Run a free website speed test from multiple locations around the globe using real browsers (IE and Chrome) and at real consumer connection speeds. You can run simple tests or perform advanced testing including multi-step transactions, video capture, content blocking and much more. Your results will provide rich diagnostic information including resource loading waterfall charts, Page Speed optimization checks and suggestions for improvements.
The first thing you need to do is decide on a page to test. Most people start with the main page for their site (but don’t neglect the other pages people visit either). Once you have decided on a page you’d like to test you go to WebPagetest and give it the URL for the page you want tested:
Next you should decide where you want the test to be run from. WebPagetest has test machines that are physically located around the world and you should test from a location that is close to where your users are visiting from. You can either pick a location from the list or if you click on the Change button you can pick a location from a map view (just click on a balloon to select a location and then click ok). If you hold the pointer over the bubbles they will display a message telling you where the location is:
Finally, you need to decide what browser to use for the test. Different locations support different browsers so if a given location doesn’t have the browser you are looking for, you can try a different location. The Dulles, VA USA location supports all of the browsers that WebPagetest works with (Internet Explorer 6, 7, 8 and 9). Ignore the “dynaTrace” browsers for now, those are used for more advanced analysis. We usually recommend using IE7 for initial testing because it’s pretty much the worst-case scenario and makes it easier to see a lot of issues so if you’re not sure what browser to start with just use IE7.
After everything is configured the way you like, click on the START TEST button and your request will be sent to the test location for testing. The test may take a while to run depending on how many tests are ahead of yours (figure at least one minute for each test ahead of yours but it’s not unusual for it to be even longer than that). Once the test is complete you will be presented with the results.