Lighthouse vs Unlighthouse (2026): which should you pick?
As of Oct 23, 2026, Lighthouse grades higher than Unlighthouse: 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
Unlighthouse
Free open-source tool that runs Lighthouse on every page of a site
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 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
| 3.2GPALighthouseVery good | 2.6GPAUnlighthouseGood | |
|---|---|---|
| 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 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 | AEvery audit category, report format and plugin is free, with no account. | AEverything is free: the CLI, the CI runner and the dashboard, with no account and no limits on record. |
| 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. | 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 | 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 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 | 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 Nuxt, Vite, webpack, GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, CircleCI and Puppeteer. A program for computers only, with no hosted version. |
| Best for | auditing one page's speed, accessibility and SEO | 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 and Unlighthouse. 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. Unlighthouse 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 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
In commonFree planOpen sourceSite auditPage speed
At a glance
| Lighthouse | Unlighthouse | |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | 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 | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | Harlan Wilton | |
| Price read from | developer.chrome.com | unlighthouse.dev |
| 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.
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
- 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.
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
Open source$0
Every audit category, HTML and JSON reports, the Lighthouse Viewer, stack packs and plugins.
Unlighthouse
Open source$0
The full CLI, CI runner and dashboard, MIT licensed and run on your own machine.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Lighthouse or Unlighthouse?
As of Oct 23, 2026, both Lighthouse and Unlighthouse are free to use.
Which has a free plan, Lighthouse or Unlighthouse?
As of Oct 23, 2026, both Lighthouse and Unlighthouse have a free plan.
Which platforms do Lighthouse and Unlighthouse run on?
As of Oct 23, 2026, only Lighthouse lists a web app and a browser extension 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.