Benchmark Results: Page Load Time
Page Load Time Composite Score
Our page load time composite score is the geometric mean of the start time, uncached, and cached page load results. All test pages are saved and hosted from our local Web server, resulting in steadier iterations than live webpages.
Safari steals first place with the only page load time under two seconds. Maxthon surprisingly rides ahead of the pack at just over two seconds to become the runner-up. Dolphin takes third place at nearly 2.2 seconds, followed closely by Chrome and Sleipnir in fourth and fifth place, respectively. Yahoo! Axis is the last-place finisher, with a time of nearly 2.4 seconds.
Start Time
The Yahoo! homepage serves as the test page in our start time test. The test page is loaded in cache and each browser was started and stopped prior to testing. The start time test results are the average of three iterations.
Start times go to Apple Safari, followed by Maxthon in second place. Axis, Dolphin, Sleipnir, and Chrome all essentially take the same amount of time to start up and finish loading their homepages, tying for last place.
| Load Time |
A page on BBQ brisket from About.com, the Computer Parts & Components category on Amazon, a random popular question on Ask.com, the "free" section for Los Angeles on craigslist, my LinkedIn profile, and the Wikipedia entry for "Tom's Hardware" round out our page load time test pages. All page load time results are achieved by averaging five iterations.
Uncached
In order to achieve the uncached page load times, each browser's history and cache is cleared, and the browser closed then reopened between iterations.
Maxthon manages to beat out Apple's own Web browser by a slim margin in uncached page loads. Axis, Dolphin, and Sleipnir all basically tie for third place, with Google Chrome bringing up the rear about 0.35 seconds behind the pack.
Cached
When loading pages that are already in the browsing history, Chrome takes the lead at 1.3 seconds. Maxthon, Dolphin, and Safari practically tie for second place, running between 1.4 and 1.5 seconds. Sleipnir places third at 1.65 seconds, with Axis taking last place.
Drill Down
The charts below contain the uncached and cached page load times of all eight individual test pages for each browser.
Notes: Chrome's stand-out losses in uncached page loads are from About, Amazon, and, ironically, Google! Meanwhile, Yahoo! Axis has extra trouble loading Amazon, LinkedIn, and Wikipedia from cache.
