Best free WordPress SEO plugins: Performance comparison

Today we’re comparing the most popular WordPress SEO plugins, focusing not on their features but on their performance. To make this easy to skim, here is the at‑a‑glance verdict:

• Fastest overall: The SEO Framework and Slim SEO (lowest execution time across frontend, dashboard, and editor)
• Best balance of speed and features: The SEO Framework
• Heaviest in most tests: Yoast SEO and All in One SEO (higher execution times and larger admin assets)
• Clean uninstall standout: All in One SEO (simple UI toggle).

So, here are the plugins we have selected for this comparison:

1. Yoast SEO v23.1 with 10+ million installations
2. All in One SEO v4.6.7.1 with 3+ million installations
3. Rank Math SEO v1.0.224 with 3+ million installations
4. SEOPress v8.0 with 300,000+ installations
5. The SEO Framework v5.0.6 with 200,000+ installations
6. Slim SEO v3.25.3 with 60,000+ installations

The minimum we ask of these plugins are the basic features we think an SEO plugin should have:

• The ability to edit the meta title and meta description of search result snippets
• Social media tags (Open Graph, Twitter cards…)
• XML sitemaps
• Structured data (schema)
• The ability to set the default images for social media and search engines

There are three plugins that are more popular than Slim SEO, but we have not included them in the list: Squirrly SEO, SEO SIMPLE PACK and BoldGrid Easy SEO. The first plugin takes a different approach to SEO by offloading many functions to its servers and using “holistic SEO” techniques, which puts it in a different category. The other two are too basic and lack one or more features we consider necessary. Let’s take a look at the numbers and find out which is the fastest WordPress SEO plugin.

Test conditions and environment

Each plugin has been set up under the following conditions:

• All onboarding wizards run with the default settings. To ensure a comparable baseline, we used a clean WordPress install with a lightweight default theme and no page caching or object caching enabled during measurement.
• We upload our site logo.
• We upload the default images for social media.
• Facebook and Twitter URLs added.
• Remove or disable all unnecessary features (which gives you an idea of how much bloated a plugin is). These are:
  • All in One SEO: Broken Links Checker, Analytics, Conversion Tools, Image SEO
  • Yoast SEO: Insights, Slack Sharing, SEMRush, Wincher
  • Rank Math: Open external links in new tab, AI, Analytics, SEO Analyzer
  • SEOPress: Analytics, Universal Metabox
  • Slim SEO: Image Alt Text, Redirection
• Enable the XML sitemap.
• Do not connect to Google Search Console.
• Hide announcements.
• No usage tracking enabled.
• If possible, the “readability” feature should be active, as it is always active with AIOSEO.
• Do not import any settings from any other plugin.
• Do not connect to external services (like Rank Math tries to do).

Performance metrics and why they matter

We measure the performance of each plugin with these metrics:

• Execution time in the frontend while logged out (ms)
• Execution time on the Dashboard page when logged in as admin (ms)
• Execution time on a single page editor (ms), on which all plugins load their metadata editors.
• Total size and number of CSS files in the backend, on a single page editor (KB)
• Total size and number of JS files in the backend, on a single page editor (KB)
• Does the plugin clean itself up after uninstallation? Or does it at least offer the option of removing the database information after uninstallation via the plugin settings?

The execution time is measured with the Code Profiler plugin, one plugin at a time and with no other plugins enabled. We repeated each execution time test three times and then averaged the results to ensure we were getting accurate times.

Frontend execution time and editor asset weight can also influence real‑world responsiveness, including user interactions and input delay, so lighter plugins tend to feel faster both for visitors and for editors working in the admin.

Results

	Yoast SEO	All in One SEO	Rank Math SEO	SEOPress	The SEO Framework	Slim SEO
Execution time – Frontend	71 ms	103 ms	69 ms	63 ms	35 ms	23 ms
Execution time – Dashboard	95 ms	138 ms	73 ms	54 ms	6 ms	13 ms
Execution time – Editor	177 ms	176 ms	96 ms	100 ms	20 ms	20 ms
Size and number of CSS files	48.8 KB / 14 files	82.6 KB / 39 files	34.1 KB / 7 files	14.4 KB / 3 files	5.7 KB / 5 files	1.2 KB / 1 file
Size and number of JS files	678 KB / 30 files	658 KB / 108 files	190 KB / 9 files	9.8 KB / 6 files	22.4 KB / 12 files	16 KB / 4 files
Clean uninstalling?	No	Yes (UI toggle)	Yes (filter)	No	Yes (multiple filters)	Yes (constant)

Key takeaways

• Both The SEO Framework and Slim SEO are the fastest SEO plugins for WordPress in our tests. They post the lowest execution times on the frontend and in the editor, at least twice as fast as the other options, with very small admin asset footprints.
• On the other side of the scale, Yoast SEO and All in One SEO are the worst SEO plugins in terms of performance in this comparison. They show consistently higher execution times and more loaded assets, which means that they will slow down your website.
• Oddly enough, All in One SEO is the only major SEO plugin that makes it straightforward to remove all settings and data on uninstall through the user interface. Most alternatives require additional technical steps (for example, Rank Math requires adding a constant to your wp-config.php file), while others provide a reset button that doesn’t truly uninstall the plugin or clean up all stored data. This can be an important factor if you expect to migrate between SEO plugins later on.

Conclusion

An SEO plugin should only offer a few selected options. Why? Because SEO is mainly done by the content itself. You don’t need AI features, you don’t need to track Google Search Console in your plugin and you don’t need breadcrumbs (which your theme should add, by the way). When choosing, prioritize low execution time and minimal admin assets; that keeps both visitor experience and your publishing workflow responsive.

Knowing this, if we had to pick a winner, it would be The SEO Framework, as it offers just the right amount of features without overloading the plugin. Slim SEO is also an excellent option, but we think the extra features that The SEO Framework offers compared to Slim SEO are useful, such as the ability to not index certain custom post types. In any case, you won’t go wrong with either plugin.

So if you currently use Yoast SEO or All in One SEO and value speed (chances are you do), do yourself a favor and stop using them. The latter in particular is 20% useful and 80% an advertisement for the rest of its parent company services.

What do you think? Share your experiences and preferences in the comments! And if you want to optimize your site further, you can also let us do it for you with a Complete Speed Optimization!