PageSpeed Insights, Website Grader and a front-desk audit: what each free check tells you
Three free tools will grade a website, and they do not measure the same thing. Google’s PageSpeed Insights tells you how a page is built and how fast it loads. HubSpot’s Website Grader describes itself as a check of speed, mobile, security and search. The audit on this page looks at what a customer meets when they try to reach a local business.
Below: what each one checks, what came back when we put one example site through them, and which to use for what.
Built only from what your public website says, plus Google’s public page-speed test. The preview is not live, and not connected to your phone or calendar. We see the website you type, your three answers and, if you leave it, your email; nothing else.
The three side by side
| PageSpeed Insights (Google) | Website Grader (HubSpot) | Betterlane’s free audit | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it looks at | How a page loads and behaves: Performance, Accessibility, Best Practices and SEO | Site speed, mobile, security and search optimisation, by its own description | What a customer meets: opening hours, ways to reach you, phone speed and a next step |
| What you type | A page address | A website and an email address | A website, then three yes-or-no questions |
| What you get | Four scores out of 100 and a list of technical fixes | “Performance scores and recommendations”, in its own words | A Betterlane Score out of 100 and a report in plain words |
| Where the speed number comes from | Real visitors over the previous 28 days when Google has them, and a test on a simulated phone | It says “Powered by Google Lighthouse” | The same Google data PageSpeed Insights shows |
| Reads your hours and how to reach you | No | Not among the areas it lists | Yes |
| Sign-up | None | An email address | None; leaving an email is optional |
One site through the tools: what came back
On 12 October 2026 we put one page through them: the site of a fictional dental clinic we built as an example. It is a single page with opening hours (Monday to Friday, 9 to 5), a phone number and a contact form.
- PageSpeed Insights, phone test: Performance 100, Accessibility 97, Best Practices 100, SEO 60. The main content appeared after 0.8 seconds. The SEO score is low for one reason: we hide this example page from search engines on purpose. Google had no real-visitor data for it, as for any page with few visits.
- Betterlane’s free audit: Betterlane Score 30 out of 100. Speed and the next step both passed: the page shows in 0.8 seconds and has a form. The points went elsewhere. The clinic is closed 128 of the 168 hours in a week, and the form is the only way to write to it. Two of the three yes-or-no questions were answered “yes” for the example, and those count too.
- Website Grader: not run. Its form did not accept an empty email field, and we did not give an address.
Why a site can score 100 and 30 on the same day
Neither result is wrong. They answer different questions. The first says the page is built well: it is light, it loads fast, a phone can read it. The second says that a customer who arrives on a Saturday evening finds nobody to talk to and no way to get an answer before Monday.
A slow site loses people before they see anything, so speed comes first. A fast site can still lose them one step later.
Which one to use
The site feels slow, or a developer asks what to fix
PageSpeed Insights. It lists the technical causes, and its numbers are the ones Google publishes.
You are working on how the site shows in search
Website Grader covers search optimisation, mobile and security together, by HubSpot’s description. PageSpeed Insights has an SEO score too.
You want to know where customers give up before anyone talks to them
The audit on this page. It reads your hours, how people can reach you and whether the page tells them what to do next.
You can run all of them
They are free and overlap little. Start with speed when the site is slow.
Where these facts come from
- PageSpeed Insights: Google’s own description of the tool, last updated 21 October 2024, read on 12 October 2026. It reports the Performance, Accessibility, Best Practices and SEO categories, and real-visitor data from the Chrome User Experience Report over the previous 28 days.
- Website Grader: HubSpot’s own page, read on 12 October 2026. It says the tool “analyzes your site’s performance across 17+ key metrics in under 30 seconds” and covers “site speed optimization, mobile-first compatibility, security vulnerability assessment, and search engine optimization”. Its form asks for a website and an email.
- The example run is ours. PageSpeed Insights and Website Grader are the products and names of Google and HubSpot.
Questions
Does Betterlane’s audit replace PageSpeed Insights?
No. Its speed figure comes from the same Google data. For the technical causes of a slow page, PageSpeed Insights is the tool.
Why did a site with 100 for performance score 30 here?
Because the two measure different things. The example loads in under a second, and it is closed 128 hours a week with a form as the only way to write to it.
Does Website Grader need an email address?
On 12 October 2026 its form answered “Sorry! This doesn’t look like a valid email address.” when we left the email empty.
Is the audit free?
Yes. There is nothing to sign up for, and leaving your email is optional.