Definitive guide
Statistics on website load time
Website Load Time Statistics 2024 – 21 Key Figures You Must Know
Website loading time, measured in milliseconds, is the length of time the full content of a webpage is displayed on the browser of an online user or visitor.
One of the reasons search engine optimization is done on a website is to speed up loading time, which greatly affects user experience and conversion rates.
To better appreciate what this means, I’ve compiled the following 12 key figures you must know on web load time statistics this 2024:
1. Websites that load longer than 4 seconds experience an average drop in conversion rates at 4.42% per second of delay.
The industry standard for a website’s loading time is 0 to 4 seconds. Loading time is dependent on the web hosting server’s responsiveness, which should be 500 milliseconds to 800 milliseconds in industry standard speed. The faster the responsiveness of a web hosting server, the faster will a website’s loading speed will be. Conversion rates, as per Hubspot, fall at an average of 4.42% per second delay of a website loading its contents.
2. Flywheel ranked #1 in server response time with 0.128ms as of August 2023
In a study conducted by Web Hosting Buddy, Flywheel showed it had the fastest server response time of 0.128 milliseconds with an average of 0.425 milliseconds. Flywheel is a hosting provider and is considered the fastest in terms of server responsiveness, overthrowing SiteGround’s 0.368 ms response time (0.637 ms on average). Flywheel also won against the other popular hosting providers DreamHost (#5 at 0.316ms), WP Engine (#7 at 0.392ms), HostGator (#10 at 0.446ms), Bluehost (#14 at 0.784ms), and GoDaddy (#15 at 1.354 ms) in server response time.
3. Bluehost ranked #1 in having the fastest page load time of 1.895ms as of August 2023
Despite having a slower server response time compared to Flywheel, Bluehost took the top spot among 20 hosting providers for having the fastest page load time of 1.895 milliseconds with an average of 2.4581. Flywheel, on the other hand, only ranked #9 for having 1.829 milliseconds as its fastest page load time. WP Engine took the second place for its 1.802 milliseconds page load time, averaging 2.6470 milliseconds in page load time. While Bluehost also surpassed the fasted page load time of DreamHost (#4 at 2.359ms), HostGator (#13 at 2.296ms), and GoDaddy (#20 at 3.198ms).
4. Webflow websites have the highest page speed score of 99/100 with a fastest loading time of 0.5 seconds.
Besides server response time, the type of website builder used in creating a website also affects the length of time it loads. This is due to the coding used by the website builder’s programmers in making the ready-made templates and themes they offer.
In terms of website builders, a study I made on 1,161 Webflow websites from my database showed the highest page speed core of 99/100 and an average page speed core of 77.2/100. My study also showed that the fastest loading time of these 1,161 Webflow websites is 0.5 seconds with an average loading time of 2.1 seconds.
5. WordPress.Com has higher TTFB than Webflow.Com by 1.1 seconds on mobile and 0.5 seconds on desktop.
Time To First Byte (TTFB) is one of the measures in assessing page load speed based on server response time. A good TTFB, as per Google PageSpeed Insights, is less than 200 milliseconds. When it comes to WordPress.com, data from Google PageSpeed Insights showed it has a TTFB of 0.9 seconds on mobile and 0.5 seconds on desktop.
This is way faster than Webflow.com’s TTFB of 2 seconds on mobile and 1 second on desktop. MyCodelessWebsite.Com, which is built on WordPress has a TTFB of 0.6 seconds on mobile and 0.3 seconds on desktop. Thus, on the basis of TTFB, WordPress is faster than Webflow.
6. The average mobile TTFB is 2.594s on mobile and 1.286s on desktop as of October 2019.
A study conducted by Backlinko in October 2019 on 5.2 million websites showed that the average Time to First Byte (TTFB) speed of a website browsed on a mobile phone or gadget is 2.594 seconds and on a desktop computer is 1.286 seconds. While a website takes an average of 27.3 seconds to fully load on a mobile device and 10.3 seconds on desktop. This data shows the website take an average of 87.84% longer on mobile phones and gadgets than on desktop computers.
7. “Heavier websites” or those with a lot of visual content take 318% longer to fully load than “lighter websites.”
In the same Backlinko study, they found out that webpages with bigger page sizes due to visual content take far longer to load (318%) when compared to their lighter counterparts, which was found to load at 486% faster. This means that page weight is a primary determinant on how fast it takes to fully load a website.
8. Websites made with Javascript frameworks load 213% faster than other frameworks.
Backlinko highlighted that websites that use third-party scripts have slower loading speeds such as those that use Meteor and Tweenmax Javascript frameworks. While websites with Wink and Gatsby Javascript frameworks load 213% faster than others. Page loading time loses speed each time a third-party script is added at 34.1 milliseconds.
9. Weebly ranked #1 on page speed desktop performance against other content management systems at 49.5% in 2019.
Data from Backlinko show that out of 20 top content management systems, Weebly aced page speed performance rankings on desktop. Weebly recorded a 49.5% fast page speed with 41.8% on average. While Squarespace got the 2nd post with 48.4% fast page speed with 40.7% average page speed. On the other hand, Wix got the 17th spot and WordPress the 15th for registering a fast page speed of 20.9% (60.5% on average) and 25.3% (36.3% on average), respectively, on desktop.
10. Squarespace ranked #1 on CMS page speed mobile performance for garnering 41.8%.
When it comes to mobile speed, websites made from Squarespace showed to be faster by 41.8% on mobile and 46.2% on average. Squarespace overthrew Weebly websites using content management systems which only registered 39.6% on its fastest and 47.3% on average in 2019. Adobe Experience Manager came in second for websites with content management systems at 40.7% on its fastest and 38.5% on average.
WordPress websites similarly ranked the 15th on mobile for having a fast speed of 24.2% and an average speed of 35.2% Meanwhile, Wix websites with CMS ranked 19th for having only a 12.1% fast speed with 66.0% on average speed.
11. Average human attention span has decreased by 34% in the last 20 years, prompting 73% of online marketers to believe improved page speed as a truly urgent concern of businesses.
Consumers have grown extremely impatient in a convenience- and technology-laden society, such that attention spans have greatly declined by 94.12% since 2000. According to The Three Top Therapy, data show that the average attention span of humans in 2000 was 12.5 seconds, which became only 8.25 seconds on average as of August 2023. A goldfish, which has an average attention span of 9 seconds, has more patience and focus then than humans.
This is down by 4.25 seconds in a span of 23 years. Unbounce’s Ryan Engley, an author and consultant, pointed out that companies with lightning-fast websites also get higher sales due to better user experience. Thus, a great number of online marketers (73%) find it very urgent for businesses to improve their website’s loading speed.
12. 32.3% of online visitors can only wait 4 to 6 seconds for a webpage to load on their mobile device.
In a study of 750 random consumers, Unbounce discovered that 32.3% of online visitors can only wait for 4 to 6 seconds for a webpage to load on their mobile phones. While 24.0% of online visitors were willing to wait for 7 to 10 seconds, 5.3% for 11 to 13 seconds, and 11.5% for more than 13 seconds. More than a quarter 26.9% of online visitors, on the other hand, wait for only 1 to 3 seconds for a page to load, which somewhat echoes what Google reported that most people leave after 3 seconds a webpage hasn’t loaded yet.
13. There is a 123% increase in mobile site visitor bounce rate for every 10 seconds delay in page load time.
In Google’s “10 Years Of Digital Marketing Insights” that spanned 2012 to 2022, mobile speed was found to be a key indicator of an online business’ success. Google conducted a research of 900,000 mobile ads’ landing pages from 126 countries in 2017. At that time, it took an average of 22 seconds to fully load a webpage on mobile. They also discovered that the probability of bounce rates increase by 123% whenever delays in page load time occur within one to 10 seconds.
14. 46% of landing pages fall below Google’s recommend 5-second loading time
Data from a Call To Action Conference survey held in Vancouver last 2018 show that majority of online marketers (46%) have landing pages for advertisements with a loading speed of 6 to 10 seconds. While 34% have landing pages with a loading speed of 11 to 20 seconds and 5% with 21 seconds or more. Cumulatively, this makes 85% of landing pages not meet Google standards, which is 5 seconds or less. Only 13% of landing pages comply with 4 to 5 seconds loading time and a 2% with 3 seconds loading time, making a mere 15% that actually comply with standards.
15. Of the 26.9% of mobile users who can wait for 1 to 3 seconds for websites to load, 64% are iOs users.
iOs users comprise most of U.S. cellphones and it would be great to note they are more impatient than Android users. Data from Unbounce show that 36% of Android users were willing to wait 1 to 3 seconds for a page to load and 61% are willing to wait for 11 to 13 seconds. In contrast, 64% of iOs users can only wait for 1 to 3 seconds to load and a mere 36% were willing to wait for 11 to 13 seconds.
16. 45.4% of online visitors to ecommerce websites say they would less likely purchase from it due to slow loading time.
In a unbounce survey of 525 respondents, 45.4% say they are less likely to make a purchase from an ecommerce website that has slow load times. While 36.8% say they would leave the website and would less likely return to it. Though 22.5% of the respondents did not provide a response based on the given options in the survey, a 11.9% emphasized that they would likely tell a friend on how slow an ecommerce website loads.
17. 86% of young women will leave an ecommerce site due to slow loading time.
In the same Unbounce survey of 525 respondents, data also showed that men are more patient than women when it comes to online shopping. The majority of female respondents aged 18 to 24 said they will stop shopping and close a tab when an ecommerce website has slow loading speed. This is against a mere 14% of men who said they would do the same time.
18. An average of 54.7% of internet users would prefer simpler websites since these load faster.
56.6% of 542 Unbounce survey respondents said they would be willing to give up animation and another 52.8% would be willing to give up videos in websites of splashy design over fast loading times. While 24.1% of respondents said they will give up photos in the design if a website will load faster. There are, however, a 15.4% of respondents who did not choose a response from the given options.
19. Only 34.2% of online users would blame a website for slow loading time.
The primary culprit online users blame for slow loading time is their internet connection based on the response of 50.5% of 534 respondents. While only 34.2% actually blame a website for slow loading time and 15.4% blame their mobile carrier. MobileGroove Analyst Peggy Anne Salze underscored that consumers don’t like to wait regardless of whether they are purchasing an item online or in person. Thus, it is a must for companies to boost user experience through high-speed websites.
20. Only 3% of online marketers care to ensure websites load at faster speeds
In a 2019 survey on campaign priority performance, data show that online marketers do not prioritize website loading times. Most marketers (33%) prioritize A/B testing or optimizing pages instead. Ensuring websites load with faster speeds is at the bottom of the online marketer’s list (3%).
While, in between this two extreme poles, “refining ad target” got the second spot at 19% and “personalizing website content” got the third spot at 16%. The “creating more engaging ad copy” followed at 13% then “other” got 7%. This is succeeded by “adding compelling design elements” at 5% and “improving mobile responsiveness” at 3%.
21. 57% of online marketers resort to optimizing videos, images, and other media files to resolve their slow loading websites.
Online marketers were found to conduct several activities just to make their websites load faster. Most of them or 57% would optimize their websites media files, video, and images. While 43% improve caching and hosting solutions. More than a quarter or 39% use tools to run speed audits and 38% decreased dependency on CSS and JavaScript.
The implementation of Accelerated Mobile Pages were used by 22% of online marketers to make their website load faster. Finally, there are those or 14% of online marketers who use Content Delivery Networks whenever a website loads slow.
FAQs
1. What website takes the longest to load?
According to AdWeek, the slowest websites or those that load the longest are news websites because there are too many creative assets in their content. These exclude the advertisement assets that also load slowly. Of the news websites, AdWeek found that the Financial Times was the slowest with 29.5 seconds. Bloomberg follows suit with 27 seconds on average for loading time.
2. What is the average load time of a website?
The average load time of a website is 3.21 seconds as of March 2023. The average Time to First Byte (TTFB) for mobile is 2.594 seconds and for desktop is 1.286 seconds as of October 2019.