I’m unhappy with PageSpeed Insights because it’s too limited, what should I use?

If you want more than PageSpeed Insights, the best replacement depends on what you’re trying to measure. PSI is useful, but it’s really just one view of performance and it can feel “too narrow” because it focuses heavily on Lighthouse + CrUX data.

Here are better options by use case:

Best all-around alternatives

• WebPageTest
  Great for deep performance debugging. Lets you choose device, connection speed, location, filmstrips, waterfalls, and repeat tests. Best if you want to understand why a page is slow.

• Lighthouse in Chrome DevTools
  Good for local, repeatable audits. More practical for development than PSI because you can test changes immediately and inspect the page directly.

• GTmetrix
  Easier-to-read reports, waterfall charts, and monitoring. Good if you want a friendlier UI than WebPageTest.

Best for real-user data and ongoing monitoring

• SpeedCurve
  Excellent for performance monitoring over time, especially for teams. Strong on real-user monitoring and budgets, but it’s paid.

• New Relic / Datadog / Akamai mPulse / Elastic RUM
  Better if you want performance tied to backend/app observability and real-user metrics at scale.

Best if you want lab + field data in one place

• DebugBear
  Strong mix of synthetic testing and real-user monitoring, with good debugging and alerting.

• Calibre
  Good performance monitoring with budgets and alerts, nice for teams.

Best open-source / DIY

• Lighthouse CI
  Automate Lighthouse in your pipeline and track regressions.
• WebPageTest API
  If you want to build your own performance workflow.
• sitespeed.io
  Very powerful, especially if you want command-line automation and custom metrics.

My practical recommendation

If you’re unhappy with PSI, I’d usually suggest:

1. WebPageTest for deep analysis
2. Lighthouse in DevTools / Lighthouse CI for development and regression checks
3. SpeedCurve or DebugBear if you want ongoing monitoring

If you want, I can recommend the best tool for your specific situation:

• solo dev vs team
• free vs paid
• lab testing vs real-user monitoring
• website vs app
• SEO/performance reporting vs engineering debugging