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https://www.economist.com

Performance

· 16 checks — Lighthouse + waterfall + sustainability rolled into one auditable list.
SCORE
74
GRADE
C
FIX
4
REVIEW
2
PASS
8
INFO
2

Performance-focused optimization plan with CWV assessment, top offenders, and time estimates

Mobile Desktop
10
Performance Overall performance score (0–100) based on Core Web Vitals and other metrics. 90+ is good.
92
Accessibility Measures how accessible the page is for users with disabilities. Checks color contrast, ARIA labels, and semantic HTML.
77
Best Practices Checks for modern web development best practices including HTTPS, no console errors, and secure JavaScript.
100
SEO Measures basic SEO optimizations: meta tags, crawlability, link text, and mobile friendliness.

First Contentful Paint First Contentful Paint — how long until the browser renders the first piece of content. Under 1.8s is good.

5.68 s

Largest Contentful Paint Largest Contentful Paint — how long until the largest visible element loads. Under 2.5s is good.

17.80 s

Total Blocking Time Total Blocking Time — total time the main thread was blocked, preventing user input. Under 200ms is good.

2.00 s

Cumulative Layout Shift Cumulative Layout Shift — measures visual stability. How much the page layout shifts during loading. Under 0.1 is good.

0.454

Speed Index Speed Index — how quickly content is visually displayed during load. Under 3.4s is good.

7.82 s

Time to Interactive Time to Interactive — how long until the page is fully interactive and responds to user input. Under 3.8s is good.

26.25 s

Page Load Progression

375 ms
750 ms
1.1 s
1.5 s
1.9 s
2.2 s
2.6 s
3.0 s
Checks
16
8 PASS 2 REVIEW 4 FIX
F
Page Weight Budget
Action
3.5 MB transferred, 133 requests
FIX
3.5 MB transferred, 133 requests
Warning::
Page weighs 8.9 MB (3.5 MB transferred)
Warning::
JavaScript is 1.8 MB — consider code splitting or lazy loading
Large JavaScript bundles delay interactivity. Split code by route or defer non-critical scripts.
Got: 1.8 MB
Info::
Fonts are 850 KB — consider subsetting or using system fonts
Subset fonts to include only used characters, or switch to system font stacks.
Got: 850 KB
Warning::
133 HTTP requests — consider bundling or reducing
Each request adds latency. Bundle small files, use sprites, or eliminate unnecessary requests.
Info::
Estimated 0.74 g CO2 per page load
3.5 MB / 2.4 MB budget
3.5 MB transferred
133 requests
0.74 g CO2 per page load
JavaScript 1.8 MiB 50%
Fonts 849.8 KiB 23%
Images 784.2 KiB 22%
HTML 83.7 KiB 2%
CSS 45.8 KiB 1%
Other 25.1 KiB 1%
Other 15.8 KiB 0%
Other 8.6 KiB 0%
Other 1.3 KiB 0%
Other 0 B 0%
0 2.4 MB 4.9 MB
Over budget

Large JavaScript bundles delay interactivity. Split code by route or defer non-critical scripts.

Why this matters

JavaScript bundle is large — code-split routes and lazy-load off-screen components to defer.

Source: web.dev

Subset fonts to include only used characters, or switch to system font stacks.

Why this matters

Font payload is large — subset to used glyphs only, or fall back to system fonts (zero load time).

Source: web.dev font loading

Each request adds latency. Bundle small files, use sprites, or eliminate unnecessary requests.

Why this matters

High HTTP request count — bundling, sprite-ing, and HTTP/2 server push can reduce per-request overhead.

Source: web.dev

F
JS Execution Cost
Action
8079ms total JS execution
FIX
8079ms total JS execution
Warning::
https://www.economist.com/: 1897ms CPU time
Warning::
https://www.economist.com/engassets/_next/static/c...: 1263ms CPU time
Warning::
Unattributable: 895ms CPU time
Warning::
https://consent.economist.com/unified/wrapperMessa...: 572ms CPU time
Warning::
https://consent.economist.com/Notice.8f529.js: 518ms CPU time
Info::
Third-party scripts: 3776ms (47% of total)

Main Thread Breakdown

Script Evaluation 55% Style & Layout 16% Other 14% Script Parsing & Compilation 8%
ScriptTotalScriptingParse/CompileParty
https://www.economist.com/1897ms406ms22ms1st
https://www.economist.com/engassets/_next/static/chunks/framework-97862ef36bc4065f.js1263ms856ms13ms1st
Unattributable895ms51ms0ms3rd
https://consent.economist.com/unified/wrapperMessagingWithoutDetection.js572ms432ms16ms3rd
https://consent.economist.com/Notice.8f529.js518ms402ms31ms3rd
https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-CWJ8XWVBYS347ms294ms51ms3rd
https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-WL00EXBGPS&cx=c&gtm=4e6460282ms237ms41ms3rd
https://www.economist.com/engassets/_next/static/chunks/pages/index-4eacb687c721052b.js278ms274ms4ms1st
https://www.economist.com/engassets/_next/static/chunks/3544.30aab8d29676792e.js261ms247ms12ms1st
https://js-agent.newrelic.com/nr-spa-1.312.1.min.js246ms188ms18ms3rd

Showing top 10 of 24 scripts

F
JS Bundles
Action
52 scripts, 701 KB unused
FIX
52 scripts, 701 KB unused
Warning::
https://www.economist.com/engassets/_next/static/c...: 139 KB unused (94%)
Consider code splitting or tree shaking to reduce unused code.
Warning::
https://www.economist.com/engassets/_next/static/c...: 70 KB unused (71%)
Consider code splitting or tree shaking to reduce unused code.
Warning::
https://www.economist.com/engassets/_next/static/c...: 66 KB unused (44%)
Consider code splitting or tree shaking to reduce unused code.
Warning::
https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-WL00...: 66 KB unused (40%)
Consider code splitting or tree shaking to reduce unused code.
Warning::
https://consent.economist.com/Notice.8f529.js: 61 KB unused (68%)
Consider code splitting or tree shaking to reduce unused code.
Info::
Total unused JavaScript: 701 KB
701 KB unused JavaScript

Downloaded but never executed on this page.

ScriptSizeUnusedMinifiedParty
https://www.economist.com/engassets/_next/static/chunks/bf32f307.5596899166592f66.js149 KB139 KB (94%)✓1st
https://www.economist.com/engassets/_next/static/chunks/58474bfb-8fb86143ed249a61.js99 KB70 KB (71%)✓1st
https://www.economist.com/engassets/_next/static/chunks/790-c9029d45cd705925.js156 KB66 KB (44%)✓1st
https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-WL00EXBGPS&cx=c&gtm=4e6460163 KB66 KB (40%)✓3rd
https://consent.economist.com/Notice.8f529.js91 KB61 KB (68%)✓3rd
https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-CWJ8XWVBYS166 KB61 KB (37%)✓3rd
https://www.economist.com/engassets/_next/static/chunks/pages/_app-cdfc9ac951a8fa99.js90 KB61 KB (68%)✓1st
https://www.economist.com/engassets/_next/static/chunks/7ef05774.6f38de9cd30a12ca.js100 KB58 KB (58%)✓1st
https://aswpsdkeu.com/notify/v2/ua-sdk.min.js63 KB44 KB (71%)✓3rd
https://www.economist.com/engassets/_next/static/chunks/3544.30aab8d29676792e.js49 KB33 KB (70%)✓1st

Consider code splitting or tree shaking to reduce unused code.

Why this matters

This bundle has high unused code — code-split or tree-shake to ship only what executes.

Source: web.dev / Lighthouse coverage

Consider code splitting or tree shaking to reduce unused code.

Why this matters

This bundle has high unused code — code-split or tree-shake to ship only what executes.

Source: web.dev / Lighthouse coverage

Consider code splitting or tree shaking to reduce unused code.

Why this matters

This bundle has high unused code — code-split or tree-shake to ship only what executes.

Source: web.dev / Lighthouse coverage

Consider code splitting or tree shaking to reduce unused code.

Why this matters

This bundle has high unused code — code-split or tree-shake to ship only what executes.

Source: web.dev / Lighthouse coverage

Consider code splitting or tree shaking to reduce unused code.

Why this matters

This bundle has high unused code — code-split or tree-shake to ship only what executes.

Source: web.dev / Lighthouse coverage

F
HTTP Caching
Action
No cache headers
FIX
No cache headers
Warning::
No Cache-Control header found
Browsers will use heuristic caching, which can be unpredictable. Set explicit cache headers.

No Cache-Control header

Adding a Cache-Control header can significantly improve repeat-visit performance.

B
Third-Party Impact
52% third-party, 0 ms blocking
REVIEW
52% third-party, 0 ms blocking
Warning::
Third-party code accounts for 52% of page weight (1.8 MiB of 3.5 MiB)
Info::
Third-party blocking time is low (0 ms)
48%
52%
First-party Third-party
B
Image Optimization
30 images, 0 KB saveable
REVIEW
30 images, 0 KB saveable
Warning::
https://subscriberevents.economist.com/wp-content/... is missing width/height — may cause layout shift
Set explicit width and height to prevent CLS.
30 images 784 KB
0 oversized -0 KB
29 legacy format
1 missing dimensions CLS risk

Set explicit width and height to prevent CLS.

Why this matters

Image without explicit width/height — browser can't reserve space; CLS jumps when image loads.

Source: web.dev / Core Web Vitals

A+
Text Compression
All text resources are compressed
PASS
All text resources are compressed
Info::
All text resources are compressed
All text resources are properly compressed.
A+
Font Loading
8 fonts (850 KB)
PASS
8 fonts (850 KB)
Info::
8 font(s) use font-display: swap (FOUT risk but functional)

Web fonts

8

850 KB total

Render-blocking

0

of 8

Dominant font-display

swap

Most common across fonts

Font loading timeline
Transfer FOIT (block) FOUT (swap)
0 ms 2.0 s 4.0 s 6.0 s 8.0 s 10.0 s 12.0 s 14.0 s 16.0 s 18.0 s FCP 5.7 s LCP 17.8 shttps://marber-cdn.economist.com/foundations/latest/fonts/economist-sans-roman.woff2economist-sans-roman.woff2 https://marber-cdn.economist.com/foundations/latest/fonts/economist-sans-roman.woff2 — 109.1 KiB — 0 ms — font-display: swaphttps://marber-cdn.economist.com/foundations/latest/fonts/economist-serif-roman.woff2economist-serif-roman.w... https://marber-cdn.economist.com/foundations/latest/fonts/economist-serif-roman.woff2 — 97.9 KiB — 0 ms — font-display: swaphttps://marber-cdn.economist.com/foundations/latest/fonts/economist-sans-italic.woff2economist-sans-italic.w... https://marber-cdn.economist.com/foundations/latest/fonts/economist-sans-italic.woff2 — 107.7 KiB — 0 ms — font-display: swaphttps://marber-cdn.economist.com/foundations/latest/fonts/economist-serif-italic.woff2economist-serif-italic.... https://marber-cdn.economist.com/foundations/latest/fonts/economist-serif-italic.woff2 — 125.6 KiB — 0 ms — font-display: swaphttps://marber-cdn.economist.com/foundations/latest/fonts/economist-sans-headline.woff2economist-sans-headline... https://marber-cdn.economist.com/foundations/latest/fonts/economist-sans-headline.woff2 — 59.0 KiB — 0 ms — font-display: swaphttps://marber-cdn.economist.com/foundations/latest/fonts/economist-serif-display-roman.woff2economist-serif-display... https://marber-cdn.economist.com/foundations/latest/fonts/economist-serif-display-roman.woff2 — 136.8 KiB — 0 ms — font-display: swaphttps://cdn.design-system.economist.com/assets/7.2.1/common/static/fonts/economist-sans-roman.woff2economist-sans-roman.woff2 https://cdn.design-system.economist.com/assets/7.2.1/common/static/fonts/economist-sans-roman.woff2 — 106.8 KiB — 0 ms — font-display: swaphttps://cdn.design-system.economist.com/assets/7.2.1/common/static/fonts/economist-sans-osf-roman.woff2economist-sans-osf-roma... https://cdn.design-system.economist.com/assets/7.2.1/common/static/fonts/economist-sans-osf-roman.woff2 — 107.0 KiB — 0 ms — font-display: swap
economist-sans-roman.woff2 woff2 swap
Size 109 KB
Load time 0 ms
Start 0 ms
Risk FOUT — text flashes from fallback to web font
  • Subset this font — over 100 KB suggests Latin Extended or full glyph coverage that most pages don't need
economist-serif-roman.w... woff2 swap
Size 98 KB
Load time 0 ms
Start 0 ms
Risk FOUT — text flashes from fallback to web font
economist-sans-italic.w... woff2 swap
Size 108 KB
Load time 0 ms
Start 0 ms
Risk FOUT — text flashes from fallback to web font
  • Subset this font — over 100 KB suggests Latin Extended or full glyph coverage that most pages don't need
economist-serif-italic.... woff2 swap
Size 126 KB
Load time 0 ms
Start 0 ms
Risk FOUT — text flashes from fallback to web font
  • Subset this font — over 100 KB suggests Latin Extended or full glyph coverage that most pages don't need
economist-sans-headline... woff2 swap
Size 59 KB
Load time 0 ms
Start 0 ms
Risk FOUT — text flashes from fallback to web font
economist-serif-display... woff2 swap
Size 137 KB
Load time 0 ms
Start 0 ms
Risk FOUT — text flashes from fallback to web font
  • Subset this font — over 100 KB suggests Latin Extended or full glyph coverage that most pages don't need
economist-sans-roman.woff2 woff2 swap
Size 107 KB
Load time 0 ms
Start 0 ms
Risk FOUT — text flashes from fallback to web font
  • Subset this font — over 100 KB suggests Latin Extended or full glyph coverage that most pages don't need
economist-sans-osf-roma... woff2 swap
Size 107 KB
Load time 0 ms
Start 0 ms
Risk FOUT — text flashes from fallback to web font
  • Subset this font — over 100 KB suggests Latin Extended or full glyph coverage that most pages don't need
Optimization checklist
  • Preload critical fonts (priority=high)
  • Use woff2 format for all fonts
  • Set font-display to swap, optional, or fallback
  • Subset large fonts (≤100 KB each)

Fixing the unchecked items could save ~346 KB and ~692 ms

A+
Resource Caching
All resources properly cached
PASS
All resources properly cached
Info::
No caching issues found
All static resources have appropriate caching headers.
A+
Critical Rendering Path
No render-blocking resources
PASS
No render-blocking resources
Info::
No render-blocking resources detected
A+
Resource Hints
No optimization needed
PASS
No optimization needed
Info::
No resource hint issues
A+
Render-Blocking Resources
No render-blocking resources detected
PASS
No render-blocking resources detected
Info::
No render-blocking resources detected in <head>
A+
Third-Party Resources
No third-party resources detected
PASS
No third-party resources detected
A+
Green Hosting
Whether the site is served from green-energy infrastructure
PASS

Green Hosting

This site is hosted on green energy infrastructure

Provider: Cloudflare

Network Waterfall
133 requests over 0ms
INFO

Performance analysis not available for this result.

Third-Party Script Cost
Per-script blocking time, transfer cost, and cache headers
INFO
47% of JavaScript execution is third-party
First-party Third-party 3776ms · 791KB · $50/mo
Unattributable
Other
Costly
Execution 895ms
Transfer 0 KB
Monthly Cost $12/mo
consent.economist.com
Other
Costly
Execution 572ms
Transfer 40 KB
Monthly Cost $8/mo
consent.economist.com
Other
Costly
Execution 518ms
Transfer 91 KB
Unused 68%
Monthly Cost $7/mo
Google Tag Manager
Tag Manager
Costly
Execution 347ms
Transfer 166 KB
Unused 37%
Monthly Cost $5/mo
Google Tag Manager
Tag Manager
Costly
Execution 282ms
Transfer 163 KB
Unused 40%
Monthly Cost $4/mo
js-agent.newrelic.com
Other
Costly
Execution 246ms
Transfer 30 KB
Monthly Cost $3/mo
tags.tiqcdn.com
Other
Costly
Execution 208ms
Transfer 32 KB
Monthly Cost $3/mo
aswpsdkeu.com
Other
Optional
Execution 115ms
Transfer 63 KB
Unused 71%
Monthly Cost $2/mo
cdn.eu.amplitude.com
Other
Optional
Execution 102ms
Transfer 43 KB
Monthly Cost $1/mo
consent.economist.com
Other
Optional
Execution 99ms
Transfer 42 KB
Unused 51%
Monthly Cost $1/mo
Google Analytics
Analytics
Optional
Execution 96ms
Transfer 21 KB
Monthly Cost $1/mo
cmp-cdn.p.aws.economist.com
Other
Optional
Execution 88ms
Transfer 5 KB
Monthly Cost $1/mo
cdn.parsely.com
Other
Optional
Execution 80ms
Transfer 19 KB
Monthly Cost $1/mo
tags.tiqcdn.com
Other
Optional
Execution 70ms
Transfer 6 KB
Monthly Cost $1/mo
wall-ui-cdn.p.aws.economist.com
Other
Optional
Execution 58ms
Transfer 69 KB
Monthly Cost $1/mo

These scripts may cost more than they're worth

  • Unattributable adds 895ms and costs ~$12/month
  • consent.economist.com adds 572ms and costs ~$8/month
  • consent.economist.com adds 518ms and costs ~$7/month
  • Google Tag Manager adds 347ms and costs ~$5/month
  • Google Tag Manager adds 282ms and costs ~$4/month
  • js-agent.newrelic.com adds 246ms and costs ~$3/month
  • tags.tiqcdn.com adds 208ms and costs ~$3/month

47% of JavaScript execution time comes from third-party scripts.

Why this matters

Third-party scripts (analytics, ads, social, A/B testing) often dominate execution time — every one is a perf-and-privacy tax.

Learn more ▾

Each third-party script is a black box: you don't control when it loads, what it executes, or how much it grows. They often account for a major share of total blocking time on average sites (HTTP Archive's Web Almanac documents the trend). Audit which ones you actually need, defer the rest, and use facade patterns (lite-youtube, lite-vimeo) for embedded media.

Source: web.dev / HTTP Archive Web Almanac

Unattributable takes 895ms of CPU time. Consider loading it asynchronously or replacing it with a lighter alternative.

Why this matters

This script has high main-thread execution time — optimize hot paths or defer.

Source: web.dev

consent.economist.com takes 572ms of CPU time. Consider loading it asynchronously or replacing it with a lighter alternative.

Why this matters

This script has high main-thread execution time — optimize hot paths or defer.

Source: web.dev

consent.economist.com takes 518ms of CPU time. Consider loading it asynchronously or replacing it with a lighter alternative.

Why this matters

This script has high main-thread execution time — optimize hot paths or defer.

Source: web.dev

68% of consent.economist.com's code is unused. The script may be loading features you don't use.

Why this matters

Bundle has high unused-code ratio — tree-shaking and route-splitting recover the wasted bytes.

Source: web.dev

Google Tag Manager takes 347ms of CPU time. Consider loading it asynchronously or replacing it with a lighter alternative.

Why this matters

This script has high main-thread execution time — optimize hot paths or defer.

Source: web.dev

Google Tag Manager takes 282ms of CPU time. Consider loading it asynchronously or replacing it with a lighter alternative.

Why this matters

This script has high main-thread execution time — optimize hot paths or defer.

Source: web.dev

js-agent.newrelic.com takes 246ms of CPU time. Consider loading it asynchronously or replacing it with a lighter alternative.

Why this matters

This script has high main-thread execution time — optimize hot paths or defer.

Source: web.dev

tags.tiqcdn.com takes 208ms of CPU time. Consider loading it asynchronously or replacing it with a lighter alternative.

Why this matters

This script has high main-thread execution time — optimize hot paths or defer.

Source: web.dev

71% of aswpsdkeu.com's code is unused. The script may be loading features you don't use.

Why this matters

Bundle has high unused-code ratio — tree-shaking and route-splitting recover the wasted bytes.

Source: web.dev

51% of consent.economist.com's code is unused. The script may be loading features you don't use.

Why this matters

Bundle has high unused-code ratio — tree-shaking and route-splitting recover the wasted bytes.

Source: web.dev

How third-party costs are calculated

All checks on this page are automated. Results are estimates - run targeted manual reviews when the score affects a release decision.

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