Real-World Perceived Browser Speed Results Point to Chrome as Fastest

The good people at Gomez released some very interesting numbers last week with respect to browser performance.  They monitored real-world performance data from over 200 different websites and broke the numbers down by browser.  Here are the broadband results:

This shows both actual page load times as well "perceived" page load times.  The perceived numbers are what's exciting to me.  Usually you don't see that kind of information in these kind of test results.

The numbers fall into 3 broad categories:

• Slowpokes - Internet Explorer 6, IE7 and Safari 3 are all over four seconds for perceived time.  If you are using one of these browsers, you really should consider upgrading.
• Mid-Pack - Firefox 3.5, Internet Explorer 8, and Safari 4 are all between 2.5 and four seconds for perceived time.
• Zoomers - Chrome 4, Chrome 5, and Firefox 3.6 are all below 2.5 seconds for perceived time.

The bottom line:  If you are using an older version of Internet Explorer or Safari, you can double or even triple(!) the perceived speed of the Internet by switching to Google Chrome or Firefox 3.6.  Why wait?

While these results are for broadband connections, there's no reason you shouldn't see noticeable improvements if you use a slower connection.

At StockCharts, we want to make sure that you have a great experience on our website.  We do lots of things here to make sure our charts get to you as quickly as possible.  Here is something - upgrading your browser - that you can do to help.  Let me know in the comments if you notice any improvements.

- Chip