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RankVitals vs PageSpeed Insights
PageSpeed Insights is free, unlimited, and runs on Google’s own infrastructure — and it’s the only tool that shows official CrUX field data, the real-user Core Web Vitals Google actually uses in Search. For a quick spot-check, there is no reason not to use it.
The gap appears the day after the test: PSI keeps no history, runs on no schedule, sends no alerts, shows no request waterfall, and audits one URL at a time with only basic on-page SEO checks. RankVitals stores every run, charts trends, monitors on a schedule with alerts, crawls your whole site with 57 SEO checks, and turns the failures into an AI-generated fix plan.
| Feature | RankVitals | PageSpeed Insights |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free plan (unmetered basic tests, rate-limited); paid from $19/mo | ✅ free, unlimited |
| Official CrUX field data | Lab data (Lighthouse); CrUX not built in | ✅ the source of truth |
| One-off Lighthouse lab test | ✅ | ✅ |
| Test history & trend charts | ✅ every run stored | ❌ |
| Scheduled monitoring + alerts | ✅ | ❌ |
| Alert channels | Email, Slack, Discord, Microsoft Teams, PagerDuty | ❌ no alerting |
| Request waterfall | ✅ | ❌ |
| Real-user monitoring (RUM) | ✅ on paid plans — your own first-party beacon, every browser | ✅ CrUX: Chrome users only, 28-day trailing window |
| Full-site SEO crawl | ✅ 57 checks across your site | Basic on-page checks, single URL |
| AI-generated fix plan with code snippets | ✅ | ❌ |
| MCP server for AI assistants | ✅ | ❌ |
| API | ✅ REST API on all plans incl. free | ✅ free PSI API |
Reading the table: ✅, ❌ and text describe what PageSpeed Insights publishes on their own site or docs. We last confirmed the PageSpeed Insights cells against those pages on — PageSpeed Insights blocks automated re-checks, so this is a manual review rather than a live fetch. A dash (—) means we could not confirm it from PageSpeed Insights's own pages, so we make no claim either way. We don't reprint competitor prices — they change, and a stale figure here would mislead you; check the vendor's pricing page.
The verdict
Keep using PageSpeed Insights — it’s free forever and it’s the canonical source for CrUX field data. Add RankVitals when you need what a one-off test can’t give you: history, scheduled monitoring with alerts, request waterfalls, a full-site SEO crawl, and AI fix plans. The two are complements more than substitutes.
Frequently asked questions
Is RankVitals better than PageSpeed Insights?
They do different jobs. PSI is the best free spot-check on the market and the official window into CrUX field data. RankVitals is a monitoring and auditing product: it remembers every test, watches pages on a schedule, alerts on regressions, and audits SEO across your whole site. Many of our users run both.
Does RankVitals use the same Lighthouse engine as PSI?
Yes — RankVitals runs real Lighthouse tests in a fresh Chrome instance, so lab scores are directly comparable with PSI’s lab section. Field (CrUX) data is collected by Google from Chrome users and only appears in Google’s own tools — no third-party tester can generate it. RankVitals paid plans instead collect your own field data with a first-party RUM beacon, which covers every browser and updates continuously rather than on CrUX’s 28-day trailing window.
Why pay for anything when PSI is free?
If a one-off lab test answers your question, don’t pay — PSI is excellent. You pay for what PSI deliberately doesn’t do: retention and trends, alerts, waterfalls, site-wide SEO crawling, AI fix plans, and an API/MCP surface your tooling can build on. RankVitals’ free plan — single speed tests that cost no credits, just rate-limited — may already be enough.
Last updated . Competitor details are summarized in good faith as of this date — check the vendor's site for current pricing and features.
See both sides of your site in 60 seconds
Free speed test with waterfall + filmstrip, and an SEO audit in the same tool.
Free plan, no credit card.