sitespeed.io vs Unlighthouse (2026): which should you pick?
As of Oct 23, 2026, sitespeed.io and Unlighthouse share a 2.6 GPA, both are free, so the choice depends on which features you need.
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.
sitespeed.io
Free open-source toolkit for testing and monitoring web performance
Free
Unlighthouse
Free open-source tool that runs Lighthouse on every page of a site
Free
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 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
| 2.6GPAsitespeed.ioGood | 2.6GPAUnlighthouseGood | |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | 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 | AEntirely free, with every feature included and no account. The only costs are the machine you run it on and storage for results. | AEverything is free: the CLI, the CI runner and the dashboard, with no account and no limits on record. |
| 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. | 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 | 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. | 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 | 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. | 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 | free speed tests you run yourself | 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: sitespeed.io and Unlighthouse. 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. Unlighthouse has no paid plan and scores 1.7.
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 sitespeed.io 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
- sitespeed.io is self-hostable, according to its own site.
- Unlighthouse also covers site audit.
In commonFree planmacOSWindowsLinuxOpen sourcePage speed
At a glance
| sitespeed.io | Unlighthouse | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| Starts at | Free | Free |
| 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. | 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 |
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| Made by | sitespeed.io | Harlan Wilton |
| Price read from | sitespeed.io | unlighthouse.dev |
| 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.
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
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.
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
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.
Unlighthouse
Open source$0
The full CLI, CI runner and dashboard, MIT licensed and run on your own machine.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, sitespeed.io or Unlighthouse?
As of Oct 23, 2026, both sitespeed.io and Unlighthouse are free to use.
Which has a free plan, sitespeed.io or Unlighthouse?
As of Oct 23, 2026, both sitespeed.io and Unlighthouse 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.