A slow website is as good as not having a website at all. In this fast-paced life, slow loading websites are anathema to progressive business practices. Keeping your website content short is not a sole solution to the problem, it is sometimes a trade-off which every web designer has to make. Slow loading web page not only indicates poor design but also annoys visitors.  Fast processing web pages, on the other hand, are one of the commandments of great web design. Slow loading web pages can be the outcome of bugs or any other bottleneck. Primary step towards optimizing your website is to put it through a speed test. Here are 6 essential tools that can help you test loading speed of your website, and give you cues to create faster web pages.

Note: If you are using free website builder for your website, don’t forget to check this review of website’s builders page speed.

WebWait

Webwait is an effective tool that tells you about the average loading time of your website. It is easy to use, all you have to do is enter the URL of your site, set the number of test runs. The result is projected in terms of Average, Medium and Standard Deviation. You can set as many number of test runs as you want. The application pitch in all media files, images, stylesheets and JavaScript to analyze the speed of your web page. This application runs on all popular browsers.

Load.in

This website speed-measuring tool is one of the coolest tools in terms of visual appeal. The application allows you to try the speed of your website on 50 servers located worldwide. As soon as the test run is completed, you get a snapshot of the webpage at various points on the timeline. The best part about this application is that you keep track of loading time of the individual element of your website, which you get in the form of a waterfall chart.

Slowcop

This web page loading speed tester is known for its instant report that scores your page speed on the scale of 0 to 100. The report displays information regarding the total number of elements, page size, download time, and the score.

Ping Brigade

Ping Brigade evaluate your web page speed on three parameters—ping, page load, and web server latency. The test is instant and a clickable colored map shows server locations in America and the world, so that you can test your web page speed with different servers, as per your suitability.

BrowserMob

This website load tester gives a precise analysis of loading time with reference to a few locations around the globe. Elements on the page are broken down into colorful pie-chart illustration. You can use waterfall chart to analyze individual element of your web page in more detail.

Web Slug’s

This website is renowned for its timer based analysis that offers a comparative estimate of two websites. Just by using the URL of websites, you can scale one site against another. However, this simple website speed tester is limited in scope but can be used as a ‘battle tool’ for a comparative study between two websites.

Web designers need various tools to work on the optimization of their websites. In addition, these online website loading speed-testing tools help web designers work on the bottlenecks in order to boost the processing speed of their website. Website speed also depends on the web hosting company you are using.

Hope this brief read gives you an overview of essential tools you may need to test loading speed of your website. If you know of any other testing tools, you can mention them in the comment section.