →12%
of downloads still active
At least 60K of 510.3K lifetime downloads are still running, above its category: the median Performance plugin keeps 1.4%, across 1,103 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.
This plugin shipped 5 releases in the last 12 months, and every existing install that updated counted as another download. wp.org publishes no split between first installs and updates, so we show the raw rate rather than guess at one.
Details
- Version
- 1.0.0-beta7
- Last updated
- 2mo ago
- Added
- 2024-03-22 · 2 yrs old
- Requires WP
- 6.9
- Tested up to
- 7.1.4
- Requires PHP
- 7.4
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.
Excellent listing optimization
Most to gain: Rating quality
Updated 66 days ago
Tested up to WordPress 7.1.4, the current branch or newer
4.3★ over 3 reviews, smoothed to 4.11★ and held back under 25 reviews
3 of 5 tags set · short description in place
To rank higher: Too few reviews to rank on quality — nudge happy users to leave one.
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
-0.1
Velocity
places per keyword, 28d
19%
Breadth
of keywords climbing, 28d
-0.2
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| optimization detective | #1 | #3 | 0 |
| rum your tag | #1 | #1 | 0 |
| content optimization | #2 | #19 | down 1 |
| optimization your tag | #4 | #23 | 0 |
| site optimization | #3 | #23 | 0 |
| largest contentful paint | #4 | #18 | down 1 |
| performance optimization | #5 | #22 | down 2 |
| web performance optimization | #6 | #22 | 0 |
| detect | #9 | #22 | down 1 |
| optimizations | #12 | #24 | down 2 |
| on page optimization | #5 | #22 | 0 |
| metrics | #12 | #21 | 0 |
| wordpress optimization | #5 | #23 | down 1 |
| image optimization | #10 | #23 | up 2 |
| metrics js | #6 | #17 | up 1 |
| performance metrics | #9 | #18 | up 1 |
| page performance | #23 | #23 | down 2 |
| framework | #23 | #22 | 0 |
| core web vitals | #24 | #22 | down 2 |
| web vitals | #24 | #22 | 0 |
| performance your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
54 searches this plugin appeared in over the last 90 days, 20 listed. 33 left out as unrelated or noise (years, numbers, stray words). 1 of its tags isn't in the top 24 for their own search.
What to do about it
- Add “largest contentful paint”, “web performance optimization” and “detect” to your wp.org tags. You rank #4, #6 and #9 for them without listing them, close enough for a declared tag to move you up. WordPress.org counts only your first five tags, so with 3 listed these are the slots worth spending.
Daily downloads
Since 24 Mar 2024 · 952 days · wp.org + Plugin Pulse archive
30-day downloads
Rolling 30-day volume · peak 67.4K · 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
Actively maintainedHow often this plugin actually ships. A steady rhythm is the maintenance signal a single "last updated" date can't show.
5
releases in the last 12 months
2mo ago
latest release · v1.0.0-beta7 · 26 Aug 2026
19
tagged releases on record
Recent releases
What its installed base runs
via wordpress.orgShare of active installs on each version of this plugin · 96% 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 53% of the way through.
Install history since 23 Mar 2024
Recent reviews
All reviews on wp.org ↗- ★★★★★ ivanmecina1.3y ago
I installed this plugin together with the image optimiser and auto size plugins and I have seen a speed increase from 67 to 99! really happy with the results and no obvious downsides so far. Keep up the good work.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ Jonathan Wold1.4y ago
Really appreciate the efforts going into giving us tools for further improving performance optimization in WordPress. Love that it does it’s work without configuration. Recommendation: Add an “on install” notice that links to documentation, etc., to spare who missed the note in the description that there aren’t any settings, etc.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ jtohme1.6y ago
Gives error: The Optimization Detective REST API endpoint is unavailable. This topic was modified 1 year, 3 months ago by jtohme. This topic was modified 1 year, 3 months ago by jtohme. This topic was modified 1 year, 3 months ago by jtohme.
Read on wp.org ↗
Latest updates
via wp.org changelogRecent releases and news for this plugin
- — Version 1.0.0 Enhancements Add site health check to detect blocked REST API and short-circuit optimization when unavailable. ( 1762 ) Allow extensions to opt in to using the web-vitals attribution build via the od_use_web_vitals_attri 1.0.0
- — Version 0.9.0 Enhancements Add fetchpriority=high to IMG when it is the LCP element on desktop and mobile with other viewport groups empty. ( 1723 ) Improve debugging stored URL Metrics in Optimization Detective. ( 1656 ) Incorporate 0.9.0
- — Version 0.8.0 Enhancements Serve unminified scripts when SCRIPT_DEBUG is enabled. ( 1643 ) Bump web-vitals from 4.2.3 to 4.2.4. ( 1628 ) Bug Fixes Eliminate the detection time window which prevented URL Metrics from being gathered whe 0.8.0
- — Version 0.7.0 Enhancements Send gathered URL Metric data when the page is hidden/unloaded as opposed to once the page has loaded; this enables the ability to track layout shifts and INP scores over the life of the page. ( 1373 ) Intro 0.7.0
- — Version 0.6.0 Enhancements Allow URL Metric schema to be extended. ( 1492 ) Clarify docs around a tag visitor’s boolean return value. ( 1479 ) Include UUID with each URL Metric. ( 1489 ) Introduce get_cursor_move_count() to use instea 0.6.0
- — Version 0.5.0 Enhancements Bump web-vitals from 4.2.1 to 4.2.2. ( 1386 ) Bug Fixes Disable Optimization Detective by default on the embed template. ( 1472 ) Ensure only HTML documents are processed by Optimization Detective. ( 1442 ) 0.5.0
Behavioral tests
via WP HiveAutomated install-time checks, tested on PHP 8.1.12 · WP 6.7.1
Languages
via translate.wordpress.orgTranslated into 15 languages, 5 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
5 of 8 pass · checked 28 Oct 2026Can an assistant quote this readme? Eight deterministic checks over the wp.org listing, no model involved.
- ! Says what it does Short description names no action; say what the plugin does for the site.
- ✓ Has a FAQ 3 questions in the FAQ.
- ✓ FAQ asks real questions 3 of 3 read like questions a user would type.
- ! Names who it is for One audience phrase ("use cases"); say who the plugin is for and what they use it for.
- ✓ Names what it works with Mentions REST API.
- ! Headings and lists 0 headings and 0 lists; assistants quote headed sections and bullet lists, not paragraphs.
- ✓ Enough to quote 1,388 characters of description.
- ✓ Tags match the text 2 of 3 tags appear in the text; "rum" does not.
Growth timeline
Install-tier crossings we have observed, and how long each tier took to outgrow
- 2026-05-11 70K+ → 60K+ down after 233 days in tier
- 2025-09-20 60K+ → 70K+ up after 53 days in tier
- 2025-07-29 50K+ → 60K+ up after 61 days in tier
- 2025-05-29 40K+ → 50K+ up after 62 days in tier
- 2025-03-28 30K+ → 40K+ up after 49 days in tier
- 2025-02-07 20K+ → 30K+ up after 95 days in tier
- 2024-11-04 10K+ → 20K+ up after 82 days in tier
- 2024-08-14 9K+ → 10K+ up after 8 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).
-
AMP 300K+ installs · 3.8★ · 2 shared tags C -
Performance Lab 100K+ installs · 4.2★ · 2 shared tags A -
Image Prioritizer 40K+ installs · 4.0★ · 2 shared tags B -
WP Meteor Website Speed Optimization Addon 20K+ installs · 4.6★ · 2 shared tags A -
Flying Pages: Preload Pages for Faster Navigation & Improved User Experience 20K+ installs · 4.8★ · 2 shared tags A -
Delete Duplicate Posts 10K+ installs · 4.7★ · 2 shared tags A
Embed this report card
Drop a live Pulse card for Optimization Detective into a readme, a review or a deck. It updates itself.
<iframe src="https://plugins.wpmayor.com/embed/optimization-detective" width="480" height="300" style="border:0" loading="lazy" title="Optimization Detective — Plugin Pulse"></iframe> Optimization Detective: 60K+ active installs, 4.3★ (3 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-10-31. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/optimization-detective
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