TTFB is the time to first byte, which is the time it takes the browser to receive the first byte from the server in a request. It is a key aspect to focus on when measuring a site’s speed. And let’s be honest, it is the leading cause of slow load times for most websites. You can test TTFB using any web resource, such as a page, image, font, or CSS file.
You can measure the response time of your origin server or CDN provider. Moreover, the time to first byte can be tested separately for mobile devices and PCs.
You’ll get a better user experience with a low TTFB, since your page will load instantly, assuming everything is okay. But if it is too high, the user will see a blank screen for a short duration until the server responds. It’s a significant factor in Core Web Vitals.
According to Google, good TTFB values are under 0.8 sec, and negative values are over 1.8 sec: A longer distance between your server and visitors results in increased latency and slower TTFB. That’s why experts recommend CDNs for optimization.
TTFB plays a big part in this process, which is why it’s critical. It significantly affects core web metrics. When you enter a URL or click a link to a site, a browser takes several steps to receive the first byte. Here is how the browser calculates it:
- DNS Lookup: It takes time to turn a domain name into an IP address. It is usually the hosting IP addresses that connect the website to the domain.
- TLS (Transport Layer Security): The encrypted TLS handshake if using HTTPS and the time to build a valid TCP connection.
- Redirect Duration: Process time used on redirects. Yes, redirects slow down a website; even basic redirects like HTTP to HTTPS are time-consuming.
- Server Processing: This is the big part, and review your web hosting service. It’s the time the server spends handling application data, querying databases, and preparing the layout. Hosting makes it slow, so that’s why it’s important.
Tools (Sites) to Measure TTFB
Let’s review reliable tools for measuring the time to the first bytes of your website.
KeyCDN Performance Test
KeyCDN is a famous European CDN provider with over 60 distribution points. It isn’t my favorite, but I like their website performance measurement tools.
There are several measurement tools for troubleshooting website, network, and CDN issues. With “Performance Test,” you can test a website’s Time to First Byte from 10 locations around the world. It has a simple user interface and allows you to measure a web URL. You’ll get a breakdown of loading times and HTTP headers in the results.
In addition to TTFB, you can view location, status codes, DNS lookup time, connection time, and TLS overhead.
The HTTP response header includes additional metadata such as cache status, CDN details, last-modified date, cache-control, HTTP version, content type, and more.
Flying TTFB
Flying TTFB is a new measurement tool released by FlyingPress (Gijo Varghese). It offers a bit more than KeyCDN, with the ability to measure across 22 global zones.
With a quick Time to First Byte test, you can view server response times, cache status, and header information. You can also view details such as IP address, encoding type (Brotli/Gzip), and cache source.
It is a handy tool for checking your site’s time-to-first-byte across over 20 locations, including HTTP header statistics. It is from the WordPress speed enthusiasts behind the FlyingPress plugin, FlyingCDN, and other Flying plugins. So, you can use it to check how well your origin server or CDN responds from locations around the world.
SpeedVitals
SpeedVitals is a comprehensive website performance test tool, making it more suited to testing multiple locations and details than the previous two options.
It is an ideal alternative to GTmetrix or Page Speed Insights because it lets you test multiple URLs and measure site speed across 40 countries. You can use most of their tools for free, but if you wish to use them at the top level, subscribe to a paid plan.
Users can use SpeedVital’s TTFB Testing tool for free across 30 locations. To access all zones, you have to pay. Another benefit is that you can test the time to first byte separately for Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. As part of the results, you can view the average TTFB values for Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific separately.
Additionally, you’ll see the HTTP header for every location, along with a summary of all locations that includes the average time to the first byte of your site.
SpeedVitals isn’t just a measurement tool; it’s a full-featured package for those who care about website speed and other key optimization factors. It’s one of my favorites as a WordPress speed enthusiast. They offer useful tutorials for optimizing websites.
I also suggest running the test at least twice to obtain more reliable results. It helps ensure the resource is cached and delivered from the CDN’s nearest data center.
GTMetrix
GTmetrix is one of the most popular tools for testing page performance. It is an all-in-one tool for measuring pages across multiple levels. GTmetrix was a free tool with plenty of features, but now you must create a free account to use it effectively, and it limits you to 5 tests per day. To test your web pages globally, you’ll need a paid plan.
Still, the free account lets you test web pages in 10 different geographical regions, and the paid account allows you to test pages in 25 separate locations worldwide. When using GTmetrix to examine your Time to First Byte, test the URL to see it in the results.
GTmetrix results provide a clear outline of your site’s performance. You can view the total loading time for each site asset type. I like the waterfall chart because it helps us identify the causes of site slowdowns. It’s still a valuable tool for web owners/devs.
WebPageTest
WebPageTest provides an in-depth look at your website’s performance. Even the free account allows you to analyze data from over 20 locations.
It’s a modern tool for anyone seeking configuration options for browsers, locations, and devices. You can set the connection speed and the browser dimensions.
When you test your URL, the overview provides a detailed breakdown. It’s not just about the first byte; you can see a page summary for each asset on the website.
WebPageTest is one of the most comprehensive tools for measuring webpages. There are more details about your site than just performance stats. You can view the techs used to build your website, including WordPress, PHP, themes, plugins, and CDN.
PageSpeed Insights
PageSpeed Insights is a widely used website performance audit tool that analyzes how well a site performs and is often abbreviated as PSI.
It is an entirely free tool provided by Google for developers. It is a comprehensive tool for analyzing websites separately on desktop and mobile devices.
Compared with GTmetrix, it’s less complex, but you can still uncover a lot about your site. You can view the Web Vitals Assessment on both desktop and mobile devices.
PSI gives you an idea of your site’s performance, TTFB, to real browsers. So those are the measurement tools that check the time to the first byte of your website. They’re usually comprehensive, not just statistical ones. Now let’s talk about optimization.
Optimize TTFB With These Tactics
Maintain a low TTFB in the regions where the majority of your website visitors reside. For instance, if most of your website visitors are in North America, prioritize optimizing the first byte for that region. But if your audience is global, aim to keep the time to first byte low everywhere. And here are tips you can implement on your own:
Hosting: It doesn’t matter how many optimizations you implement if your hosting is bad. A good host is the first step to optimizing TTFB. Typically, a decent VPS can handle most types of sites, so consider Vultr, UpCloud, DigitalOcean, or any other reputable VPS. You can use a modern host such as Rocket.net or FlyingHost.
Modernize Your Server Applications: Keep Them Up to Date. Ensure you’re running the latest versions of PHP, Redis, LiteSpeed/Nginx, MariaDB, and any other required components.
CDN: A CDN helps websites handle global traffic, improving performance for users worldwide. However, it’s not always true, as even with a CDN, you likely wouldn’t notice any improvement. This is because you’re using it without any optimization features. Many CDNs, such as Cloudflare, BunnyCDN, and Fastly, offer tools to accelerate page load times for global users.
Cloudflare: IMO, Cloudflare is the most reliable CDN and security solution. Cloudflare makes it easy to optimize TTFB with APO and Argo Smart Routing, reducing first-byte latency to an average of under 100ms.
Edge caching (dynamic): Dynamic caching is typically enabled by default in modern CDNs. Caching HTML can cut TTFB in half. When you use a reliable CDN with dynamic caching, you can achieve a Time to First Byte of under 200 ms.
Caching: Most CMSs and servers support multiple cache levels. You can significantly optimize your website using caching plugins such as FlyingPress, LiteSpeed Cache, or WP Rocket on CMS platforms like WordPress. Modern hosting services utilize server-side caching mechanisms.
And finally,
You can test your page’s TTFB using the KeyCDN Test, Flying TTFB, DebugBear, and SpeedVitals. Your goal is to keep your website’s average global response time under 400 milliseconds. You can try tools like WebPageTest or GTmetrix for a more in-depth look at your website’s performance.
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