Entry Count plugin performance / template optimisation
This is untested since I don't have time to load the plugin, so please comment if there is a syntax error but changing this

// get all records from DB ordered by count descending
$entryCountRecords = EntryCountRecord::model()-&gt;findAll(array(
    'order'=&gt;'count desc'
));


To something like the following should work

public function getEntries($limit = null)
{
    $where = [
        'order' =&gt; 'count desc' 
    ];
    if($limit !== null){
        $where['limit'] = $limit;
    }
    // get all records from DB ordered by count descending
    $entryCountRecords = EntryCountRecord::model()-&gt;findAll($where);
   ....


And in your template

{% set countedEntries = craft.entryCount.entries(4).section('news').limit(4) %}


Explanation: you include a limit to the query that fetches all entries to load the same amount like the ElementCriteriaModel 

Edit: Maybe you have to change this to

public function getEntries($limit = null)
{
    return craft()-&gt;entryCount-&gt;getEntries($limit);
}