Rank Math

Item: Rank Math
Rating: 88
Author: Fast WordPress

by Rank Math

Schema-rich SEO with a smaller frontend footprint than most rivals.

88 · Fast4.8FreemiumLight impact

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This link may earn us a commission. It does not affect the score. Last tested 4 September 2026.

Measured result

Rank Math on bench-01

Performance score

Measured on a 2 vCPU reference host

LCP: 1.41 s
CLS: 0.01
TTFB: 196 ms
Page: 624 KB
Requests: 33
Impact: Light

Median of 3 cold-cache runs, 4 September 2026.

How we tested

A clean WordPress 6.8 install on a 2 vCPU / 4 GB London host, PHP 8.3, 20 posts and one page builder template. We record a baseline, activate Rank Math with its default settings, and re-run three cold-cache tests. The published figure is the median.

Try Rank Math live

Press play to start a private, throwaway WordPress site in your browser with Rank Math version 1.0.278 already installed. Nothing is saved and nothing touches your own site: close the page and it disappears.

Open the demo full screenSandbox provided by WordPress Playground, the official WordPress in-browser sandbox. The admin login is filled in for you.

Where Rank Math ranks elsewhere

Publisher	List	Position
Elegant Themes	Best WordPress Plugins	#1 of 40
Themeisle	Best WordPress Plugins	#3 of 22
WPBeginner	Best WordPress SEO Plugins and Tools	#12 of 15

Positions are read from the published articles themselves, so they reflect that publisher's order rather than ours. Lists get re-ordered over time, so follow the link if you want the current version.

What changed in the latest version

v1.0.278Latest releaseSep 08, 2026

Added [HUGE!] MCP Tools now allow users to connect with AI assistants through OAuth .
Added new MCP Tools to fetch Redirections, Robots.txt, and LLMs.txt data.
Added Content AI support to pre-fill the Focus Keyword field using the keywords already added to the post.
Fixed the Post/Page editor incorrectly showing "Review 1 change" with a save prompt on every load when using block themes.
Fixed the Recalculate SEO Score option showing in Redirections & Schema plugin importers, where it does not apply.
Fixed 404 Monitor exclude paths losing their comparison key when multiple paths were saved at once.
Fixed a compatibility issue with WPML where the Local SEO Contact page was missing the ContactPage Schema type for non-default languages.

Release notes are the developer's own words, published on WordPress.org. Read the full changelog

Pros & cons

Adds no stylesheet and almost no script to the frontend
Schema generator covers Article, Product, FAQ and How-To
Modules can be switched off individually

Admin screens are heavy on larger sites
Some modules duplicate features you already have

The full review

An SEO plugin should be invisible to visitors. Rank Math mostly is: with all modules enabled it added 4 KB to our reference page and no render-blocking requests.

The admin story is different. On a 5,000-post site the module dashboard and content analysis noticeably slow editing, so disable the modules you do not use.

Compared with close alternatives

Plugin	Score	LCP	Price
Rank Math	88	1.41 s	Freemium
Yoast SEO	84	1.52 s	Freemium
SEOPress	90	1.36 s	Freemium

Frequently asked

Can I migrate from Yoast without losing data?

Yes. The built-in importer moves titles, descriptions, redirects and focus keywords. Take a database backup first and verify a sample of 20 URLs afterwards.