pitchfork.com speed test — 20 Oct 2026
Measured from the wfix.shop server on 20 October 2026 at 15:48 UTC. Grade D (66/100), with the screenshots, the timings and the fixes that matter.
Where the first byte went
- DNS lookup 94 ms 20%
- TCP connect 50 ms 11%
- Server wait 325 ms 69%
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 468 ms. That is workable, and the cheapest win left is caching or a warmer connection.
- The page transfers 11.25 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 964 ms, inside the 2.5 s Google calls good.
- Layout stayed still (CLS 0.076), so nothing jumps under the reader's cursor.
- The main thread was blocked for 1.56 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.
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, 11.25 MB across all of them.
Top issues
Server response time (TTFB)
high impactThe first byte arrived after 468 ms. Of that, 325 ms was the server thinking and 144 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 impact14 image(s) over 200 KB and 16 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 11.25 MB across 26 request(s), with the document itself at 139.1 KB.
Fix: Work through the heaviest assets first: images, then fonts, then third-party scripts.
Third-party weight
medium impact2 third-party host(s) serve 11.11 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.
HTML document size
medium impactThe document transfers 139.1 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.
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.pitchfork.com/photos/696f869b1919e621440ea6a9/master/w_160%2Cc_limit/P4K26_TickerIcon.png 3rd party | images | 200 | 1.64 s | 2.9 KB |
| https://media.pitchfork.com/photos/6abab669c7133574666efe1a/16:9/w_1600%2Cc_limit/P4K_DINOJR_009C_watermarked.jpg 3rd party | images | 200 | 1.41 s | 355.3 KB |
| https://media.pitchfork.com/photos/6ac5462d6bd2ab7424d8212c/16:9/w_1600%2Cc_limit/Nirosta%2520Steel%2520at%2520home-3_WM.jpg 3rd party | images | 200 | 1.41 s | 118.2 KB |
| https://media.pitchfork.com/photos/6ad63ada92212513baf7ebae/1:1/w_1920%2Cc_limit/Renny%2520Conti-Split%2520Second.jpg 3rd party | images | 200 | 1.16 s | 509.0 KB |
| https://media.pitchfork.com/photos/5929aa0dea9e61561daa5b2d/1:1/pass/57aa9f4e.jpg 3rd party | images | 200 | 1.14 s | 78.2 KB |
| https://media.pitchfork.com/photos/6ad63fe092212513baf7ebe0/2:1/w_1080%2Cc_limit/P4K26-1019_Selects_2x1%2520(1).gif 3rd party | images | 200 | 1.13 s | 2.00 MB |
| https://media.pitchfork.com/photos/6ad77af70e629bcfc171e3b1/2:1/w_1600%2Cc_limit/lambrini-girls-losangeles-diner-15.jpeg 3rd party | images | 200 | 1.10 s | 239.5 KB |
| https://media.pitchfork.com/photos/6ab2e472460d9566ff76e9ed/16:9/w_1600%2Cc_limit/P4K26_Anticipated-Albums_Fall26_2x1.gif 3rd party | images | 200 | 1.08 s | 1.49 MB |
| https://media.pitchfork.com/photos/6ad68960e84c917afa0b360f/2:1/w_1600%2Cc_limit/MUNA.jpeg 3rd party | images | 200 | 1.08 s | 133.4 KB |
| https://media.pitchfork.com/photos/6ad64354e6ca4759ddfe6b50/1:1/w_1920%2Cc_limit/Way%2520Dynamic-Massive%2520Shoe.jpg 3rd party | images | 200 | 1.06 s | 645.0 KB |
| https://media.pitchfork.com/photos/6ad28eea0dd1470351a8a266/1:1/w_1920%2Cc_limit/Zach%2520Bryan%2520-%2520Young%2520Manhood%2520and%2520Other%2520Donatable%2520Organs%2520EP%2520art.jpg 3rd party | images | 200 | 1.06 s | 556.4 KB |
| https://media.pitchfork.com/photos/65e5fbbaed9239d330ef9040/1:1/pass/eternal%2520sunshine.jpeg 3rd party | images | 200 | 1.06 s | 865.7 KB |
| https://media.pitchfork.com/photos/6a74dae2af72977b209d59da/1:1/pass/No%2520Bad%2520Memories%2520by%2520the%2520Avalanches.png 3rd party | images | 200 | 1.06 s | 244.0 KB |
| https://pitchfork.com/verso/static/pitchfork-us/assets/logo-inverted.svg | images | 200 | 1.06 s | 1.8 KB |
| https://media.pitchfork.com/photos/6a74dae2af72977b209d59da/1:1/w_1920%2Cc_limit/No%2520Bad%2520Memories%2520by%2520the%2520Avalanches.png 3rd party | images | 200 | 1.06 s | 244.0 KB |
| https://dwgyu36up6iuz.cloudfront.net/heru80fdn/image/upload/c_fill%2Cd_placeholder_image.jpg%2Cfl_progressive%2Cg_center%2Ch_900%2Cq_80%2Cw_1600/v1791903018/pitchfork_over-under-overunder-audrey-hobert.jpg?_a=BACCg%2520Ev 3rd party | images | 200 | 1.05 s | 96.2 KB |
| https://pitchfork.com/verso/static/pitchfork-us/assets/logo-header.svg | images | 200 | 1.05 s | 1.3 KB |
| https://media.pitchfork.com/photos/6a79e0c8bca9bb2529dc24bd/1:1/pass/Citizen-Halcyon%2520Blues.jpg 3rd party | images | 200 | 1.04 s | 655.1 KB |
| https://media.pitchfork.com/photos/6ad28eea0dd1470351a8a266/1:1/pass/Zach%2520Bryan%2520-%2520Young%2520Manhood%2520and%2520Other%2520Donatable%2520Organs%2520EP%2520art.jpg 3rd party | images | 200 | 1.04 s | 905.4 KB |
| https://media.pitchfork.com/photos/6ac7ef5ad1e096c849ba8c71/1:1/pass/Teenage%2520Fanclub%2520Do%2520Not%2520Dare%2520to%2520Dream.jpg 3rd party | images | 200 | 1.04 s | 748.4 KB |
| https://media.pitchfork.com/photos/6150acfdeda8afcb35b3ea1d/1:1/pass/IDLES-CRAWLER-Front-3000x3000_300dpi.jpg 3rd party | images | 200 | 1.04 s | 1.04 MB |
| https://media.pitchfork.com/photos/6ad764fb14dfa97cd2ad5656/2:1/w_1600%2Cc_limit/rosalia-latin-grammys.jpg 3rd party | images | 200 | 1.03 s | 24.9 KB |
| https://media.pitchfork.com/photos/6ad133ea47a15edc7845996a/1:1/w_1920%2Cc_limit/Worldpeace%2520DMT%2520-%2520Stick%2520Around%2520for%2520Tea%2520album%2520art.jpg 3rd party | images | 200 | 1.02 s | 127.5 KB |
| https://media.pitchfork.com/photos/6ad133ea47a15edc7845996a/1:1/pass/Worldpeace%2520DMT%2520-%2520Stick%2520Around%2520for%2520Tea%2520album%2520art.jpg 3rd party | images | 200 | 1.02 s | 127.5 KB |
| https://media.pitchfork.com/photos/6a83bc50522f93743d9915c4/1:1/pass/Dopamine%2520Chamber%2520by%2520Fontaines%2520D.C..jpg 3rd party | images | 200 | 1.02 s | 62.2 KB |
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