PageSpeed Insights vs Yellow Lab Tools (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 they share a 3.2 GPA.
Checked Oct 23, 2026 · graded Oct 23, 2026 by ToolGPA
They get the same grade on all five counts.
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
Free
Yellow Lab Tools
Free open-source audit of a page's speed and front-end code
Free
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 Yellow Lab Tools if
- Fits if you're a front-end developer tracing what makes one page heavy or slow
- Works for testing pages on localhost or an intranet through a private copy
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you need a whole site checked, as each run tests one page address
- Not for you if you want ongoing monitoring, since no scheduled tests are described
- Watch out: the public site processes one run at a time, so a test can wait behind others
- Tight if you self-host on Windows, which the author says is untested; Linux and macOS are documented
- Watch out: under GPL-2.0, changes to a hosted copy's code must be published under the same license
How we grade them
| 3.2GPAPageSpeed InsightsVery good | 3.2GPAYellow Lab ToolsVery good | |
|---|---|---|
| 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 under the GPL-2.0 license: the public website, its REST API, the npm command-line tool and the server code. There's no paid plan; the author takes donations through GitHub or Ko-fi. |
| Free plan and trial | AOpen to anyone in a browser with no account, and the API works with or without a free key. | AEvery part is free, with no paid tier on record. The catch is the public instance, which processes one run at a time, so a test can wait in a queue. |
| 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. | CA score out of 100 and a grade per rule across network, images, DOM, JavaScript, CSS, fonts and server config, with the offending files listed. It does a one-page front-end audit fully, but that's a smaller job, with no site-wide crawl or monitoring described. |
| 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. | BNo rating on record. On the public site you give it a page address and a device type and wait for the report. Running your own copy is another matter: it needs Node.js, documented for Linux and macOS only. |
| 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. | BWeb, with a public REST API that returns JSON, plus an npm command-line tool and a server you can run on Mac or Linux. No phone app, and no integrations on record. |
| Best for | checking one page's speed the way Google does | auditing one page's front-end code for free |
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 Yellow Lab Tools. 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. Yellow Lab Tools has no paid plan and scores 2.7.
On this chart the two sit in the same place: the same score 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 Yellow Lab Tools 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
- Yellow Lab Tools is open source and self-hostable, according to its own site.
In commonFree planWebPublic APIPage speed
At a glance
| PageSpeed Insights | Yellow Lab Tools | |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | Entirely free: the public website, the API, the command-line tool and the self-hosted server, with donations through GitHub or Ko-fi. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Linux | ||
| Made by | Gaël Métais | |
| Price read from | pagespeed.web.dev | yellowlab.tools |
| 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.
Yellow Lab Tools
- Each run tests one page address; the documentation describes no site-wide crawl or scheduled monitoring.
- The public instance queues runs and processes one at a time, so a test can wait behind others.
- Self-hosting needs Node.js and is documented for Linux and macOS; the author says Windows is untested.
- Under the GPL-2.0 license, changes to the code of a hosted copy must be published under the same license.
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.
Yellow Lab Tools
- Scored page audit
- Gives a global score out of 100 and a grade per rule, grouped as network, images, DOM, JavaScript, jQuery, CSS, web fonts and server config.
- Offenders and score gain
- Each rule lists the files, selectors or functions at fault and says how many points the global score would gain if it were fixed.
- Device and access settings
- Simulates a phone, tablet or desktop, and can send cookies, basic HTTP login details or a proxy, or block and allow chosen domains.
- Public API
- A REST API on yellowlab.tools queues runs, reports their status and returns the full JSON result or parts of it, with CORS allowed.
- Command line and Node module
- Installed from npm, the yellowlabtools command tests a page and prints the result as JSON or XML, with an optional screenshot.
- Private server
- The server code can be installed on your own machine or run from a community Docker image, for testing pages on localhost or an intranet.
Plans
PageSpeed Insights
Free$0
Real-user Core Web Vitals, Lighthouse lab tests on mobile and desktop, shareable reports and the API.
Yellow Lab Tools
Free$0
The public instance at yellowlab.tools, its REST API, the npm command-line tool and the open-source server.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, PageSpeed Insights or Yellow Lab Tools?
As of Oct 23, 2026, both PageSpeed Insights and Yellow Lab Tools are free to use.
Which has a free plan, PageSpeed Insights or Yellow Lab Tools?
As of Oct 23, 2026, both PageSpeed Insights and Yellow Lab Tools have a free plan.
Which platforms do PageSpeed Insights and Yellow Lab Tools run on?
As of Oct 23, 2026, only Yellow Lab Tools lists macOS and Linux apps. Both list a web app. 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.