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Fastly vs GOV.UK Toolkit

Based on 380 and 9 real audits

View Fastly details | View GOV.UK Toolkit details
MetricFastlyGOV.UK ToolkitWinner
Performance4682GOV.UK Toolkit
Accessibility91100GOV.UK Toolkit
Best Practices89100GOV.UK Toolkit
SEO92100GOV.UK Toolkit
Security6682GOV.UK Toolkit
TTFB148ms194msFastly
Composite7486GOV.UK Toolkit
Performance
Fastly
46
GOV.UK Toolkit
82
Accessibility
Fastly
91
GOV.UK Toolkit
100
Security
Fastly
66
GOV.UK Toolkit
82
SEO
Fastly
92
GOV.UK Toolkit
100
Composite
Fastly
74
GOV.UK Toolkit
86

GOV.UK Toolkit outperforms Fastly in 6 of 7 categories, with a stronger composite score (86 vs 74). Fastly leads in TTFB.

When to choose Fastly

Choose Fastly when your primary concern is server response time. Its audit data shows consistent strength in these areas across the sampled sites.

When to choose GOV.UK Toolkit

Choose GOV.UK Toolkit when your primary concern is performance and security. Its audit data shows consistent strength in these areas across the sampled sites.

How this comparison was built

Scores are medians across 380 audited Fastly sites and 9 audited GOV.UK Toolkit sites in the BeaverCheck database. Every audit runs the same 100+ checks — Lighthouse performance, security headers, accessibility, SEO, server response time — against a real URL. No vendor input, no sponsorship, no affiliate links. Read the full methodology →

Small sample: one or both technologies have fewer than 10 audited sites. Treat these numbers as directional — medians stabilize around 20–30 audits per side.

FAQ

Which is faster, Fastly or GOV.UK Toolkit?
Based on real BeaverCheck audits, GOV.UK Toolkit sites score higher on Lighthouse performance (82 vs 46 on average).
Which has better security, Fastly or GOV.UK Toolkit?
GOV.UK Toolkit sites score higher on security analysis (82 vs 66 on average).
Which has better accessibility, Fastly or GOV.UK Toolkit?
Accessibility scores measured by Lighthouse WCAG 2.1 checks favor GOV.UK Toolkit (100 vs 91). Both technologies can be made fully accessible with care — the difference reflects common patterns in the sampled sites, not inherent platform limits.
Which is better for SEO, Fastly or GOV.UK Toolkit?
GOV.UK Toolkit sites score higher on Lighthouse SEO signals (100 vs 92 on average), which cover meta tags, crawlability, mobile friendliness, and structured data. Content strategy and backlinks still matter more than platform choice for ranking.
Which has faster server response (TTFB), Fastly or GOV.UK Toolkit?
Fastly sites show lower Time to First Byte (148 ms vs 194 ms on average). TTFB depends heavily on hosting and CDN setup rather than the technology itself, but the sampled sites suggest a meaningful difference in common deployment patterns.
Should I choose Fastly or GOV.UK Toolkit for my website?
Both platforms have trade-offs. GOV.UK Toolkit scores higher on overall composite score while Fastly may excel in metrics you care about most. Run a free BeaverCheck audit on a real site using each to compare the metrics relevant to your use case.
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