sitespeed.io vs SpeedCurve (2026): which should you pick?
As of Oct 23, 2026, sitespeed.io grades higher than SpeedCurve: 2.6 against 2.2 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 23, 2026 · graded Oct 23, 2026 by ToolGPA
sitespeed.io grades higher on value for money and the free plan. SpeedCurve grades higher on ease of use and platforms. They get the same grade on features.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
sitespeed.io
Free open-source toolkit for testing and monitoring web performance
SpeedCurve
Web performance monitoring with RUM, synthetic tests and budgets
Which one is for you
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
Pick SpeedCurve if
- Fits if you want to see whether faster pages line up with more conversions
- Works for teams of any size, since users and teams are unlimited
Look elsewhere if
- Watch out: every URL, browser, region and scheduled run counts as a check, so testing many pages in many places adds up fast
- Not for you if you might cancel mid-year, as annual plans get no prorated refund
- Pricey if you want 13 months of data or priority support, which start at $500 a month
- Tight if you need SSO or private test agents, which need an annual plan over $12,000
- Watch out: paying by invoice needs a plan of $5,000 a year or more
How we grade them
| 2.6GPAsitespeed.ioGood | 2.2GPASpeedCurveFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | 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. | CStarter is $90 a month billed annually for 500,000 page views and 3,000 checks, in this category's dearer quarter. Before the 20% annual discount, checks are $15 per 1,000 and page views $135 per million. |
| Free plan and trial | AEntirely free, with every feature included and no account. The only costs are the machine you run it on and storage for results. | CNo free plan. You get a free trial account before subscribing; its length isn't stated, and nothing on record says it needs a card. |
| Features | 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. | CReal user monitoring with conversion correlation, scripted lab tests behind logins, budgets with alerts, Core Web Vitals breakdowns, competitor comparison videos and deploy tests. It does speed monitoring fully, but that's a smaller job. |
| Ease of use | 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. | CNo rating on record. You build a plan from page views and checks, set up real user monitoring and script lab tests, and every URL, browser and region adds checks to watch. |
| Platforms and integrations | 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. | BWeb, with an API, Slack, GitHub, CircleCI and Shopify, plus email and webhook alerts. No desktop or phone app. |
| Best for | free speed tests you run yourself | real user and lab speed data with budgets |
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: sitespeed.io and SpeedCurve. How we grade
Price against what you get
sitespeed.io has no paid plan and scores 1.7 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. SpeedCurve starts at $90 a month and scores 2.3.
SpeedCurve scores higher, and starts $90 a month higher: the question is whether the extra is worth that to you. Of the other technical SEO tools on the chart, none scores higher than sitespeed.io for less, and 6 score higher than SpeedCurve 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 open source and self-hostable, according to its own site.
- SpeedCurve also covers dashboards.
At a glance
| sitespeed.io | SpeedCurve | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free | Free trial |
| Starts at | Free | $90 per month, billed annually, for 500K page views and 3K checks |
| Free plan | 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. | None |
| Free trial | None listed | Free trial account before subscribing; its length is not stated |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| Made by | sitespeed.io | SpeedCurve |
| Price read from | sitespeed.io | speedcurve.com |
| Checked | Oct 23, 2026 | Oct 23, 2026 |
Worth knowing
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.
SpeedCurve
- The listed prices include a 20% annual discount, and an annual plan cancelled partway through gets no prorated refund.
- Synthetic checks count every URL, browser, region and scheduled run, so testing many pages in several places raises the cost quickly.
- 13-month data retention and priority support start at $500 a month; single sign-on and private agents need an annual plan over $12,000.
- Paying by invoice is limited to plans of $5,000 a year or more.
Key features
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.
SpeedCurve
- Real user monitoring
- Measures page views from real visitors, with sampling to control cost, custom data, conversion correlation and A/B test segments.
- Synthetic monitoring
- Scheduled tests in several browsers and regions, with scripting for user flows, pages behind a login and private staging sites.
- Performance budgets and alerts
- Set budgets on RUM and synthetic metrics and get alerts by email, Slack or webhook when a page crosses one.
- Core Web Vitals debugging
- Breaks Core Web Vitals into subparts, finds layout shift causes, and tracks first- and third-party requests and JavaScript impact.
- Competitive benchmarking
- Test competitors' pages alongside your own and produce side-by-side comparison videos.
- CI/CD and deploy testing
- Trigger tests on each deploy through the API, the GitHub integration or CI tools such as CircleCI, and mark deployments on charts.
Plans
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.
SpeedCurve
Starter$90
per month, billed annually, for 500K page views and 3K checks
Unlimited users and teams, RUM and synthetic monitoring. Priced at $15 per 1,000 checks and $135 per million page views, less 20% for annual billing.
Growth$576
per month, billed annually, for 2M page views and 30K checks
Plans above $500 a month add 13 months of data retention, high-priority support and priority synthetic testing.
EnterpriseCustom
Single sign-on, private test agents and regular check-ins on annual plans above $12,000 a year, and consulting above $20,000 a year.
Ways to pay less
sitespeed.io
No public discounts listed.
SpeedCurve
- Annual discount
Save 20% with annual billing
SpeedCurve's plan builder and billing docs give a 20% discount for paying annually instead of monthly.
- Other savings
10% volume discount on larger plans
The plan builder takes a further 10% off when a plan comes to more than $25,000 a year.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, sitespeed.io or SpeedCurve?
As of Oct 23, 2026, sitespeed.io is cheaper to start with: it is free, against $90 a month for SpeedCurve. sitespeed.io is free, and SpeedCurve starts at $90 per month, billed annually, for 500K page views and 3K checks.
Which has a free plan, sitespeed.io or SpeedCurve?
As of Oct 23, 2026, only sitespeed.io has a free plan. SpeedCurve does not, though it has a free trial.
Which platforms do sitespeed.io and SpeedCurve run on?
As of Oct 23, 2026, only sitespeed.io lists macOS, Windows and Linux apps and only SpeedCurve lists 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.