NitroPack 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 2.6.
Checked Oct 23, 2026 · graded Oct 23, 2026 by ToolGPA
PageSpeed Insights grades higher on value for money and the free plan. They get the same grade on features, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
NitroPack
Automatic speed optimization and CDN for WordPress and WooCommerce
PageSpeed Insights
Free Google speed test with real-user Core Web Vitals and Lighthouse
Which one is for you
Pick NitroPack if
- Fits if your site is on WordPress or WooCommerce and you'd rather not configure a caching plugin
- Works for agencies speeding up many client WordPress sites
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if your site isn't on WordPress, as its pages list no other platforms
- Watch out: optimizations stop once a site uses its monthly pageviews, unless you allow paid overages
- Tight if you stay on Starter: 1 site and 8,000 pageviews, with delayed scripts and LCP preload on Plus at $18
- Too light for any real traffic on the free plan, which stops at 1,000 pageviews a month
- Not for you if you want a free trial of a paid plan, as there's only a 14-day money-back guarantee
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
| 2.6GPANitroPackGood | 3.2GPAPageSpeed InsightsVery good | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | BStarter is $7 a month billed yearly ($8 monthly), under this category's cheapest quarter, but it's 1 website and 8,000 pageviews a month. Delayed scripts, LCP preload and the cart cache need Plus at $18, and Pro is $83.01 for 3 sites. | 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 | CA free plan for 1 website with 1,000 pageviews and 1GB of CDN a month, no card needed, which is enough to try it on. Paid plans have a 14-day money-back guarantee, which isn't a trial. | AOpen to anyone in a browser with no account, and the API works with or without a free key. |
| Features | CPage caching, image and video optimization, critical and unused CSS, script delay, font hosting and a CDN. It does speed optimization fully, but only for WordPress and WooCommerce, and the listing shows no testing, crawling or auditing. | 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 | BNo rating on record. It's a WordPress plugin meant to work without manual tuning: install it and it optimizes in the background. You need a WordPress site first. | 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 | BRuns inside WordPress and WooCommerce, with Cloudflare, WP Engine, Kinsta, Cloudways, SiteGround and WPML listed. Nothing for sites on any other platform. | BWeb only, with a free v5 API that returns Lighthouse results as JSON. It draws on Lighthouse and the Chrome UX Report. |
| Best for | automatic speed optimization for WordPress | 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: NitroPack and PageSpeed Insights. How we grade
Price against what you get
NitroPack starts at $7 a month and scores 2.7 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. PageSpeed Insights has no paid plan and scores 2.7.
They score the same, and PageSpeed Insights starts $7 a month lower. Of the other technical SEO tools on the chart, none scores higher than NitroPack 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
At a glance
| NitroPack | PageSpeed Insights | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free |
| Starts at | $7 per month, billed annually ($8 billed monthly) | Free |
| Free plan | 1 website, 1,000 pageviews and 1GB of CDN bandwidth a month, 1 team member, no credit card needed. | 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 | NitroPack, part of WP Engine | |
| Price read from | nitropack.io | pagespeed.web.dev |
| Checked | Oct 23, 2026 | Oct 23, 2026 |
Worth knowing
NitroPack
- It works with WordPress and WooCommerce sites; its pages list no other platforms.
- Optimizations stop once a site uses its monthly pageviews, unless paid resource overages are allowed; the free plan covers only 1,000 pageviews.
- Starter and Plus cover a single website; Pro covers 3.
- Paid plans come with a 14-day money-back guarantee rather than a free trial.
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
NitroPack
- Page caching
- Caches pages with background purge, cache warmup from your sitemap, traffic-based optimization of the most-visited pages and a cart cache for WooCommerce.
- Image and video optimization
- Lossy or lossless compression, WebP conversion, adaptive sizing, lazy loading of images and iframes, and click-to-load facades for YouTube, Vimeo and Wistia.
- CSS and HTML
- Generates critical CSS, removes unused CSS, combines and minifies files, and prefetches pages when a visitor hovers over a link.
- JavaScript and third-party scripts
- Delays chat widgets, pop-ups and analytics until interaction, optimizes Google Tag Manager on Pro, and improves INP by speeding up interactive elements.
- Font optimization
- Hosts Google Fonts itself, controls font display to avoid unstyled text, and on Pro removes unused glyphs through font subsetting.
- Built-in CDN
- Optimized files are delivered through NitroPack's CDN, from 1GB a month on the free plan to 270GB on Pro.
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
NitroPack
Free$0
1 website with 1,000 pageviews and 1GB of CDN bandwidth a month, for trying the service.
Starter$7
per month, billed annually ($8 billed monthly)
1 website, 8,000 pageviews and 5GB of CDN a month, 1 team member, minification, cache warmup and deferred fonts.
Plus$18
per month, billed annually ($22 billed monthly)
1 website, 40,000 pageviews and 25GB of CDN, 3 team members, delayed scripts, LCP preload and cart cache optimization.
Pro$83.01
per month, billed annually ($99.99 billed monthly)
3 websites, 540,000 pageviews and 270GB of CDN, 10 team members, font subsetting and Google Tag Manager optimization.
AgencyCustom
Custom sites, pageviews and bandwidth for agencies; the Custom Bulk Plan starts at $229 a month, or clients can be referred instead.
PageSpeed Insights
Free$0
Real-user Core Web Vitals, Lighthouse lab tests on mobile and desktop, shareable reports and the API.
Ways to pay less
NitroPack
- Annual discount
Save up to 18% with annual billing
NitroPack's pricing page says annual billing saves up to 18%: Plus is $18 a month billed annually against $22 billed monthly.
PageSpeed Insights
No public discounts listed.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, NitroPack or PageSpeed Insights?
As of Oct 23, 2026, PageSpeed Insights is cheaper to start with: it is free, against $7 a month for NitroPack. NitroPack starts at $7 per month, billed annually ($8 billed monthly), and PageSpeed Insights is free.
Which has a free plan, NitroPack or PageSpeed Insights?
As of Oct 23, 2026, both NitroPack 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.