PageSpeed Insights vs Unlighthouse (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 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.
PageSpeed Insights
Free Google speed test with real-user Core Web Vitals and Lighthouse
Unlighthouse
Free open-source tool that runs Lighthouse on every page of a site
Which one is for you
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
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
| 3.2GPAPageSpeed InsightsVery good | 2.6GPAUnlighthouseGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | AFree, from Google, with real-user data, Lighthouse tests on mobile and desktop, shareable reports and an API. Nothing to buy. | 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 | AOpen to anyone in a browser with no account, and the API works with or without a free key. | AEverything is free: the CLI, the CI runner and the dashboard, with no account and no limits on record. |
| Features | 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. | 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, and nothing to set up: type a URL and the report appears. Making sense of the audits takes some knowledge of how pages load. | 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 a free v5 API that returns Lighthouse results as JSON. It draws on Lighthouse and the Chrome UX Report. | 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 | checking one page's speed the way Google does | 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: PageSpeed Insights and Unlighthouse. How we grade
Price against what you get
PageSpeed Insights 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.
PageSpeed Insights scores higher for the same starting price. Of the other technical SEO tools on the chart, none scores higher than PageSpeed Insights 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
| PageSpeed Insights | Unlighthouse | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| Starts at | Free | Free |
| Free plan | 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 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 | ||
| Made by | Harlan Wilton | |
| Price read from | pagespeed.web.dev | unlighthouse.dev |
| Checked | Oct 23, 2026 | Oct 23, 2026 |
Worth knowing
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.
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
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.
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
PageSpeed Insights
Free$0
Real-user Core Web Vitals, Lighthouse lab tests on mobile and desktop, shareable reports and the API.
Unlighthouse
Open source$0
The full CLI, CI runner and dashboard, MIT licensed and run on your own machine.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, PageSpeed Insights or Unlighthouse?
As of Oct 23, 2026, both PageSpeed Insights and Unlighthouse are free to use.
Which has a free plan, PageSpeed Insights or Unlighthouse?
As of Oct 23, 2026, both PageSpeed Insights and Unlighthouse have a free plan.
Which platforms do PageSpeed Insights and Unlighthouse run on?
As of Oct 23, 2026, only PageSpeed Insights 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.