Pingdom speed test alternative
PageSpeed Insights is the free Pingdom speed test alternative most people should use, WebPageTest is better for waterfalls and repeat runs, and GTmetrix works after a free signup; none of them watch your site between tests, which is what an uptime monitor like Logdash is for.
The Pingdom Website Speed Test still works and is still free. Paste a URL, pick one of 7 locations, and you get a grade, the load time, page size, request count and a waterfall. People look elsewhere because of what it leaves out: it tests desktop only, on an unthrottled data centre connection, and it reports load time rather than Core Web Vitals, the metrics Google shows in Search Console.
Free website speed test options
- PageSpeed Insights. Free, no account. Runs Lighthouse for mobile and desktop, and when your site has enough Chrome traffic it adds real-user LCP, INP and CLS from the Chrome UX Report. The best first test for almost everyone.
- WebPageTest. Now part of LogicMonitor, which bought Catchpoint in 2025. Basic tests run without an account; the free Starter account gives 150 test runs a month, up to 3 runs per test, with filmstrips, video and Lighthouse from 30 locations. The pick when you need to see exactly which request blocks the render.
- GTmetrix. Lighthouse reports with a waterfall and video. You need a free account to see a report, free tests run from Seattle or London, and most mobile devices and locations are on PRO.
- Pingdom Website Speed Test. Still free, 7 locations, desktop only. Fine for a quick waterfall, weak on modern metrics.
A speed test is not response time monitoring
A speed test loads the whole page once in a real browser: HTML, CSS, scripts, images, fonts and rendering. It tells you how heavy the page is. It says nothing about 3am on a Tuesday. Response time monitoring does the opposite. Logdash sends one GET to your URL on every check and records the status code and how long the server took to return the HTML. It never loads images or runs JavaScript, so it will not tell you your hero image is 4 MB. It will show the server going from 180 ms to 2.4 seconds after a deploy, and a check that gets no answer within 10 seconds counts as down and sends the alert.
You can see the number it records from your own terminal. The total at the end is roughly one uptime check; the rest shows where the time went.
curl -s -o /dev/null -w 'dns %{time_namelookup}s connect %{time_connect}s tls %{time_appconnect}s first byte %{time_starttransfer}s total %{time_total}s\n' \
https://example.com
# dns 0.002s connect 0.015s tls 0.032s first byte 0.052s total 0.054sRun that once from a laptop and you have one data point. Run it every minute from outside your network for a month and you have a chart that shows the slow Tuesday nobody reported. That second part is the job an uptime monitor does and a speed test does not.
Logdash vs PageSpeed Insights
| Feature | Logdash | PageSpeed Insights |
|---|---|---|
| What it measures | One request for the HTML: status code and response time | Full page load in a browser, plus Core Web Vitals |
| How often | Every 5 minutes free, 1 minute on Builder, 15 seconds on Pro | When you press the button |
| Alerts | Telegram or webhook when the site goes down | None |
| Fix suggestions | None, it records numbers | Lighthouse audits with specific fixes |
| Mobile results | No rendering, so no mobile view | Mobile and desktop |
| Cost | Free for 5 services | Free, no account |
When PageSpeed Insights is the better pick
- You want to know why the page feels slow. Logdash measures the server, not the page.
- You care about Core Web Vitals and search. Logdash does not report LCP, INP or CLS.
- You need a one-off audit before a launch, not something watching every minute.
- Add the URL you speed tested Paste it into Logdash as an HTTP monitor. Every check stores the status code and response time, so the latency chart starts filling from the first minute.
- Connect Telegram Add a Telegram channel once and attach it to the monitor. A webhook works too if you want alerts in your own system.
- Make it fail Point the monitor at a path that returns 500, or stop the server. On the next check it flips to down and the Telegram alert arrives with the status code and the error.