Website benchmarking services are an essential tool for checking the speed of your website. I use them regularly, particularly after installing or removing a WordPress plugin.
The service I normally use is GTmetrix, however last week I was emailed about a new benchmarking service entitled DareBoost. It looks like a great alternative to GTmetrix and Google PageSpeed Insights.
One of the things I like about it is the way it displays results. The service will give you a score out of 100 and highlight issues and possible improvements. Underneath it displays the total page loading time, the page size, and the number of http requests.
What I really love about the service is that it also displays validation results from the W3 Validator. This saves you from having to validate your website on W3 as well. The technologies that are powering your website are also displayed.
Suggestions for best practices are broken down into several categories. A score is given out of 100 and tips are given on how you can improve your score.
The service can be used to monitor your website every day and email you a report. Reports can also be exported in PDF format.
Unfortunately, you can only test your website home page free of charge. In order to test other areas of your website, such as your blog index or a blog post, you will have to upgrade to a premium plan. Their cheapest plan retails at €18 per month plus VAT and allows any URL to be tested and 5 pages to be monitored.
I was really impressed with what DareBoost offered. The reports are easy to read and provide great tips on how to improve your website. What you need to decide is whether it is worth you paying a monthly fee to test your website performance when there are many good alternatives available.
I recommend trying the service out for yourself at DareBoost.com to see what the service offers.
Thanks for reading.
Kevin