We usually use Google Lighthouse, GTmetrix, and Pingdom to check how slow a website is and what we can do to speed it up. But what does it mean when Lighthouse and GTMetrix score this website identically but Pingdom does not? This happened a couple of days ago and wanted to write a quick post in case it happens to you too.
The reason why a website may score differently on Lighthouse, GTmetrix, and Pingdom is that these tools use different methodologies and configurations to measure web performance. Even though they all use Lighthouse as the common component, there are considerable differences in how Lighthouse itself is implemented. For example, Lighthouse simulates a mid-tier mobile phone on a slow 4G connection and applies network and CPU throttling to mimic the user experience. GTmetrix and Pingdom do not use throttling, and they check the desktop version of the site by default. This can result in significant variations in the performance scores.
Another difference is that Lighthouse has updated its scoring algorithm to version 6, which reflects the metrics that really matter to the end user. GTmetrix and Pingdom may still be using the older version 5 scoring, which can cause discrepancies in the results.
We recommend you check your website scores at least once a month using these free tools. Add Google PageSpeed to the list and you will have a good performing, fast website for years to come.
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