Title: High CPU usage from plugin
Last modified: June 16, 2025

---

# High CPU usage from plugin

 *  Resolved [sambo613](https://wordpress.org/support/users/sambo613/)
 * (@sambo613)
 * [11 months, 2 weeks ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/high-cpu-usage-from-plugin/)
 * We are experiencing high CPU usage on our website server and it appears to be
   from the Popular Posts plugin (see screenshot). What is causing this and how 
   can we fix it?
 * ![](https://i0.wp.com/i.imgur.com/GjR8FoW.png?ssl=1)
 * The page I need help with: _[[log in](https://login.wordpress.org/?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Fwordpress.org%2Fsupport%2Ftopic%2Fhigh-cpu-usage-from-plugin%2F%3Foutput_format%3Dmd&locale=en_US)
   to see the link]_

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)

 *  Plugin Author [Hector Cabrera](https://wordpress.org/support/users/hcabrera/)
 * (@hcabrera)
 * [11 months, 2 weeks ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/high-cpu-usage-from-plugin/#post-18514578)
 * Hey [@sambo613](https://wordpress.org/support/users/sambo613/),
 * The /wp-json/wordpress-popular-posts/v2/widget request is reading from your database
   to pull your popular posts data and render them on the front-end.
 * Database read operations are usually fast unless there’s a problem with the database
   itself, for example:
    - Database tables needing optimization (data fragmentation, storage, etc)
    - Large database tables (in WPP’s case there’s a [Performance wiki section](https://github.com/cabrerahector/wordpress-popular-posts/wiki/7.-Performance)
      that talks about this, I highly recommend giving it a read)
    - Lack of proper caching mechanisms (eg. Redis, Memcached, etc.), specially 
      with large / high-traffic sites
    - Presence of other resource-intensive scripts / processes on your server that
      are having a direct impact on your site’s REST API endpoints
 * And the list goes on.
 * It might be a good idea to do a full site review to find all potential bottlenecks
   and optimize as much as possible.
 *  Thread Starter [sambo613](https://wordpress.org/support/users/sambo613/)
 * (@sambo613)
 * [11 months, 2 weeks ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/high-cpu-usage-from-plugin/#post-18514611)
 * Thank you. I’ve disabled the plugin in the meantime because it has crashed our
   site. Could I reach out to you to discuss further?
 *  Plugin Author [Hector Cabrera](https://wordpress.org/support/users/hcabrera/)
 * (@hcabrera)
 * [11 months, 2 weeks ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/high-cpu-usage-from-plugin/#post-18514623)
 * Sure, feel free to use my [contact form](https://cabrerahector.com/about/#say-hi)
   to reach out to me. I usually prefer public interactions though because it often
   helps future readers debug their own issues as well so please keep that in mind.
    -  This reply was modified 11 months, 2 weeks ago by [Hector Cabrera](https://wordpress.org/support/users/hcabrera/).
      Reason: Added link to contact form
 *  Plugin Author [Hector Cabrera](https://wordpress.org/support/users/hcabrera/)
 * (@hcabrera)
 * [11 months, 2 weeks ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/high-cpu-usage-from-plugin/#post-18514685)
 * Got your message. Reply sent.
 *  Plugin Author [Hector Cabrera](https://wordpress.org/support/users/hcabrera/)
 * (@hcabrera)
 * [11 months, 1 week ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/high-cpu-usage-from-plugin/#post-18518145)
 * OP reported via email that the issue was being caused by a third-party plugin
   and so I’m marking this topic as resolved for now.

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)

The topic ‘High CPU usage from plugin’ is closed to new replies.

 * ![](https://ps.w.org/wordpress-popular-posts/assets/icon-256x256.png?rev=1232659)
 * [WP Popular Posts](https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-popular-posts/)
 * [Frequently Asked Questions](https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-popular-posts/#faq)
 * [Support Threads](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wordpress-popular-posts/)
 * [Active Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wordpress-popular-posts/active/)
 * [Unresolved Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wordpress-popular-posts/unresolved/)
 * [Reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wordpress-popular-posts/reviews/)

 * 5 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [Hector Cabrera](https://wordpress.org/support/users/hcabrera/)
 * Last activity: [11 months, 1 week ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/high-cpu-usage-from-plugin/#post-18518145)
 * Status: resolved