www.complex.com speed test — 20 Oct 2026

Measured from the wfix.shop server on 20 October 2026 at 16:02 UTC. Grade D (67/100), with the screenshots, the timings and the fixes that matter.

https://www.complex.com:443/

20 October 2026 at 16:02 UTC · Free test · report pt_25f4bd78aa41
Grade
D
67/100
Performance68/100
Structure65/100

9 audit(s) passed, 7 need work

First byte (TTFB)407 msmeasured from this server
Fully loaded1.85 sfirst byte + slowest asset
Requests26document + assets
Page weight11.14 MBcompressed transfer
HTML document129.0 KBbr
ProtocolHTTP/3cloudflare
Third-party11.02 MBother hosts

Where the first byte went

  • DNS lookup 100 ms 25%
  • TCP connect 56 ms 14%
  • Server wait 251 ms 62%

Measured on the connection that fetched the HTML. Every other request on the page waits for the end of this bar before it can start.

How this page compares

First bytefaster than 55% of 4,999 pages tested here407 ms against a median of 449 ms
Page weightheavier than 98% of 4,999 pages tested here11.14 MB against a median of 650.3 KB
Fully loadedslower than 51% of 4,999 pages tested here1.85 s against a median of 1.84 s
Requestssends more requests than 100% of 4,999 pages tested here26 against a median of 26

Every report published here is in this comparison, so it is a reference population of pages tested from one server - not a benchmark of the whole web.

What these numbers mean

  • The first byte arrived in 407 ms. That is workable, and the cheapest win left is caching or a warmer connection.
  • The page transfers 11.14 MB over 26 request(s). Images files are 99% of it, so resize and recompress the largest images before anything else.
  • The HTML itself arrives br-compressed.
  • It runs over HTTP/3, so the assets share a connection instead of opening one each.
  • 99% of the weight comes from other hosts (analytics, fonts, embeds), which also means their slow day becomes your slow day.
  • The largest element painted at 1.07 s, inside the 2.5 s Google calls good.
  • The main thread was blocked for 1.27 s, so taps and scrolling wait while scripts run.

Fix first: Server response time (TTFB) - Cut server think time: page cache, query indexes, fewer synchronous calls to third parties inside the request. Connection setup is distance, so a nearer region or a CDN edge helps instead.

Read on one shared server, not a visitor's phone: use it to compare pages against each other, not as a promise about every connection. We fix what these tests find.

Screenshot

What the page looks like

Loaded in headless Chromium on this server. Click an image to open it full size.

Mobile screenshot of www.complex.com
Mobile 390 × 844 · 240.6 KB · page is 6000 px tall

Browser render

The same URL loaded in a real browser, so these are the readings curl cannot produce. The grade above is still built from the server measurements.

Largest contentful paint1.07 sgood is under 2.5 s
Cumulative layout shift0.000under 0.1 is stable
Total blocking time1.27 slong tasks during load
First contentful paint700 msfirst content on screen
Browser page weight22.89 MB517 request(s), scripts included
Failed requests16blocked or unreachable
Largest contentful paint1.07 s
Goodgood under 2.5 s, poor over 4 s
Cumulative layout shift0.000
Goodgood under 0.1, poor over 0.25
Total blocking time1.27 s
Poorgood under 200 ms, poor over 600 ms

Page weight by type

What the page is made of

Images 25 requests
11.02 MB 99%

Transfer size, compressed as sent. 26 request(s) in total, 11.14 MB across all of them.

Top issues

Server response time (TTFB)

high impact

The first byte arrived after 407 ms. Of that, 251 ms was the server thinking and 156 ms was connection setup. A first byte under 400 ms is what a visitor feels as instant.

Fix: Cut server think time: page cache, query indexes, fewer synchronous calls to third parties inside the request. Connection setup is distance, so a nearer region or a CDN edge helps instead.

Image delivery and format

high impact

10 image(s) over 200 KB and 4 large image(s) still served as JPEG or PNG.

Fix: Serve WebP or AVIF with a JPEG fallback, size images to the space they occupy, and lazy-load anything below the fold. Images are usually more than half of a slow page.

Render-blocking resources

high impact

4 render-blocking resource(s) in the document head (1 script(s), 3 stylesheet(s)). The page cannot paint until each one arrives.

Fix: Add defer or async to scripts that do not change the first paint, inline the critical CSS, and load the rest with media="print" plus an onload swap.

Total page weight

high impact

The page transfers 11.14 MB across 26 request(s), with the document itself at 129.0 KB.

Fix: Work through the heaviest assets first: images, then fonts, then third-party scripts.

Third-party weight

medium impact

1 third-party host(s) serve 11.02 MB of this page. Each one is another DNS lookup, TLS handshake and point of failure you do not control.

Fix: Self-host the libraries you can, drop the tags you cannot justify, and preconnect the ones you keep.

Waterfall

Slowest requests

IMAGESimages.complex.com/complex/image/upload/c_crop,h_2698,w_2…
1.44 s
IMAGESimages.complex.com/complex/image/upload/c_crop,h_9258,w_7…
1.36 s
IMAGESimages.complex.com/complex/image/upload/c_crop,h_1081,w_1…
1.27 s
IMAGESimages.complex.com/complex/image/upload/c_crop,h_1081,w_1…
1.14 s
IMAGESimages.complex.com/complex/image/upload/c_crop,h_1081,w_1…
1.14 s
IMAGESimages.complex.com/complex/image/upload/c_crop,h_2738,w_4…
1.13 s
IMAGESimages.complex.com/complex/image/upload/c_crop,h_1350,w_1…
1.07 s
IMAGESimages.complex.com/complex/image/upload/c_crop,h_1079,w_1…
1.06 s
IMAGESimages.complex.com/complex/image/upload/c_crop,h_2738,w_4…
1.06 s
IMAGESimages.complex.com/complex/image/upload/c_crop,h_1081,w_1…
1.05 s

Each bar is one request's own response time, scaled to the slowest. Assets were fetched in parallel, so the bars overlap in real time rather than stacking. first party third party

RequestTypeStatusTimeSize
https://images.complex.com/complex/image/upload/c_crop,h_2698,w_2160,x_0,y_0/g_auto:aoi_864_1079_432_540,q_auto,f_auto,c_fill,ar_1.78,w_800/sanity-new/lndnfysez9xl7nzhwl5b 3rd partyimages2001.44 s120.0 KB
https://images.complex.com/complex/image/upload/c_crop,h_9258,w_7410,x_0,y_0/g_auto:aoi_2964_3703_1482_1852,q_75,f_auto,c_fill,ar_0.80,w_320/sanity-new/veb0uafle6e0dap8qdxn 3rd partyimages2001.36 s67.0 KB
https://images.complex.com/complex/image/upload/c_crop,h_1081,w_1920,x_0,y_0/g_auto:aoi_768_433_384_216,q_auto,f_auto,c_fill,ar_1.78,w_800/sanity-new/hdlpjza5ket8kndkdsrc 3rd partyimages2001.27 s56.5 KB
https://images.complex.com/complex/image/upload/c_crop,h_1081,w_1920,x_0,y_0/g_auto:aoi_768_433_384_216/sanity-new/ipxcll0u4wlfnzfxhn5w 3rd partyimages2001.14 s473.4 KB
https://images.complex.com/complex/image/upload/c_crop,h_1081,w_1920,x_0,y_0/g_auto:aoi_768_433_384_216,q_auto,f_auto,c_fill,ar_1.78,w_390/sanity-new/hdlpjza5ket8kndkdsrc 3rd partyimages2001.14 s19.1 KB
https://images.complex.com/complex/image/upload/c_crop,h_2738,w_4860,x_0,y_0/g_auto:aoi_1944_1095_972_548,q_auto,f_auto,c_fill,ar_1.78,w_800/sanity-new/cu9odc5k5ic5jvgoylks 3rd partyimages2001.13 s15.4 KB
https://images.complex.com/complex/image/upload/c_crop,h_1350,w_1080,x_0,y_0/g_auto:aoi_432_540_216_270/sanity-new/hfap2mdadzbt6itfrkel 3rd partyimages2001.07 s1.05 MB
https://images.complex.com/complex/image/upload/c_crop,h_1079,w_1922,x_0,y_0/g_auto:aoi_769_432_384_216,q_75,f_auto,c_fill,ar_1.78,w_390/sanity-new/a9o2whio3uxlamd5xd3y 3rd partyimages2001.06 s415.4 KB
https://images.complex.com/complex/image/upload/c_crop,h_2738,w_4860,x_0,y_0/g_auto:aoi_1944_1095_972_548,q_auto,f_auto,c_fill,ar_1.78,w_1920/sanity-new/cu9odc5k5ic5jvgoylks 3rd partyimages2001.06 s41.3 KB
https://images.complex.com/complex/image/upload/c_crop,h_1081,w_1920,x_0,y_0/g_auto:aoi_768_433_384_216,q_auto,f_auto,c_fill,ar_1.78,w_1920/sanity-new/hdlpjza5ket8kndkdsrc 3rd partyimages2001.05 s208.0 KB
https://images.complex.com/complex/image/upload/v1791427273/editorial/fact-first/collages/dr6nlx6nghqi2f9ko5no.png 3rd partyimages2001.05 s2.21 MB
https://images.complex.com/complex/image/upload/c_crop,h_2698,w_2160,x_0,y_0/g_auto:aoi_864_1079_432_540,q_75,f_auto,c_fill,ar_0.80,w_320/sanity-new/lndnfysez9xl7nzhwl5b 3rd partyimages2001.04 s29.4 KB
https://images.complex.com/complex/image/upload/c_crop,h_1350,w_1080,x_0,y_0/g_auto:aoi_432_540_216_270,q_75,f_avif,c_fill,ar_1.50,w_400/sanity-new/hfap2mdadzbt6itfrkel 3rd partyimages2001.04 s14.7 KB
https://images.complex.com/complex/image/upload/q_75,f_avif,c_fill,ar_1.50,w_400,g_auto/v1791427273/editorial/fact-first/collages/dr6nlx6nghqi2f9ko5no 3rd partyimages2001.03 s22.4 KB
https://images.complex.com/complex/image/upload/c_crop,h_2698,w_2160,x_0,y_0/g_auto:aoi_864_1079_432_540,q_auto,f_auto,c_fill,ar_1.78,w_1920/sanity-new/lndnfysez9xl7nzhwl5b 3rd partyimages2001.02 s683.7 KB
https://images.complex.com/complex/image/upload/c_crop,h_1081,w_1920,x_0,y_0/g_auto:aoi_768_433_384_216,q_75,f_avif,c_fill,ar_1.50,w_400/sanity-new/ipxcll0u4wlfnzfxhn5w 3rd partyimages2001.02 s19.1 KB
https://images.complex.com/complex/image/upload/v1791926878/sanity-new/j9wgy8kqoftxhgwnx1ez.jpg 3rd partyimages2001.01 s756.6 KB
https://images.complex.com/complex/image/upload/c_crop,h_9258,w_7410,x_0,y_0/g_auto:aoi_2964_3703_1482_1852,q_75,f_auto,c_fill,ar_0.80,w_640/sanity-new/veb0uafle6e0dap8qdxn 3rd partyimages2001.00 s61.3 KB
https://images.complex.com/complex/image/upload/c_crop,h_2698,w_2160,x_0,y_0/g_auto:aoi_864_1079_432_540,q_75,f_auto,c_fill,ar_0.80,w_640/sanity-new/lndnfysez9xl7nzhwl5b 3rd partyimages200994 ms85.4 KB
https://images.complex.com/complex/image/upload/c_crop,h_1081,w_1920,x_0,y_0/g_auto:aoi_768_433_384_216,q_auto,f_auto,c_fill,ar_1.78,w_750/sanity-new/hdlpjza5ket8kndkdsrc 3rd partyimages200986 ms52.6 KB
https://images.complex.com/complex/image/upload/v1791996153/editorial/fact-first/collages/lsofeu2wknhechfvxzdb.png 3rd partyimages200980 ms2.35 MB
https://images.complex.com/complex/image/upload/c_crop,h_1079,w_1922,x_0,y_0/g_auto:aoi_769_432_384_216,q_75,f_auto,c_fill,ar_1.78,w_800/sanity-new/a9o2whio3uxlamd5xd3y 3rd partyimages200975 ms1.63 MB
https://images.complex.com/complex/image/upload/v1791309944/CC26_DISNEY_FRAGMENT_WEB_4X5_03_lby6f6.png 3rd partyimages200963 ms695.0 KB
https://images.complex.com/complex/image/upload/q_75,f_avif,c_fill,ar_1.50,w_400,g_auto/v1791996153/editorial/fact-first/collages/lsofeu2wknhechfvxzdb 3rd partyimages200963 ms26.9 KB
https://images.complex.com/complex/image/upload/q_75,f_avif,c_fill,ar_1.50,w_400,g_auto/v1791926878/sanity-new/j9wgy8kqoftxhgwnx1ez 3rd partyimages200963 ms12.8 KB
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