What GTmetrix Did That Made Me Switch to SpeedVitals
I am not affiliated with SpeedVitals or GTmetrix, nor have I been paid by or communicated with them regarding this post.
For years GTmetrix, along with WebPageTest and pagespeed.web.dev have been the go to tools for web application performance monitoring. But GTmetrix’s pricing changes on December 1st 2023 limited free access so much that many of us, including myself, have had to search for alternatives. Enter SpeedVitals—a full-featured solution that’s flexible and efficient with a generous free plan.
In this post, we’ll look at GTmetrix and SpeedVitals pricing and overall value so you can decide which tool is best for your website performance testing and monitoring needs.
Table of Contents
GTmetrix: Pricing and Free Plan Changes
On December 1st, 2023, GTmetrix blocked testing for non-registered users and also imposed stricter limitations on free (basic) accounts:
- Basic accounts were limited to only 5 tests (non-renewing) for free users.
- A new mandatory account creation for all test reports.
- Paid plans starting at $5/month, offering up to 25 weekly tests.
While the Micro Plan is affordable, the restrictions for free users, including the inability to test anonymously (mandatory account creation), are a notable drawback. Current pricing:
Recently, they have reverted the change of basic account’s having a non-renewing 5 test limit, to a monthly renewal of 5 tests. Before undoing this hard limit, it meant that after using 5 tests, your email, and signup details would simply sit on their servers. That was not worth it to me, and so I deleted my GTMetrix account at the end of 2023.
However, I did reach out to them first, on December 9th 2023 via their contact form, I don’t have the entire message because their response only included one line from what I wrote. But the gist of it was to express my disappointment in their new pricing approach (wall) and to inquire how often the limit on free (basic) accounts would be renewed; since it was not mentioned on the website. To which the response was “not renewing”. Here’s the full response from last December:
A year later, GTmetrix returned to monthly free testing (5 tests) and monitoring (1 slot).
That was very disappointing news. So I informed them that I would be deleting my “Basic” account. Which seemed pointless to have since there was no way of using it without upgrading. I also ended my admittedly annoyed email, with this: “I remain optimistic that GTmetrix will eventually revisit and embrace their founding mission in the future.”
Well, apparently that time has come! The Free (Basic) plan now refills monthly:
December 2024: I’ve created a new account at GTmetrix.
Don’t get me wrong, as I also mentioned to GTmetrix, I was a customer since Thursday, May 19, 2011, at 12:42 AM and while several months and probably years did pass without me using the service, there were also several months when I upgraded to their paid plans because the need for more testing warranted it. However, it was also because of their new pricing that I was able to find speedvitals.com.
SpeedVitals: A powerful Value-Oriented Alternative
SpeedVitals appeals to website owners with its free plan:
- 30 weekly test credits AND 30 Time to First Byte (TTFB) test credits.
- Free Testing from 10 locations and 10 devices.
- Free Batch testing for up to 10 URLs at once.
- Reports retained for one month.
View pricing page.
A Brief Comparison
Speedvitals.com gives you lots of functionality without requiring paid upgrades for casual users, so it’s perfect for occasional website performance checks. You can pay for higher limits and more features if and when you need them.
Testing locations: SpeedVitals free plan has more testing locations than GTmetrix, 10 locations vs 7.
Testing limits: SpeedVitals free plan has higher testing limits than GTmetrix, 30 Web Vitals and 30 TTFB test credits vs 5 on-demand tests per month.
GTmetrix has been around for over 10 years and well trusted. So it’s good to see them remove the paywall, while equally good to see SpeedVitals add competitive offerings to this space. Both tools are feature rich.
Which One Is Better?
Well, if you frequently monitor multiple websites or require advanced analysis, GTmetrix’s paid plans may suit your needs. However, for those who occasionally test site performance, SpeedVitals is the clear winner, offering more generous free features without sacrificing depth. They also offer free monitoring, something that GTmetrix has now offered a slot for again.
For me, SpeedVitals not only meets the needs of budget-conscious users but also reflects a forward-thinking approach to empowering website owners. Since GTmetrix has reverted the non-renewing paywall from the basic account, I have created a new account there.
It is useful to monitor with multiple services. So currently, I’m testing and monitoring with WebPageTest, Cloudflare, Pingdom (a sponsor), Speedvitals, and GTMetrix. For website and service uptime monitoring and alerting, I’ve been using uptimerobot.com (a sponsor) and betterstack.com.
Conclusion
SpeedVitals has been a great addition to the website performance monitoring space, with a free plan and a forward-thinking approach for all website owners. While GTmetrix is a trusted name with a long history, some of this was damaged when they blocked anonymous testing and limited free accounts to a non-renewing 5 test limit. The recent change to a monthly renewal of 5 tests for free accounts is a welcome step in reconnecting with their user base.
Using tools like SpeedVitals alongside GTmetrix means website owners get multiple perspectives and insights to make sure their sites are running at their best. I hope GTmetrix continues to keep accessibility in mind and doesn’t put up more barriers in the future, they are a pioneer in making the web faster and more efficient. Please keep it that way!