So, you’ve built the core of your website, but suddenly you realise your loading times are poor and thus you are potentially pushing away potential customers. Without spending much or any money, we have come with five brilliant tools that will assist you with your website speed.
All these tools have their advantages and disadvantages, so be sure to utilize them all for the best results.
GTmetrix
GTmetrix is a free tool designed to test the loading speed of your website. It utilizes performance and structure of your site fo detect the GTmetrix grade your website will get. Furthermore, it provides recommendations on how to fix any problems.
Pros: Has a great waterfall feature to break down what causes the problems on your website. Shows you which images need optimisation. Goes into good detail on which parts need improving.
Cons: Has a paid plan for extra features such as PDF reports.
PageSpeed Insights
Google’s PageSpeed Insights (PSI) provides you with recommendations regarding how to improve a website’s performance on both mobile and desktop devices. If you are using GTMetrix as your only tool to evaluate the speed of your website, we strongly recommend that you also use Page Insights for a varied analysis.Â
Pros: See if you pass Google’s Core Web Vitals. More critical than most alternatives. It’s free.
Cons: Doesn’t show how to optimise certain elements.Â
TinyJPG
TinyJPG makes your JPEG files smaller, without sacrificing image quality. Every uploaded image is analysed and optimised for the highest quality image while reducing file size. It’s perfect for web designers that need to save disk space and speed up loading times.
Pros: Super easy to understand and free.
Cons: Haven’t found any.
CSS Minifier
If you’re making a website on your own there are always extra ways to save space and improve loading times. CSS minifier tools can be a great way of doing that. It’s simple to use and also has alternatives for things such as JavaScript.
Pros: Saves a reasonable amount of space and improves the speed of your website.
Cons: Harder to debug.Â
W3 Total Cache
W3 Total Cache, also known as W3TC, enhances the search engine optimization and user experience of your website by increasing website performance and reducing load times by integrating CDNs and the latest best practices.
Pros: Has a great amount of options, perfect for website developers that need great level of customization for their needs.
Cons: Like all plugins, may have bugs.
