Introduction

A slow or confusing website can cost you customers. While great design matters, user experience (UX) and page performance are the real game-changers. Luckily, you don’t need a huge budget to test and improve them. In this article, I’ll share my favorite free tools for UX and page performance that I use regularly for client projects.

1. Google PageSpeed Insights

Google’s own tool is a must-have. Google PageSpeed Insight It analyzes your site on both mobile and desktop, providing a performance score and detailed suggestions.
Why I love it: It gives actionable tips straight from Google’s playbook, and it’s free.

2. GTmetrix

GTmetrix offers an in-depth breakdown of what’s slowing your site down. It’s more visual than Google’s tool, with waterfall charts and optimization priorities.
Why I love it: The free plan gives you clear insights into load times and file sizes.

3. Hotjar (Free Plan)

Hotjar’s free plan lets you record user sessions and collect heatmaps, so you can see exactly how visitors interact with your site.
Why I love it: It uncovers real user behavior patterns that analytics can’t.

4. Pingdom Tools

Pingdom Tools provides an easy-to-understand performance grade, load time, and detailed analysis of every file request on your site.
Why I love it: It’s beginner-friendly, visually clear, and excellent for quick performance checks from multiple locations worldwide.

Conclusion

Improving UX and page performance doesn’t have to be expensive. Start with these free tools, identify bottlenecks, and make small changes. You’ll be surprised how quickly performance improves and how much happier your visitors become.