Free Website Speed Test Tools
Which website speed and Core Web Vitals tools a startup can test and monitor its site's performance with for free today, what the free plan leaves out, its test and monitoring caps, whether a card is needed and what the first paid plan costs, read from each provider's own page.
Free allowances read on each provider's own pages, all checked on or after . Speed test tools change their free plans from time to time: confirm the terms on the provider's page before you rely on it.
Website speed test tools a startup can use for free today include Google PageSpeed Insights (Use the API with or without a key), Calibre (15-day free trial), Google Lighthouse (Open-source audit tool), Treo (Free plan for Core Web Vitals), and WebPageTest (Run free tests, one click). Each of the 9 free plans below links to the provider's page that states it, with its main limit, its test and monitoring caps, whether a card is needed and what the first paid plan costs.
A slow page loses visitors before they read a word, and Core Web Vitals feed into how Google ranks your pages. Speed test tools measure load time and Core Web Vitals and tell you what to fix, and the best-known ones are free.
The headline rarely tells you how far it goes. Free tests often run from one location or device, scheduled monitoring and alerts are capped or paid, and test history is kept only a short time. Each tool below shows what is free, its main limit, its test and monitoring caps, whether a card is needed and what the first paid plan costs, quoted from the provider's own page with the date we read it.
Which tools we picked and the order they appear in are our editorial choices; the terms are the providers'. Some of these providers pay us a referral commission when someone signs up through our link: those links are labeled, and they play no part in which tools are listed or where.
Free website speed tests
Run a speed and Core Web Vitals test on any page, free.
- 1
Google PageSpeed Insights
Scoring a page for mobile and desktop from Google
The PageSpeed Insights API works with or without an API key. Google recommends a key only for frequent, automated queries, so one-off checks need none.
Start free at GoogleTerms read on developers.google.com on Google PageSpeed Insights: the free allowance and how to start - 2
Google Lighthouse
Open-source page audits you run yourself
Lighthouse is an open-source, automated tool to help you improve the quality of web pages. It audits performance, accessibility, SEO and more.
Start free at GoogleTerms read on developer.chrome.com on Google Lighthouse: the free allowance and how to start - 3
WebPageTest
Tests from many browsers, locations and devices
Run free tests to see how your website performs. Without an account the view is limited, and a free account unlocks the full experience.
Start free at WebPageTestTerms read on webpagetest.org on WebPageTest: the free allowance and how to start - 4
GTmetrix
Detailed page reports with a free account
A free account starts with no credit card required, and Basic/Free users can monitor 1 URL. The first paid plan, Lite, is $4.99 a month billed yearly.
- Payment card
- No credit card required (source: gtmetrix.com)
- First paid plan
- Lite: $4.99 a month, billed yearly (source: gtmetrix.com)
- 5
DebugBear
A quick page speed check with tips to speed it up
The free website speed test shows how to make a page faster. Signing up is needed to test from 30+ test locations, and the first paid plan is Startup at $99 a month.
- First paid plan
- Startup: $99 a month (source: debugbear.com)
Start free at DebugBearTerms read on debugbear.com on DebugBear: the free allowance and how to start - 6
Yellow Lab Tools
Front-end audit of heavy pages
Free and open source, so running an audit costs nothing.
Start free at Yellow Lab ToolsTerms read on yellowlab.tools on Yellow Lab Tools: the free allowance and how to start
Performance monitoring with a free plan
Test your pages on a schedule and get alerts when they slow down, free to start.
- 1
Calibre
Real visitor monitoring and scheduled speed checks
Calibre gives a 15-day free trial. The first paid plan, Starter, is $75 a month.
- What's free
- 15-day free trial (source: calibreapp.com)
- First paid plan
- Starter: $75 a month (source: calibreapp.com)
- 2
Treo
Core Web Vitals tracking for a few sites
The Free plan has 50 CrUX pages and 5 sites with 2 years of history. The first paid plan, Vital, is $75 per month.
- Tests and pages
- 50 CrUX pages (source: treo.sh)
- First paid plan
- Vital: $75 a month, $900 a year (source: treo.sh)
- 3
Pingdom
Uptime, page speed and real user monitoring
The trial includes Synthetics and RUM. Prices on the page are in euros, so no first paid price is given here.
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Referral links, picked for fit and ordered by fit (70%) and what a signup earns us (30%), at no cost to you. They never change this page's ranking.
ScraperAPIScraping API that handles proxies, browsers and CAPTCHAs for you1,000 API creditsReferral link
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How this comparison is built
The list covers website speed and performance testing tools a founder can use for free today without applying to a program. The order and the "best for" notes are our editorial reading of each tool's terms. Every term comes from the tool's own pricing or help page on the date shown, never from a third-party list; follow each link for the full conditions. A cap on tests or monitored pages, test locations or devices kept for paid plans, history kept only a short time can matter more than the headline, so the comparison quotes them wherever the provider states them. Some of these tools pay StartupPerks a referral commission, and their links are labeled as referral links; that decides neither whether nor where a tool appears, and no tool pays for a placement on this page.
Read the full methodologyCommon questions
What is the best free website speed test?
By the terms each provider states, Google PageSpeed Insights can be used with or without an API key, Google Lighthouse and Yellow Lab Tools are open source, WebPageTest runs free tests in one click, and GTmetrix gives a free account with no card needed.
Is GTmetrix free?
GTmetrix has a free account with no credit card required, which monitors 1 URL from daily to monthly; Lite costs $4.99 a month billed yearly.
Can I monitor Core Web Vitals for free?
Treo has a free plan for Core Web Vitals covering 5 sites with 2 years of history, and GTmetrix's free account monitors 1 URL. Calibre and DebugBear offer free trials of 15 and 14 days.
Is Google PageSpeed Insights free?
Google's PageSpeed Insights API can be used with or without an API key, and Lighthouse, whose lab data the API returns, is open source.
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