Lighthouse Metrics vs Unlighthouse (2026): which should you pick?
As of Oct 23, 2026, Unlighthouse grades higher than Lighthouse Metrics: 2.6 against 2.2 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 23, 2026 · graded Oct 23, 2026 by ToolGPA
Lighthouse Metrics grades higher on ease of use and platforms. Unlighthouse grades higher on value for money and the free plan. They get the same grade on features.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Lighthouse Metrics
Lighthouse tests from 16 regions with scheduled monitoring
Unlighthouse
Free open-source tool that runs Lighthouse on every page of a site
Which one is for you
Pick Lighthouse Metrics if
- Fits if you need to see how a page's Lighthouse score changes from region to region
- Makes sense if you audit now and then and want test runs that never expire
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you need real-user data, as it only runs Lighthouse lab tests
- Pricey if you need the API, hourly monitors, webhooks or custom headers, all on Pro at $80 a month billed yearly
- Tight if you test from many regions, since each region uses one run
- Watch out: the pricing page doesn't say whether the free account's 25 runs ever renew
- Too light for a team on Indie, which has 1 team member
Pick Unlighthouse if
- Fits if you want Lighthouse scores for a whole site rather than one page
- Works for adding a Lighthouse score budget to a CI pipeline
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you don't use a terminal, as it needs Node.js and Chrome and has no hosted version
- Not for you if you need real-user data, as results are Lighthouse lab scores only
- Watch out: version 1 is still in beta, and Docker support is community-maintained and experimental
How we grade them
| 2.2GPALighthouse MetricsFair | 2.6GPAUnlighthouseGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CIndie is $16 a month billed yearly ($20 monthly), just past this category's cheapest quarter, for 5 daily monitors and 100 tests a month. One-off packs start at $10 for 50 runs, but each region counts as a run, so 50 runs is three tests from all 16 regions. | AFree and MIT licensed, funded by community sponsors. It runs on your own computer or CI, so there's no server to rent for a scan. |
| Free plan and trial | CA free account gives 25 test runs with full reports and history, and no card. The pricing page doesn't say whether those runs renew, so it works more like a trial. | AEverything is free: the CLI, the CI runner and the dashboard, with no account and no limits on record. |
| Features | CLighthouse tests from 16 regions, daily monitors, alerts and report history, plus an API for CI/CD on Pro. The listing's own gap: lab tests only, with no real-user monitoring or CrUX data. | CSite-wide Lighthouse scans with URL discovery, mobile and desktop results, saved scans, CI budgets with JSON, CSV or HTML reports, and MCP in the v1 beta. It does that job fully, but it's Lighthouse lab scores only, with no real-user data. |
| Ease of use | CNo rating on record. A test needs only a URL and the regions, but monitors, alert channels and the API all need setting up. | DA command-line tool that needs Node.js and Chrome installed. One command starts a scan and the dashboard opens in your browser, but there's no way to use it without a terminal. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb only, with email alerts, Slack from Startup, and webhooks and a REST API on Pro. Slack is the only named integration. | CRuns on Mac, Windows and Linux, with Nuxt, Vite, webpack, GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, CircleCI and Puppeteer. A program for computers only, with no hosted version. |
| Best for | Lighthouse scores from 16 regions at once | Lighthouse scores for every page of a site |
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: Lighthouse Metrics and Unlighthouse. How we grade
Price against what you get
Lighthouse Metrics starts at $16 a month and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Unlighthouse has no paid plan and scores 1.7.
Lighthouse Metrics scores higher, and starts $16 a month higher: the question is whether the extra is worth that to you. Of the other technical SEO tools on the chart, 5 score higher than Lighthouse Metrics for less, and none scores higher than Unlighthouse 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
- Unlighthouse is open source, according to its own site.
- Unlighthouse also covers site audit.
At a glance
| Lighthouse Metrics | Unlighthouse | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free |
| Starts at | $10 one-time for 50 test runs, or $16 per month billed annually for monitoring | Free |
| Free plan | None | Free and open source under the MIT license, funded by community sponsors. Runs on your own machine or CI with Node.js and Chrome. |
| Free trial | Free account with 25 test runs, full Lighthouse reports and test history, no credit card | None listed |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| Made by | Lighthouse Metrics | Harlan Wilton |
| Price read from | lighthouse-metrics.com | unlighthouse.dev |
| Checked | Oct 23, 2026 | Oct 23, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Lighthouse Metrics
- Its pages describe Lighthouse lab tests only, with no real-user monitoring or Chrome UX Report data.
- API access, hourly monitors, webhooks and custom headers need the Pro plan, $80 a month billed annually.
- The pricing page does not say whether the free account's 25 test runs renew; more runs come from paid packs or a plan.
Unlighthouse
- It runs on your own computer or CI and needs Node.js and Chrome; there is no hosted version.
- Results are Lighthouse lab scores only, with no real-user monitoring.
- Docker support is described as community-maintained and experimental.
- Version 1 is still in beta.
Key features
Lighthouse Metrics
- Global Lighthouse tests
- Run one Lighthouse test from up to 16 regions at once, including US, Europe, Brazil, India, Singapore, Japan and Australia. Each region counts as a run.
- Scheduled monitors
- Monitors re-test a page daily on every plan, and hourly on Pro. Each test is run several times to reduce variance.
- Alerts
- Monitors send email alerts on every plan, Slack alerts from the Startup plan and webhook alerts on Pro.
- Test history
- Past Lighthouse reports are kept so you can compare how a page has changed, for 3 to 12 months depending on the plan.
- API for CI/CD
- On the Pro plan, a REST endpoint starts Lighthouse checks for a URL and chosen regions, so tests can run from a build pipeline.
Unlighthouse
- Site-wide Lighthouse scans
- Runs Lighthouse on every discovered page using a pool of Chrome instances in parallel, with mobile and desktop results kept separately.
- URL discovery
- Finds pages through robots.txt and sitemap.xml, your framework's route files, or by crawling links from the homepage; URLs can also be listed by hand.
- Dashboard and scan history
- Results appear in a real-time dashboard in your browser, and saved scans can be reopened without scanning again.
- CI budgets and reports
- The unlighthouse-ci command fails a build when any page scores below a budget and exports JSON, CSV or a static HTML report.
- MCP for AI agents
- In the v1 beta, an AI agent can connect over MCP to run scans and read the results.
Plans
Lighthouse Metrics
Test Runs$10
one-time for 50 test runs
Packs of test runs for one-off audits: also 150 runs for $25 or 500 for $60. Purchased runs never expire.
Indie$16
per month, billed annually ($20 billed monthly)
5 daily monitors, 100 on-demand tests a month, 1 team member, 3 months of data and email alerts.
Startup$40
per month, billed annually ($50 billed monthly)
20 daily monitors, 300 on-demand tests a month, 5 team members, 6 months of data, and email and Slack alerts.
Pro$80
per month, billed annually ($100 billed monthly)
50 daily and 5 hourly monitors, 1,000 on-demand tests, 15 team members, 12 months of data, webhooks, API access and custom headers.
Enterprise$399
per month and up
Custom limits on monitors, on-demand tests and API use, quoted on request.
Unlighthouse
Open source$0
The full CLI, CI runner and dashboard, MIT licensed and run on your own machine.
Ways to pay less
Lighthouse Metrics
- Annual discount
Two months free with annual billing
The pricing page offers annual billing with 2 months free: Indie is $16 a month billed annually against $20 billed monthly.
Unlighthouse
No public discounts listed.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Lighthouse Metrics or Unlighthouse?
As of Oct 23, 2026, Unlighthouse is cheaper to start with: it is free, against $16 a month for Lighthouse Metrics. Lighthouse Metrics starts at $10 one-time for 50 test runs, or $16 per month billed annually for monitoring, and Unlighthouse is free.
Which has a free plan, Lighthouse Metrics or Unlighthouse?
As of Oct 23, 2026, only Unlighthouse has a free plan. Lighthouse Metrics does not, though it has a free trial.
Which platforms do Lighthouse Metrics and Unlighthouse run on?
As of Oct 23, 2026, only Lighthouse Metrics lists a web app and only Unlighthouse lists macOS, Windows and Linux apps. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
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.