www.gq.com speed test — 20 Oct 2026
Measured from the wfix.shop server on 20 October 2026 at 14:19 UTC. Grade D (63/100), with the screenshots, the timings and the fixes that matter.
Where the first byte went
- DNS lookup 90 ms 22%
- TCP connect 29 ms 7%
- Server wait 292 ms 71%
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 411 ms. That is workable, and the cheapest win left is caching or a warmer connection.
- The page transfers 8.03 MB over 26 request(s). Images files are 88% 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.
- 93% 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 2.17 s, inside the 2.5 s Google calls good.
- The main thread was blocked for 2.06 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.
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, 8.03 MB across all of them.
Top issues
Server response time (TTFB)
high impactThe first byte arrived after 411 ms. Of that, 292 ms was the server thinking and 119 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.
Compress text responses
high impact2 text response(s) of 10 KB or more are sent uncompressed, and the document itself is not compressed. That is 250.6 KB of compressible text.
Fix: Turn on brotli (preferred) or gzip for text/css, javascript and text/html in the web server. This is the cheapest win available on almost any site.
Image delivery and format
high impact5 image(s) over 200 KB and 14 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.
Total page weight
high impactThe page transfers 8.03 MB across 26 request(s), with the document itself at 186.8 KB.
Fix: Work through the heaviest assets first: images, then fonts, then third-party scripts.
Cache static assets
medium impact1 asset(s) answer without a Cache-Control max-age, so browsers revalidate them on every visit.
Fix: Version filenames on change and serve them with a long max-age plus immutable. That is what makes a returning visitor fast.
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://media.gq.com/photos/6a6cc97a5235df39ccd286f7/4:5/w_748%2Cc_limit/michael-nolledo.jpg 3rd party | images | 200 | 1.78 s | 104.8 KB |
| https://media.gq.com/photos/6883d06362b156a1065877e7/4:5/w_748%2Cc_limit/GQR-2025-Editors-Wishlist-4x5-GO.jpg 3rd party | images | 200 | 1.77 s | 92.7 KB |
| https://media.gq.com/photos/6883d0e00983aaefa762bade/4:5/w_748%2Cc_limit/GQR-2025-Editors-Wishlist-4x5-YG.jpg 3rd party | images | 200 | 1.64 s | 112.0 KB |
| https://media.gq.com/photos/6a2b2bcc3a2d445bc9938b3f/4:5/w_748%2Cc_limit/Tyler%25204x5%25202.jpg 3rd party | images | 200 | 1.63 s | 106.6 KB |
| https://media.gq.com/photos/6aa94ecb7dab31b651f5acd6/master/w_160%2Cc_limit/2602_GQM_Oct_Issue_TICKER_BANNER_1x.png 3rd party | images | 200 | 1.60 s | 5.5 KB |
| https://media.gq.com/photos/6883d03c979c0bdef93cea14/4:5/w_748%2Cc_limit/GQR-2025-Editors-Wishlist-4x5-AG-1.jpg 3rd party | images | 200 | 1.57 s | 105.5 KB |
| https://media.gq.com/photos/6ad0fa87c5c9776eb34c0727/1:1/w_1600%2Cc_limit/new%2520lede%2520v2.png 3rd party | images | 200 | 1.46 s | 727.3 KB |
| https://media.gq.com/photos/694966be8483b6ef3804bfe6/4:5/w_748%2Cc_limit/GQR-2025-Editors-Wishlist-4x5-RC.jpg 3rd party | images | 200 | 1.39 s | 138.6 KB |
| https://media.gq.com/photos/6acd3e6ad41758887d9772db/1:1/w_1600%2Cc_limit/Julianne%2520Holt-Lunstad.jpg 3rd party | images | 200 | 1.30 s | 746.3 KB |
| https://www.gq.com/iqKbJviPoKjkU90mDHwfngjf16t4cYKzklbbtIk36_arNtJ-Fljdd12zWx6pYewwpRN7LAZgkk1v04xjFF_qAYqKO226Z5tCfB8tMtN8oqGlqWQpX_2gYTJzTwQrM | javascript | 200 | 1.06 s | 58.9 KB |
| https://martech.condenastdigital.com/lib/martech.js 3rd party | javascript | 200 | 1.04 s | 119.3 KB |
| https://www.gq.com/dqg-Zn6u4UrcDI6xJwPQfwF0ie-50Kqpkllym6w-KfeNIoxzpawSbXYvl-dVtHHP48mAEazScvV31lTGeJ6BfnqVVCR7Ekm6xVIprIKXvUsFPneEtzxpCp8GycJtt0Fty4T6TM_20 | javascript | 200 | 1.02 s | 8.0 KB |
| https://dwgyu36up6iuz.cloudfront.net/heru80fdn/image/upload/c_fill%2Cd_placeholder_image.jpg%2Cfl_progressive%2Cg_center%2Ch_900%2Cq_80%2Cw_1600/v1792424807/gq_one-more-question-prince-harry.jpg?_a=BACCg%2520Ev 3rd party | images | 200 | 935 ms | 172.8 KB |
| https://securepubads.g.doubleclick.net/tag/js/gpt.js 3rd party | javascript | 200 | 912 ms | 131.4 KB |
| https://media.gq.com/photos/6ad62409a4752f83362fc6ac/1:1/w_1600%2Cc_limit/061-Volme-eating%2520(1).gif 3rd party | images | 200 | 904 ms | 3.63 MB |
| https://www.gq.com/verso/static/6275.10358f4a35cc82fb00ac.js | javascript | 200 | 879 ms | 341.7 KB |
| https://privacy.condenastdigital.com/fides.js?property_id=FDS-OJZSCM 3rd party | javascript | 200 | 877 ms | 135.1 KB |
| https://ads-static.conde.digital/production/cns/builds/gq/v6.js?v=13478 3rd party | javascript | 200 | 860 ms | 39.8 KB |
| https://dwgyu36up6iuz.cloudfront.net/heru80fdn/image/upload/c_fill%2Cd_placeholder_image.jpg%2Cfl_progressive%2Cg_center%2Ch_900%2Cq_80%2Cw_1600//gq_ethan-hawke-hollywoods-changing-a-rebellion-is-coming.jpg?_a=BACCg%2520Ev 3rd party | images | 200 | 857 ms | 222.7 KB |
| https://dwgyu36up6iuz.cloudfront.net/heru80fdn/image/upload/c_fill%2Cd_placeholder_image.jpg%2Cfl_progressive%2Cg_center%2Ch_900%2Cq_80%2Cw_1600/v1791467629/gq_iconic-characters-sebastian-stan.jpg?_a=BACCg%2520Ev 3rd party | images | 200 | 857 ms | 218.5 KB |
| https://dwgyu36up6iuz.cloudfront.net/heru80fdn/image/upload/c_fill%2Cd_placeholder_image.jpg%2Cfl_progressive%2Cg_center%2Ch_900%2Cq_80%2Cw_1600/v1791908114/gq_iconic-characters-josh-hartnett.jpg?_a=BACCg%2520Ev 3rd party | images | 200 | 857 ms | 188.5 KB |
| https://dwgyu36up6iuz.cloudfront.net/heru80fdn/image/upload/c_fill%2Cd_placeholder_image.jpg%2Cfl_progressive%2Cg_center%2Ch_900%2Cq_80%2Cw_1600/v1791800178/gq_one-more-question-ben-affleck-ai-clip.jpg?_a=BACCg%2520Ev 3rd party | images | 200 | 857 ms | 183.9 KB |
| https://dwgyu36up6iuz.cloudfront.net/heru80fdn/image/upload/c_fill%2Cd_placeholder_image.jpg%2Cfl_progressive%2Cg_center%2Ch_900%2Cq_80%2Cw_1600/v1791987110/gq_10-essentials-a-boogie-wit-da-hoodie.jpg?_a=BACCg%2520Ev 3rd party | images | 200 | 857 ms | 179.9 KB |
| https://dwgyu36up6iuz.cloudfront.net/heru80fdn/image/upload/c_fill%2Cd_placeholder_image.jpg%2Cfl_progressive%2Cg_center%2Ch_900%2Cq_80%2Cw_1600/v1791887955/gq_one-more-question-ethan-hawke.jpg?_a=BACCg%2520Ev 3rd party | images | 200 | 857 ms | 172.6 KB |
| https://www.gq.com/verso/static/gq-global/assets/logo-reverse.svg | images | 200 | 857 ms | 914 B |
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