Chrome UX Report vs PageSpeed Insights (2026): which should you pick?
As of Oct 24, 2026, we pick PageSpeed Insights: it is third in our ranking of technical SEO tools, and it grades higher too, 3.2 against 2.8.
Checked Oct 23, 2026 · graded Oct 23, 2026 by ToolGPA
PageSpeed Insights grades higher on features and ease of use. They get the same grade on value for money, the free plan and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Chrome UX Report
Google's public dataset of real Chrome users' Core Web Vitals
Free
PageSpeed Insights
Free Google speed test with real-user Core Web Vitals and Lighthouse
Free
Which one is for you
Pick Chrome UX Report if
- Fits if you want your site's Core Web Vitals as Google's real-user data records them
- Works for analysts studying web performance trends with SQL
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if your site gets little traffic, as pages and origins below the threshold show no data
- Not for you if most of your visitors use other browsers, as it counts eligible Chrome users only
- Tight if you need figures by country, which only the origin-level BigQuery tables have
- Watch out: BigQuery needs a Google Cloud account with billing, and queries past the free tier are charged
Pick PageSpeed Insights if
- Fits if you want one page's Core Web Vitals the way Google measures them
- Works for developers adding speed checks to scripts through a free API
Look elsewhere if
- Too light for watching a whole site, as it tests one URL per run with no monitoring
- Skip it if your page has little traffic, since real-user data only shows for pages with enough Chrome visits
- Watch out: lab tests run from a Google data center in North America, Europe or Asia, and scores vary from run to run
- Tight if you keep reports, as a shared link holds its snapshot for only 30 days
- Not for you if you planned to get real-user data from its API, which Google plans to drop in favour of the CrUX API
How we grade them
| 2.8GPAChrome UX ReportGood | 3.2GPAPageSpeed InsightsVery good | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | AFree from Google: the dataset, both APIs and CrUX Vis cost nothing, and BigQuery queries are free up to Google Cloud's monthly free tier. | AFree, from Google, with real-user data, Lighthouse tests on mobile and desktop, shareable reports and an API. Nothing to buy. |
| Free plan and trial | AFree outright. The APIs need a Google Cloud API key, and only BigQuery use past the free tier is charged. | AOpen to anyone in a browser with no account, and the API works with or without a free key. |
| Features | DOne narrow job: real-user Core Web Vitals for origins and pages with enough Chrome traffic, as data. It runs no tests and suggests no fixes, and sites below its traffic threshold show nothing. | CReal-user LCP, INP, CLS and FCP from CrUX, a Core Web Vitals pass or fail, and Lighthouse scores with audits and suggested fixes. The gaps it lists: one URL per run, no monitoring or history past a 30-day link, and no field data for pages with too few visits. |
| Ease of use | CNo rating on record. CrUX Vis is a dashboard you just open, but the APIs need an API key and the BigQuery tables need SQL and a Cloud account. | BNo rating on record, and nothing to set up: type a URL and the report appears. Making sense of the audits takes some knowledge of how pages load. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb, with the CrUX API, the History API and BigQuery, and it feeds PageSpeed Insights and Search Console. | BWeb only, with a free v5 API that returns Lighthouse results as JSON. It draws on Lighthouse and the Chrome UX Report. |
| Best for | real Chrome users' speed data for popular sites | checking one page's speed the way Google does |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Chrome UX Report and PageSpeed Insights. How we grade
Price against what you get
Chrome UX Report has no paid plan and scores 2.0 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. PageSpeed Insights has no paid plan and scores 2.7.
PageSpeed Insights scores higher for the same starting price. Of the other technical SEO tools on the chart, none scores higher than Chrome UX Report for less, and none scores higher than PageSpeed Insights for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Chrome UX Report also covers dashboards.
In commonFree planWebPublic APIPage speed
At a glance
| Chrome UX Report | PageSpeed Insights | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| Starts at | Free | Free |
| Free plan | The dataset, APIs and CrUX Vis are free; the APIs need a Google Cloud API key, and BigQuery is free up to its monthly free tier. | Open to anyone in a browser with no account: enter a URL for field data and a Lighthouse report. The API works with or without a free API key. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | ||
| Price read from | developer.chrome.com | pagespeed.web.dev |
| Checked | Oct 23, 2026 | Oct 23, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Chrome UX Report
- Only publicly discoverable origins and pages with enough Chrome visitors are included; sites below that show no data.
- Data comes from Chrome users who meet Google's eligibility rules, not from other browsers.
- The APIs have no country dimension and the BigQuery tables are origin-level only; per-country data is in BigQuery alone.
- BigQuery needs a Google Cloud account with billing; queries beyond the monthly free tier are charged by Google Cloud.
PageSpeed Insights
- Tests one URL per run, and a shared report link keeps its snapshot for only 30 days.
- Real-user data appears only for public pages with enough Chrome visits; otherwise only the lab test is shown.
- Lab tests run from a Google data center in North America, Europe or Asia, and scores vary from run to run.
- Google plans to drop real-user data from the API and points developers to the CrUX API instead.
Key features
Chrome UX Report
- Real-user Core Web Vitals
- Collected from real Chrome browsers around the world, covering LCP, INP, CLS and the other user-centric metrics for origins and pages.
- CrUX API
- Returns a rolling 28-day average of key metrics for an origin or URL, updated daily, for use in your own scripts and tools.
- CrUX History API
- Gives the previous 40 weeks of data, one 28-day period per week, split by phone, tablet and desktop and released every Monday.
- CrUX Vis dashboard
- Charts an origin's or page's weekly history over 40 weeks across Core Web Vitals, loading and visual stability pages, with a shareable URL.
- BigQuery dataset
- Monthly tables from 2017 onward with all metrics and dimensions, including country, released on the second Tuesday of the following month.
PageSpeed Insights
- Real-user data from CrUX
- Shows the 75th percentile of LCP, INP, CLS and FCP, plus TTFB, from real Chrome users over the past 28 days, with the share of good, middling and poor visits.
- Core Web Vitals assessment
- A pass or fail on LCP, INP and CLS for the page, falling back to the whole origin when the page alone has too little data.
- Lighthouse lab test
- Runs Lighthouse 13 on a simulated mid-range phone and on a desktop, scoring performance, accessibility, best practices and SEO from 0 to 100.
- Audits and suggestions
- Each category lists audits that explain what slows the page down or breaks best practice, and what to change.
- Shareable reports
- A link to a report keeps a snapshot of the results for up to 30 days.
- PageSpeed Insights API
- The v5 API returns Lighthouse results as JSON; an API key is recommended for frequent automated tests.
Plans
Chrome UX Report
Free$0
CrUX API, History API, CrUX Vis and the BigQuery dataset, for any origin or page with enough Chrome visits.
PageSpeed Insights
Free$0
Real-user Core Web Vitals, Lighthouse lab tests on mobile and desktop, shareable reports and the API.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Chrome UX Report or PageSpeed Insights?
As of Oct 23, 2026, both Chrome UX Report and PageSpeed Insights are free to use.
Which has a free plan, Chrome UX Report or PageSpeed Insights?
As of Oct 23, 2026, both Chrome UX Report and PageSpeed Insights have a free plan.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.