FocalScore vs PageSpeed Insights
Checked : the Google PageSpeed Insights and Lighthouse facts on this page were read on official Google pages, and FocalScore's come from our own code. Prices and plans change; the sources are listed at the end of the page.
PageSpeed Insights is Google's own measure of how fast one page loads, on mobile and desktop, built on Lighthouse and on real-visitor data from the Chrome User Experience Report.
FocalScore uses it too: the scan asks PageSpeed Insights for your mobile and desktop results and builds its speed checks on Google's measurements. Then it adds what a single-page speed test doesn't ask — 395 checks in all, across up to 25 pages.
At a glance
| Question | PageSpeed Insights | FocalScore |
|---|---|---|
| Price | No charge and no account: enter an address and analyse. | Free report: $0. AI Advanced Report: $49, one-time. Agency: $99 a month for up to 25 client sites. |
| What you get free | Everything. | Your score with no signup; the complete page-by-page report with every fix after an email signup. No card. |
| Pages per audit | One page per run. | Up to 25 pages per scan. |
| What it checks | Speed (lab data from Lighthouse and real-visitor data from Chrome), plus Lighthouse's Accessibility, Best Practices and SEO categories, on mobile and desktop. | 395 checks across 9 categories: Conversion & messaging, Trust & credibility, Content quality, AI readiness, Search, Speed, Mobile, Accessibility and Security & privacy. |
| Conversion and trust | Not one of its categories. | 77 conversion and trust checks: does the page say what you sell and who it is for, is there a clear next step, and is there proof a buyer can trust. |
| AI crawler and AI-readiness checks | An experimental Agentic Browsing category in Lighthouse (Chrome 150 or later), including an llms.txt check and WebMCP audits. | 48 AI-readiness checks in the free report, including whether AI crawlers are allowed and whether you publish an llms.txt file. |
| Whether AI assistants mention you | No: it measures your page, it doesn't ask AI assistants about you. | In the $49 report: real buyer questions put to ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Claude, recording whether you were named and who was named instead. A one-time reading, not ongoing tracking. |
| Keyword research and Google rankings | No. | No keyword research tool. The $49 report includes a one-time snapshot of where you rank on Google for the searches new customers make, and who outranks you. |
| Backlinks | No. | Paid report only, on purpose: backlink data comes from a paid data provider, and the free scan never calls one. The $49 report lists which sites link to yours, read once. No backlink index of our own. |
| Setup | None for PageSpeed Insights. Lighthouse also runs in Chrome DevTools, from the command line or as a Node module. | Nothing to install and no site verification. Works on any platform. |
What PageSpeed Insights does better
- It is Google's own measurement, with real-visitor data from the Chrome User Experience Report alongside the lab test.
- Detailed speed diagnostics for one page, on mobile and desktop.
- No account and no email: enter an address and analyse.
- Lighthouse runs locally too, in Chrome DevTools or a build pipeline, so developers can test before they publish.
Choose PageSpeed Insights if…
- Your question is only “how fast is this page, and why?”
- You are a developer who wants Lighthouse's raw diagnostics, or to run it in a build pipeline.
- You want to check one page quickly, over and over, while you fix it.
Choose FocalScore if…
- You want more than speed: Lighthouse describes its own SEO checks as basic, and has no conversion or trust category. FocalScore adds 77 conversion and trust checks and 48 AI-readiness checks.
- You want the pattern across your site — up to 25 pages — rather than one URL at a time.
- You own a small business and want to know why the website isn't bringing in enquiries — not only whether it is technically sound. 77 of the 395 checks are about conversion and trust.
- You want every problem explained in plain English, with the exact fix, rather than an issue list written for an SEO specialist.
- You want one report that covers converting visitors, ranking in search and being readable by AI assistants, for free, with an optional $49 one-time report instead of a subscription.
You can also use both: FocalScore to find what to fix across the site, and PageSpeed Insights to check one page again as your developer works on its speed.
Questions
Is PageSpeed Insights enough to audit my website?
For speed, it is the standard. For the rest of an audit it is limited by design: it measures one page at a time, and Lighthouse's own description calls its SEO checks basic search-engine advice. It doesn't ask whether visitors understand what you sell or trust you enough to enquire.
Does FocalScore use PageSpeed Insights?
Yes. The scan asks Google PageSpeed Insights for your mobile and desktop results, and its speed checks read Google's measurements. If PageSpeed Insights can't be reached during a scan, those checks say "not run" rather than guessing. The other checks — 395 in all — come from FocalScore's own crawl of up to 25 pages.
Does Lighthouse check AI readiness?
Lighthouse has added an experimental Agentic Browsing category, for Chrome 150 or later, with an llms.txt check and WebMCP audits. FocalScore's free report has 48 AI-readiness checks, including whether AI crawlers are allowed to read your pages.
Sources
Checked October 2026 on official Google pages. If something here is out of date, tell us and we will correct it.
- About PageSpeed Insights: https://developers.google.com/speed/docs/insights/v5/about
- PageSpeed Insights: https://pagespeed.web.dev/
- PageSpeed Insights API: https://developers.google.com/speed/docs/insights/v5/get-started
- Lighthouse overview: https://developer.chrome.com/docs/lighthouse/overview
- Lighthouse Agentic Browsing: https://developer.chrome.com/docs/lighthouse/agentic-browsing
- Lighthouse SEO category description: https://github.com/GoogleChrome/lighthouse/blob/main/core/config/default-config.js
PageSpeed Insights, Lighthouse and Google are trademarks of Google LLC. FocalScore is not affiliated with or endorsed by Google. Product names are used only to identify the products compared. All comparisons →