The query in the count_user_posts function within wp-includes/user.php can be optimized to improve performance.

[deepakrohilla]

Since the wp_posts table's ID column is indexed (as it is the primary key and has a dedicated index), using COUNT(ID) will be faster than COUNT(*) because MySQL can leverage the index for efficient counting. In InnoDB tables, COUNT(*) often requires a full table scan or index traversal since InnoDB does not maintain an exact row count. Therefore, replacing COUNT(*) with COUNT(ID) can improve query performance.

[mukesh27]

Thanks @deepakrohilla for the ticket!

Could you please share performance numbers before/after the changes with posts(10/100/1000)?

https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/62774

[mukesh27]

In #39242, It add the caching to count_user_posts() that also help to improve the performance.

[deepakrohilla]

@mukesh27: .yes thanks for sharing #39242 this, it will help to improve performance of count query.

[swissspidy]

Duplicate of #39242.

Let‘s close this as a duplicate then :-) This can be tackled in the same ticket.

@deepakrohillas Good catch! PR looks good to me.