Lighthouse vs sitespeed.io (2026): which should you pick?
As of Oct 23, 2026, Lighthouse grades higher than sitespeed.io: 3.2 against 2.6 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 23, 2026 · graded Oct 23, 2026 by ToolGPA
Lighthouse grades higher on ease of use and platforms. They get the same grade on value for money, the free plan and features.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Lighthouse
Google's open-source audit of page speed, accessibility and SEO
Free
sitespeed.io
Free open-source toolkit for testing and monitoring web performance
Free
Which one is for you
Pick Lighthouse if
- Fits if you're a web developer fixing speed and accessibility problems on a page
- Works for adding automated page audits to continuous integration
Look elsewhere if
- Too light for watching a whole site, as it audits one page per run
- Skip it if you don't want to install Node 22 and Chrome, which the command-line and Node routes need
- Watch out: the Agentic Browsing category is experimental, needs Chrome 150 or later and an origin trial for its WebMCP audits
- Not for you if you planned to use the extension on local sites or pages behind a login, which it can't test
Pick sitespeed.io if
- Fits if you're a developer who wants synthetic performance tests with no license cost
- Works for teams building their own performance dashboards in Grafana
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you don't use a command line, as there's no hosted service or account
- Watch out: ongoing monitoring needs your own server and storage, around $500 a year by the project's estimate
- Not for you if you need a vendor behind it, as the project says one core member maintains it in their free time
- Too light for real-user monitoring, which only comes in as CrUX data through a plugin
How we grade them
| 3.2GPALighthouseVery good | 2.6GPAsitespeed.ioGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | AFree and open source under Apache 2.0, built into Chrome DevTools and also run from the command line, a Node module, a Chrome extension or PageSpeed Insights. | AFree and open source, with nothing to sign up for, and it runs on your own computer through Docker or npm. Scheduled monitoring needs a server and storage, which the project puts at around $500 a year. |
| Free plan and trial | AEvery audit category, report format and plugin is free, with no account. | AEntirely free, with every feature included and no account. The only costs are the machine you run it on and storage for results. |
| Features | CFour audit categories with a fix for each failed check, pages behind a login, stack packs and plugins, plus an experimental check of readiness for AI agents. The gap the listing shows: one page per run, so regressions across a site need Lighthouse CI or another tool. | CHTML reports with Core Web Vitals, video, HAR waterfall and advice, tests in real browsers and on phones, scripted journeys, CI budgets and Grafana dashboards. It covers synthetic speed testing fully, a smaller job than technical SEO, and real-user figures only come through a CrUX plugin. |
| Ease of use | BNo rating on record. If you have Chrome, it's already in DevTools with nothing to install. The command-line and Node routes need Node 22 or later. | DA command-line tool run through Docker or npm, and monitoring means setting up Graphite or InfluxDB with Grafana on your own server. No hosted version. |
| Platforms and integrations | BRuns in Chrome DevTools, from the command line, as a Node module for CI, as a Chrome extension and through PageSpeed Insights, with reports shared as GitHub gists. | CRuns on Mac, Windows and Linux, with Grafana, Graphite, InfluxDB, S3, Google Cloud Storage, GitHub Actions, Jenkins and Slack. It's a program for computers only, with no hosted or phone version. |
| Best for | auditing one page's speed, accessibility and SEO | free speed tests you run yourself |
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 and sitespeed.io. How we grade
Price against what you get
Lighthouse has no paid plan and scores 2.7 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. sitespeed.io has no paid plan and scores 1.7.
Lighthouse scores higher for the same starting price. Of the other technical SEO tools on the chart, none scores higher than Lighthouse for less, and none scores higher than sitespeed.io 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
- sitespeed.io is self-hostable, according to its own site.
- Lighthouse also covers site audit.
In commonFree planOpen sourcePage speed
At a glance
| Lighthouse | sitespeed.io | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| Starts at | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Free and open source under the Apache 2.0 license: run it in Chrome DevTools, the command line, a Node script, the Chrome extension or PageSpeed Insights. | Entirely free and open source with nothing to sign up for. The only costs are the server you run it on and storage for results. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | sitespeed.io | |
| Price read from | developer.chrome.com | sitespeed.io |
| Checked | Oct 23, 2026 | Oct 23, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Lighthouse
- The command-line and Node workflows need Google Chrome and Node 22 or later installed.
- Audits one page per run; Lighthouse CI or another tool is needed to watch for regressions across a site.
- The Agentic Browsing category is experimental, needs Chrome 150 or later, and its WebMCP audits need an origin trial.
- The Chrome extension cannot test local sites or pages behind a login; Google recommends DevTools instead.
sitespeed.io
- It is a command-line tool that you install and host yourself; there is no hosted service or account to sign up for.
- Ongoing monitoring needs your own server and storage, which the project estimates at around $500 a year.
- The project says it is maintained by one core member in their free time.
Key features
Lighthouse
- Four audit categories
- Scores performance, accessibility, best practices and SEO, and each failed audit links to a page on why it matters and how to fix it.
- Several ways to run it
- A Lighthouse panel in Chrome DevTools, an npm command-line tool, a Node module for CI systems, a Chrome extension, or PageSpeed Insights with nothing to install.
- Pages behind a login
- Audits any page, public or requiring authentication; the DevTools workflow can also test local sites.
- Agentic Browsing audits
- An experimental category checks llms.txt, WebMCP tool registration and accessibility for agents, shown as a pass ratio rather than a 0 to 100 score.
- Reports and sharing
- Save reports as HTML or JSON, open them in the Lighthouse Viewer, and share them as secret GitHub gists.
- Stack packs and plugins
- Stack packs give advice specific to the CMS or framework a site uses, and plugins let developers add their own audit categories.
sitespeed.io
- HTML test reports
- Each run reports Core Web Vitals against Google's thresholds, with a filmstrip and video of the load, a HAR waterfall, CPU timeline and the Coach's advice.
- Real browsers and phones
- Tests in Firefox, Chrome and Edge, on Chrome for Android and Safari on iOS over USB, with network throttling to emulate real connections.
- Scripted user journeys
- Scripts can test several URLs, log in, or add items to a cart, and single-page applications are supported.
- Dashboards and monitoring
- A Docker Compose setup runs sitespeed.io with Graphite and Grafana and ready-made dashboards, for scheduled tests tracked over time.
- Budgets and CI
- Performance budgets can fail a build, with JUnit or TAP output for Jenkins, CircleCI, GitLab CI and GitHub Actions, and alerts on regressions.
- Plugins and other tools
- Plugins run Lighthouse, PageSpeed Insights, CrUX data collection, axe accessibility checks and statistical comparison of runs.
Plans
Lighthouse
Open source$0
Every audit category, HTML and JSON reports, the Lighthouse Viewer, stack packs and plugins.
sitespeed.io
Open source$0
The full toolkit, self-hosted. The project puts a single cloud server plus S3 storage at around $500 a year.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Lighthouse or sitespeed.io?
As of Oct 23, 2026, both Lighthouse and sitespeed.io are free to use.
Which has a free plan, Lighthouse or sitespeed.io?
As of Oct 23, 2026, both Lighthouse and sitespeed.io have a free plan.
Which platforms do Lighthouse and sitespeed.io run on?
As of Oct 23, 2026, only Lighthouse lists a web app and a browser extension and only sitespeed.io 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.