# sitespeed.io review (2026): is it any good? > Free open-source toolkit for testing and monitoring web performance Checked Oct 23, 2026 ยท graded Oct 23, 2026 by ToolGPA. sitespeed.io is a free, open-source command-line tool for synthetic web performance testing, run through Docker or npm. A test produces an HTML report with Core Web Vitals, a video of the page loading, a HAR waterfall and advice on what to fix. Run on a schedule, it sends metrics to Graphite or InfluxDB for Grafana dashboards that you host yourself. - **Category:** Technical SEO & Site Audits - **Made by:** sitespeed.io (since 2012) - **Website:** https://www.sitespeed.io - **Runs on:** macOS, Windows, Linux - **Who should skip it:** Skip it if you don't use a command line, as there's no hosted service or account. - **Facts last checked:** Oct 23, 2026 ## Pricing As of Oct 23, 2026, sitespeed.io is free to use. - **Pricing model:** 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 trial:** None listed. | Plan | Price | What you get | | --- | --- | --- | | Open source | $0 | The full toolkit, self-hosted. The project puts a single cloud server plus S3 storage at around $500 a year. | Read from https://www.sitespeed.io/ on Oct 23, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with sitespeed.io before buying. ## Key features - **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. ## Good for - Developers who want full control of synthetic performance tests at no license cost - Teams building their own performance dashboards in Grafana - Adding performance budgets to a CI pipeline ## Worth knowing - 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. ## ToolGPA grades **GPA: 2.6 out of 4**, graded Oct 23, 2026. sitespeed.io is a free, open-source command-line tool that tests a page in real browsers and produces a report with Core Web Vitals, a video of the load and a waterfall. But you install and host it yourself, ongoing monitoring needs your own server at around $500 a year by the project's estimate, and one core member maintains it in their free time. - **Value for money: A.** Free 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. - **Free plan and trial: A.** Entirely free, with every feature included and no account. The only costs are the machine you run it on and storage for results. - **Features: C.** HTML 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. - **Ease of use: D.** A 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. - **Platforms and integrations: C.** Runs 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. These are ToolGPA's own grades. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from sitespeed.io's own pages on 23 October 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews. ## Where it stands among technical SEO tools - sitespeed.io's GPA of 2.6 is higher than 56 of the 83 other technical SEO tools we grade, and level with 7. - It stands best on free plan and trial (A, above 62 of 83) and worst on ease of use (D, above 0). - sitespeed.io has no paid plan. - On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 1.7 out of 4. Nothing scores higher for less, though at least one tool matches that score at a lower price. The category's chart of price against score: https://toolgpa.com/charts/technical-seo ## Keep it, or make your own? **Keep it.** sitespeed.io is free, so making your own would save you nothing. And it is not the kind of software a weekend replaces. It is one of the better ones too: its GPA of 2.6 is higher than 56 of the 83 other technical SEO tools we grade. - You could not: Speed tests run from real browsers on a schedule. - You could not: Apps for macOS, Windows and Linux that stay in step with each other. - You could not: It plugs into other products, Grafana, Graphite and InfluxDB among them. - You could not: People on the other end: coaches. No app builder makes those. A judgement by ToolGPA from this listing, by rules that are the same for every tool. Nothing was built to test it. ## Works with Grafana, Graphite, InfluxDB, Amazon S3, Google Cloud Storage, GitHub Actions, Jenkins, Slack **Tags:** Page speed, Open source, Self-hostable ## Alternatives - [WebPageTest](https://toolgpa.com/tools/webpagetest): Page speed tests from real browsers in locations around the world. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/sitespeed-io-vs-webpagetest) - [Lighthouse](https://toolgpa.com/tools/lighthouse): Google's open-source audit of page speed, accessibility and SEO. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/lighthouse-vs-sitespeed-io) - [Unlighthouse](https://toolgpa.com/tools/unlighthouse): Free open-source tool that runs Lighthouse on every page of a site. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/sitespeed-io-vs-unlighthouse) - [DebugBear](https://toolgpa.com/tools/debugbear): Page speed and Core Web Vitals monitoring with lab tests and RUM. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/debugbear-vs-sitespeed-io) - [SpeedCurve](https://toolgpa.com/tools/speedcurve): Web performance monitoring with RUM, synthetic tests and budgets. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/sitespeed-io-vs-speedcurve) ## Sources The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Oct 23, 2026: - https://www.sitespeed.io/ - https://www.sitespeed.io/documentation/sitespeed.io/ - https://www.sitespeed.io/documentation/sitespeed.io/installation/ - https://www.sitespeed.io/aboutus/ Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/sitespeed-io Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).