Is there a free website checker, and which one should I use?

Yes. Google's free PageSpeed Insights tests speed and runs Lighthouse, which also scores accessibility and search basics. Google Search Console shows whether your pages are indexed. SSL Labs tests your security certificate, and WAVE flags accessibility problems. Each covers one part of your site. Google retired its old Mobile-Friendly Test in 2023.

The free tools, and what each one tells you

• PageSpeed Insights (pagespeed.web.dev), from Google. It tests your page, and shows how fast it was for real Chrome users over the last 28 days. Look at the phone result first.
• Lighthouse, built into Chrome. It's the test behind PageSpeed Insights, and it also covers accessibility, best practices and search basics. It now does the job of the retired Mobile-Friendly Test.
• Google Search Console. It shows which pages Google has indexed and why others were left out. It also reports speed from real visits. It's free, and it needs you to prove you own the site.
• Rich Results Test (search.google.com/test/rich-results), from Google. It shows whether your structured data is readable, such as your hours and address.
• SSL Labs Server Test (ssllabs.com/ssltest). It grades your security certificate and connection settings from A to F.
• HTTP Observatory, from Mozilla (developer.mozilla.org/en-US/observatory). It checks the security settings your server sends with each page.
• WAVE (wave.webaim.org), from WebAIM. It marks accessibility errors on the page itself, such as missing image descriptions and low contrast.
• A DMARC lookup, such as MXToolbox's. It shows whether your domain has a DMARC record, which helps stop fake emails in your name.

How to read the results

• Start with what visitors notice. A slow phone page or a security warning matters more than a low score on a detail.
• Trust real visits over a single test. PageSpeed Insights shows both. The real-user section is what visitors actually experienced.
• Check it on your own phone on mobile data, not only on wifi.

Common questions

Is Google's Mobile-Friendly Test still available?

No. Google retired it in 2023, and the old address now sends you to the Lighthouse page. Run PageSpeed Insights and read the phone result instead.

PageSpeed says my score is fine, but my site still feels slow. Why?

The score comes from one simulated test. The real-user section shows what Chrome users experienced over the last 28 days. If that section is empty, your site doesn't have enough visits yet for Google to report.

Are free checkers accurate?

They're accurate about what they measure, but each measures only part. Accessibility is the clearest case. The UK's Government Digital Service tested free tools in 2017. The best single tool found about four in ten of the problems on a test page.

Why would I pay for a checker at all?

To save the time of running eight tools and translating the results. A paid report should put everything in one place, with a plain fix for each finding.

---

Sitecomb is the paid option: it runs checks like these across six areas and puts them in one report. Each finding comes with its evidence and a plain-English fix, for €9.99.