sitespeed.io vs WebPageTest (2026): which should you pick?
As of Oct 23, 2026, sitespeed.io and WebPageTest share a 2.6 GPA, both have a free plan, and sitespeed.io has no paid plan to buy, against $15 a month when paid by the year for WebPageTest.
Checked Oct 23, 2026 · graded Oct 23, 2026 by ToolGPA
sitespeed.io grades higher on value for money and the free plan. WebPageTest grades higher on ease of use. They get the same grade on features and platforms.
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
WebPageTest
Page speed tests from real browsers in locations around the world
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 WebPageTest if
- Fits if you need to see how a page loads in a given browser from a given city
- Works for checking a fix's effect side by side before you change the site, on Pro
Look elsewhere if
- Watch out: every page load counts as a run, so 5 runs with repeat views use 10 of your 150
- Tight if you stay on Starter, with 3 runs per test and no scheduled tests, alerts, API or Experiments
- Not for you if you want to try Pro first, as there's no free trial
- Too light for bigger teams, as a Pro account holds up to 5 members
How we grade them
| 2.6GPAsitespeed.ioGood | 2.6GPAWebPageTestGood | |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | BPro is $180 a year for 1,000 test runs a month, $15 a month, inside this category's cheaper quarter, and it holds up to 5 users. Monthly billing is $18.75; 5,000 runs are $840 a year. |
| 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. | BThe free Starter plan gives 150 test runs a month, 30 locations, Lighthouse, filmstrip, video, Opportunities, 3-step scripts and 60 days of history. Enough for one person testing now and then, though repeat views double the count. |
| 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-browser tests over connections from 3G to fiber, Lighthouse, filmstrips and Opportunities, with scheduled tests, alerts, Smartboards and Experiments on Pro. It does lab speed testing fully, but that's a smaller job, with no real user data on record. |
| 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. | BNo rating on record. A test is a page address, a location and a browser, with nothing to install or connect first. |
| 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. | CWeb only, with no integrations on record; the API comes only with Pro. No desktop or phone app. |
| Best for | free speed tests you run yourself | real-browser page speed tests worldwide |
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 WebPageTest. 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. WebPageTest starts at $15 a month when paid by the year and scores 2.3.
WebPageTest scores higher, and starts $15 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 5 score higher than WebPageTest 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.
- WebPageTest also covers dashboards.
At a glance
| sitespeed.io | WebPageTest | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free | Free plan |
| Starts at | Free | $180 per year for 1,000 test runs a month ($18.75 billed monthly) |
| 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. | Starter plan: 150 test runs a month (up to 3 per test), 30 test locations, Lighthouse, filmstrip and video, Opportunities, 3-step scripts and 60 days of history. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| Made by | sitespeed.io | LogicMonitor |
| Price read from | sitespeed.io | logicmonitor.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.
WebPageTest
- Every page load counts as a test run: 5 runs with first and repeat views use 10 of the monthly allowance.
- Starter allows 150 runs a month and 3 runs per test; scheduled tests, alerts, the API and Experiments need Pro.
- There is no free trial of Pro, and a Pro account holds up to 5 team members.
- The webpagetest.org site answered with a bot check; prices were read on LogicMonitor's WebPageTest pricing page.
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.
WebPageTest
- Real-browser tests
- Test in Chrome (stable, beta and canary), Firefox (stable, beta and ESR), Edge and Brave, on desktop or mobile, over connection speeds from 3G to fiber.
- Global test locations
- Starter runs tests from 30 locations across six continents; Pro adds more, including many more US cities.
- Lighthouse, filmstrip and video
- Each test can include a Lighthouse run, a filmstrip and a video of the page loading, on every plan.
- Opportunities
- Recommendations grouped under quickness, usability and resilience, with tips on what to fix. Available to all users.
- Experiments
- Pro runs a proposed optimization side by side with a control test in a sandbox, so its effect shows without changing the site's code.
- Scheduled tests and alerts
- Pro schedules tests, sends custom alerts, builds Smartboards dashboards and keeps 13 months of history, with API, private and bulk testing.
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.
WebPageTest
Starter$0
150 test runs a month, up to 3 runs per test, 30 locations, Lighthouse, Opportunities and 60 days of test history.
Pro 1,000 runs$180
per year for 1,000 test runs a month ($18.75 billed monthly)
Scheduled tests, alerts, Smartboards, API access, Experiments, private and bulk tests, more locations, 13 months of history and up to 5 users.
Pro 5,000 runs$840
per year for 5,000 test runs a month ($87.50 billed monthly)
The same Pro features with a larger monthly allowance of test runs.
Pro 10,000 runs$1,620
per year for 10,000 test runs a month ($168.75 billed monthly)
The same Pro features with 10,000 test runs a month.
Pro 20,000 runs$3,000
per year for 20,000 test runs a month ($312.50 billed monthly)
The largest listed Pro allowance, with 20,000 test runs a month.
Ways to pay less
sitespeed.io
No public discounts listed.
WebPageTest
- Annual discount
Save 20% with annual billing
Pro with 1,000 runs a month is $180 a year billed annually, against $18.75 a month billed monthly; the pricing page lists a 20% saving.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, sitespeed.io or WebPageTest?
As of Oct 23, 2026, sitespeed.io is cheaper to start with: it is free, against $15 a month when paid by the year for WebPageTest. sitespeed.io is free, and WebPageTest starts at $180 per year for 1,000 test runs a month ($18.75 billed monthly).
Which has a free plan, sitespeed.io or WebPageTest?
As of Oct 23, 2026, both sitespeed.io and WebPageTest have a free plan.
Which platforms do sitespeed.io and WebPageTest run on?
As of Oct 23, 2026, only sitespeed.io lists macOS, Windows and Linux apps and only WebPageTest 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.