The most reliable website performance benchmarks are Google’s Core Web Vitals thresholds: LCP of 2.5 seconds or less, INP of 200 milliseconds or less and CLS of 0.1 or less. Beyond those, benchmark your own site against your competitors and against your past results. This guide shows what to measure and how to compare fairly. Test your own pages first with our free website speed test.
Key takeaways
- Use Google’s published thresholds as your fixed targets.
- Compare competitors with the same tool, the same settings and the same page types.
- Track your own results over time, because your trend matters more than one number.
- There is no single “average load time” that fits every site, so be careful with averages from other sources.
What are website performance benchmarks?
Website performance benchmarks are reference values that you compare your results against. They tell you whether a page is fast enough, and how it compares with similar sites. A benchmark can be a fixed target, a competitor or your own earlier result.
What are good benchmark values?
| Metric | Good | Needs improvement | Poor |
|---|---|---|---|
| LCP | 2.5 s or less | 2.5 to 4 s | Over 4 s |
| INP | 200 ms or less | 200 to 500 ms | Over 500 ms |
| CLS | 0.1 or less | 0.1 to 0.25 | Over 0.25 |
| TTFB | 0.8 s or less | 0.8 to 1.8 s | Over 1.8 s |
These values come from Google’s guidance on web.dev. A page passes when most real visits meet the good threshold. For the PageSpeed score bands, see what a good PageSpeed score is.
How do you benchmark your site against competitors?
- Choose three to five competitors in your niche.
- Choose the same page types: homepage, an article and a key landing page.
- Test each on mobile with the same tool, such as our free page speed checker or PageSpeed Insights.
- Run each test two or three times and record the results.
- Record LCP, INP or TBT, CLS and the overall score.
- Compare, and note where each competitor is faster or slower and why.
Test on the same day and the same connection, because results change with conditions.
Where can you find industry benchmarks?
Two public sources are useful. The Chrome UX Report is Google’s public dataset of real-user experience across many sites. The HTTP Archive publishes its Web Almanac, a yearly report on how the web is built and how it performs. Use their current editions, because values change over time. Be careful with averages from blog posts that do not name their source or date.
How do you benchmark your own site over time?
Keep a simple spreadsheet with the date, page, tool and key metrics, and add a row after every major change. A downward trend in LCP and a stable CLS tell you more than any single result. See website performance monitoring tools for ongoing tracking.
What load time should you aim for?
Aim for passing Core Web Vitals on your key pages, which means an LCP of 2.5 seconds or less. A full page load time has no official target, and a page can feel fast even if some files finish loading later. See website performance metrics for the full list.
How do you improve a result that is below the benchmark?
Find the largest cause first: images, server response, scripts or layout shifts. Our guides on running a web performance audit and how to improve website speed walk through it.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good website load time?
There is no single target. Aim for an LCP of 2.5 seconds or less on your key pages.
What is the average website load time?
It changes by year, device and source, so check current data from the Chrome UX Report or the Web Almanac rather than relying on a fixed number.
Should I compare myself with big websites?
Compare with sites of a similar size and type. Large sites often have budgets and infrastructure you do not.
How often should I benchmark?
After major changes, and at least every few months for competitors.
Is mobile or desktop the better benchmark?
Mobile first, because Google primarily uses the mobile version for indexing and the mobile test is stricter.
Conclusion
Use Google’s thresholds as fixed targets, compare with a few competitors using the same method and track your own trend. Start by testing your pages with our free website speed test.
