www.beehiiv.com speed test — 20 Oct 2026

Measured from the wfix.shop server on 20 October 2026 at 14:38 UTC. Grade D (69/100), with the screenshots, the timings and the fixes that matter.

https://www.beehiiv.com/

20 October 2026 at 14:38 UTC · Free test · report pt_a964062f4d6b
Grade
D
69/100
Performance77/100
Structure58/100

9 audit(s) passed, 7 need work

First byte (TTFB)622 msmeasured from this server
Fully loaded1.79 sfirst byte + slowest asset
Requests26document + assets
Page weight2.19 MBcompressed transfer
HTML document44.6 KBgzip
ProtocolHTTP/3cloudflare
Third-party2.15 MBother hosts

Where the first byte went

  • DNS lookup 80 ms 13%
  • TCP connect 48 ms 8%
  • Server wait 495 ms 80%

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 byteslower than 65% of 4,999 pages tested here622 ms against a median of 448 ms
Page weightheavier than 83% of 4,999 pages tested here2.19 MB against a median of 650.3 KB
Fully loadedfaster than 52% of 4,999 pages tested here1.79 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 took 622 ms. Everything else waits for that number, so the server is where to start: caching, a slow query, or an overloaded host.
  • The page transfers 2.19 MB over 26 request(s). Images files are 98% of it, so resize and recompress the largest images before anything else.
  • The HTML itself arrives gzip-compressed.
  • It runs over HTTP/3, so the assets share a connection instead of opening one each.
  • 98% 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 664 ms, inside the 2.5 s Google calls good.
  • Layout stayed still (CLS 0.002), so nothing jumps under the reader's cursor.
  • The main thread was blocked for 539 ms, 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.beehiiv.com
Mobile 390 × 844 · 95.4 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 paint664 msgood is under 2.5 s
Cumulative layout shift0.002under 0.1 is stable
Total blocking time539 mslong tasks during load
First contentful paint596 msfirst content on screen
Browser page weight8.98 MB218 request(s), scripts included
Failed requests4blocked or unreachable
Largest contentful paint664 ms
Goodgood under 2.5 s, poor over 4 s
Cumulative layout shift0.002
Goodgood under 0.1, poor over 0.25
Total blocking time539 ms
Needs improvementgood under 200 ms, poor over 600 ms

Page weight by type

What the page is made of

Images 25 requests
2.15 MB 98%

Transfer size, compressed as sent. 26 request(s) in total, 2.19 MB across all of them.

Top issues

Server response time (TTFB)

high impact

The first byte arrived after 622 ms. Of that, 495 ms was the server thinking and 128 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

4 image(s) over 200 KB and 7 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

7 render-blocking resource(s) in the document head (1 script(s), 6 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 2.19 MB across 26 request(s), with the document itself at 44.6 KB.

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

Cache static assets

medium impact

25 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

IMAGESmedia.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,onerror=r…
1.16 s
IMAGESmedia.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,onerror=r…
1.15 s
IMAGESmedia.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,onerror=r…
1.13 s
IMAGESmedia.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,onerror=r…
1.12 s
IMAGESmedia.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,onerror=r…
1.10 s
IMAGESmedia.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,onerror=r…
1.05 s
IMAGESmedia.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,onerror=r…
1.04 s
IMAGESmedia.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,onerror=r…
1.03 s
IMAGESmedia.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,onerror=r…
1.03 s
IMAGESmedia.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,onerror=r…
1.02 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://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,onerror=redirect,format=auto,width=1920,quality=75/www/homepage/hero-animation-2026/hero-products.png 3rd partyimages2001.16 s417.2 KB
https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,onerror=redirect,format=auto,width=3840,quality=75/www/homepage/hero-animation-2026/hero-newsletter.png 3rd partyimages2001.15 s393.2 KB
https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,onerror=redirect,format=auto,width=48,quality=75/www/homepage/hero-images/social-proof/shaan.jpg 3rd partyimages2001.13 s915 B
https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,onerror=redirect,format=auto,width=1920,quality=75/www/homepage/hero-animation-2026/hero-newsletter.png 3rd partyimages2001.12 s393.2 KB
https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,onerror=redirect,format=auto,width=1200,quality=75/www/homepage/2026/newsletter.png 3rd partyimages2001.10 s94.3 KB
https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,onerror=redirect,format=auto,width=256,quality=75/www/homepage/2026/mesh/newsletters.webp 3rd partyimages2001.05 s1.9 KB
https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,onerror=redirect,format=auto,width=256,quality=75/www/navigation/morning-brew-2.png 3rd partyimages2001.04 s2.2 KB
https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,onerror=redirect,format=auto,width=96,quality=75/www/navigation/time-2.png 3rd partyimages2001.03 s1.7 KB
https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,onerror=redirect,format=auto,width=256,quality=75/www/homepage/2026/mesh/podcasts.webp 3rd partyimages2001.03 s1.9 KB
https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,onerror=redirect,format=auto,width=256,quality=75/www/navigation/status-2.png 3rd partyimages2001.02 s1.5 KB
https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,onerror=redirect,format=auto,width=3840,quality=75/www/homepage/2026/podcasts.png 3rd partyimages2001.02 s110.8 KB
https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,onerror=redirect,format=auto,width=96,quality=75/www/navigation/status-2.png 3rd partyimages2001.02 s1.4 KB
https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,onerror=redirect,format=auto,width=1080,quality=75/www/homepage/hero-animation-2026/bg-gradient-2.png 3rd partyimages2001.01 s106.2 KB
https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,onerror=redirect,format=auto,width=2048,quality=75/www/homepage/hero-animation-2026/bg-gradient-2.png 3rd partyimages2001.01 s106.2 KB
https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,onerror=redirect,format=auto,width=96,quality=75/www/homepage/hero-images/social-proof/shaan.jpg 3rd partyimages2001.01 s1.6 KB
https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,onerror=redirect,format=auto,width=3840,quality=75/www/homepage/hero-animation-2026/hero-products.png 3rd partyimages2001.00 s417.2 KB
https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,onerror=redirect,format=auto,width=48,quality=75/www/homepage/hero-images/social-proof/jessica.jpg 3rd partyimages200992 ms960 B
https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,onerror=redirect,format=auto,width=96,quality=75/www/homepage/hero-images/social-proof/kaitarford.jpg 3rd partyimages200990 ms1.4 KB
https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,onerror=redirect,format=auto,width=48,quality=75/www/homepage/hero-images/social-proof/kaitarford.jpg 3rd partyimages200990 ms851 B
https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,onerror=redirect,format=auto,width=3840,quality=75/www/homepage/2026/newsletter.png 3rd partyimages200989 ms94.3 KB
https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,onerror=redirect,format=auto,width=96,quality=75/www/homepage/hero-images/social-proof/jessica.jpg 3rd partyimages200977 ms1.6 KB
https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,onerror=redirect,format=auto,width=96,quality=75/www/navigation/morning-brew-2.png 3rd partyimages200964 ms2.0 KB
https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,onerror=redirect,format=auto,width=256,quality=75/www/navigation/time-2.png 3rd partyimages200962 ms1.6 KB
https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,onerror=redirect,format=auto,width=3840,quality=75/www/homepage/2026/mesh/newsletters.webp 3rd partyimages200946 ms32.4 KB
https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,onerror=redirect,format=auto,width=3840,quality=75/www/homepage/2026/mesh/podcasts.webp 3rd partyimages200946 ms14.3 KB
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