www.the-sun.com speed test — 20 Oct 2026
Measured from the wfix.shop server on 20 October 2026 at 15:18 UTC. Grade A (90/100), with the screenshots, the timings and the fixes that matter.
Where the first byte went
- DNS lookup 53 ms 14%
- TCP connect 1 ms 0%
- Server wait 324 ms 86%
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
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 378 ms. That is workable, and the cheapest win left is caching or a warmer connection.
- The page transfers 497.5 KB over 26 request(s). Images files are 65% 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.
- The largest element painted at 692 ms, inside the 2.5 s Google calls good.
- The main thread was blocked for 1.00 s, so taps and scrolling wait while scripts run.
Fix first: Render-blocking resources - 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.
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.
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.
Page weight by type
What the page is made of
Transfer size, compressed as sent. 26 request(s) in total, 497.5 KB across all of them.
Top issues
Render-blocking resources
high impact40 render-blocking resource(s) in the document head (0 script(s), 40 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.
HTML document size
medium impactThe document transfers 172.4 KB. A bloated document delays every other request, because nothing else can start until it is parsed.
Fix: Paginate long listings, move repeated markup into a template, and stop inlining large data URIs into the HTML.
Avoid extra redirects
medium impact1 redirect hop(s) before the page load started, each one a full round trip before the first byte.
Fix: Link to the canonical URL (and make sure http, the apex domain and www all point at it) so no visitor pays a redirect first.
Waterfall
Slowest requests
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
| Request | Type | Status | Time | Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2026/08/2026-round-16-match-brazil-1093509984_f9d6aa.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=150&h=100&crop=1 | images | 200 | 1.99 s | 4.9 KB |
| https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2026/08/2026-round-16-match-brazil-1093509984_f9d6aa.jpg?resize=956,633&quality=75&strip=all | images | 200 | 1.78 s | 77.1 KB |
| https://www.the-sun.com/https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2026/10/TOB-Justin-Biebers-model-ex-Sahara-Ray-34-‘died-from-fentanyl-overdose-v3_HERO-1.jpg?resize=300,128&quality=75&strip=all | html | 404 | 1.45 s | 146 B |
| https://www.the-sun.com/https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2026/10/TOB-Justin-Biebers-model-ex-Sahara-Ray-34-‘died-from-fentanyl-overdose-v3_HERO-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1024 | html | 404 | 1.37 s | 146 B |
| https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2026/10/JL_RFK-GD-OP.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=150&h=100&crop=1 | images | 200 | 1.35 s | 3.5 KB |
| https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2026/10/JL_RFK-GD-OP.jpg?resize=956,633&quality=75&strip=all | images | 200 | 1.35 s | 47.2 KB |
| https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2026/10/MR-02_10-MOM-MURDER_HERO.jpg?resize=300,128&quality=75&strip=all | images | 200 | 1.23 s | 8.4 KB |
| https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2026/10/newspress-collage-5grb2v6i5-1792491699496.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&1792477330&w=150&h=100&crop=1 | images | 200 | 1.17 s | 3.9 KB |
| https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2026/10/newspress-collage-jd22twsf8-1792489717218.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&1792475377&w=150&h=100&crop=1 | images | 200 | 1.14 s | 4.6 KB |
| https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2026/10/newspress-collage-jomgrwows-1792487307113.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&1792473267&w=150&h=100&crop=1 | images | 200 | 1.14 s | 3.9 KB |
| https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2026/10/newspress-collage-rfznbvrok-1792482558872.jpg?resize=300,200&quality=75&strip=all | images | 200 | 1.14 s | 6.9 KB |
| https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2026/10/JB_ALEX-BIRTH2_COMP-copy.jpg?resize=300,200&quality=75&strip=all | images | 200 | 1.12 s | 11.1 KB |
| https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2026/10/carted-off-field-first-half-1117047802.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=150&h=100&crop=1 | images | 200 | 1.11 s | 5.9 KB |
| https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2026/10/JB_ALEX-BIRTH2_COMP-copy.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=150&h=100&crop=1 | images | 200 | 1.11 s | 4.6 KB |
| https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2026/10/newspress-collage-jomgrwows-1792487307113.jpg?resize=300,200&quality=75&strip=all | images | 200 | 1.03 s | 6.3 KB |
| https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2026/10/carted-off-field-first-half-1117047802.jpg?resize=300,200&quality=75&strip=all | images | 200 | 1.03 s | 15.7 KB |
| https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2026/10/newspress-collage-i6qk3v0l1-1792504010672.jpg?resize=300,200&quality=75&strip=all | images | 200 | 1.02 s | 10.9 KB |
| https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2026/10/newspress-collage-jd22twsf8-1792489717218.jpg?resize=300,200&quality=75&strip=all | images | 200 | 1.02 s | 9.4 KB |
| https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2026/10/newspress-collage-i6qk3v0l1-1792504010672.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&1792489663&w=150&h=100&crop=1 | images | 200 | 1.02 s | 4.3 KB |
| https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2026/10/MR-02_10-MOM-MURDER_HERO.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1024 | images | 200 | 1.01 s | 48.1 KB |
| https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2026/10/newspress-collage-5grb2v6i5-1792491699496.jpg?resize=300,200&quality=75&strip=all | images | 200 | 1.01 s | 5.7 KB |
| https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2026/10/newspress-collage-rfznbvrok-1792482558872.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&1792468663&w=620&h=413&crop=1 | images | 200 | 984 ms | 32.1 KB |
| https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2026/10/apple-comp.jpg?resize=300,200&quality=75&strip=all | images | 200 | 981 ms | 3.1 KB |
| https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2026/10/apple-comp.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&1792489653&w=150&h=100&crop=1 | images | 200 | 980 ms | 2.3 KB |
| https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2026/10/JB_HE-SAID-WHAT_COMP-copy.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=150&h=100&crop=1 | images | 200 | 974 ms | 4.8 KB |
Report this page
Run this test on your own site
The same engine, free, with the screenshots and the fixes. No account needed.