🚀 Google Lighthouse Checker - Core Web Vitals & Performance Audits at Scale

Stop paying $500+/month for PageSpeed Insights API. Run unlimited Lighthouse audits for a fraction of the cost.

Get instant Core Web Vitals (LCP, FID, CLS), performance scores, accessibility audits, SEO analysis, and actionable optimization recommendations for any website—or thousands of URLs in batch.

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⚡ Why This Actor?

Challenge	Solution
PageSpeed Insights API has strict rate limits	Unlimited audits with configurable concurrency
Google's API costs $500+/month at scale	Pay-per-use pricing starting at $0.10/audit
Manual testing is time-consuming	Batch audit hundreds of URLs automatically
No webhook support in free tools	Built-in Zapier/Make/n8n integration
Mobile vs desktop requires separate tests	Test both with a single configuration

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📊 What You Get

Core Web Vitals (Google's Ranking Factors)

Metric	Description	Good Threshold
LCP	Largest Contentful Paint	< 2.5s
FID	First Input Delay	< 100ms
CLS	Cumulative Layout Shift	< 0.1
FCP	First Contentful Paint	< 1.8s
TTFB	Time to First Byte	< 800ms
TBT	Total Blocking Time	< 200ms
SI	Speed Index	< 3.4s
TTI	Time to Interactive	< 3.8s

Category Scores (0-100)

• Performance - Page speed and loading optimization
• Accessibility - WCAG compliance and usability
• Best Practices - Modern web development standards
• SEO - Search engine optimization factors
• PWA - Progressive Web App readiness

Actionable Insights

• Opportunities - Specific fixes with estimated time savings
• Diagnostics - Technical issues affecting performance
• Screenshots - Visual timeline of page load
• Full Report - Complete Lighthouse JSON for deep analysis

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🎯 Use Cases

SEO Agencies

• Audit all client websites monthly
• Track Core Web Vitals improvements
• Generate performance reports automatically
• Identify pages hurting search rankings

E-commerce Sites

• Monitor product page performance
• Ensure mobile checkout speed
• Track performance across thousands of SKUs
• Alert when pages slow down

Web Developers

• CI/CD performance testing
• Pre-launch audits
• A/B test performance impact
• Monitor third-party script bloat

Enterprise Teams

• Company-wide website audits
• Compliance monitoring
• Performance benchmarking
• Automated reporting to stakeholders

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📥 Input Parameters

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
urls	array	-	List of URLs to audit
url	string	-	Single URL (alternative to urls)
device	string	"mobile"	Device: mobile or desktop
categories	array	All	Which audits to run
throttling	string	"mobile4G"	Network: mobile4G, desktopDense4G, none
includeFullReport	boolean	false	Include complete Lighthouse JSON
includeScreenshots	boolean	true	Capture page load screenshots
maxConcurrency	integer	1	Parallel audits (1-5)
webhookUrl	string	-	POST results when complete
demoMode	boolean	false	Return sample data (free)

Example Input

{
  "urls": [
    "https://example.com",
    "https://example.com/products",
    "https://example.com/checkout"
  ],
  "device": "mobile",
  "categories": ["performance", "seo"],
  "includeScreenshots": true,
  "webhookUrl": "https://hooks.zapier.com/..."
}

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📤 Output Format

{
  "url": "https://example.com",
  "fetchTime": "2024-01-15T10:30:00.000Z",
  "device": "mobile",
  "scores": {
    "performance": 85,
    "accessibility": 92,
    "bestPractices": 88,
    "seo": 95,
    "pwa": 45
  },
  "coreWebVitals": {
    "LCP": 2100,
    "FID": 45,
    "CLS": 0.05,
    "FCP": 1200,
    "TTFB": 320,
    "TBT": 180,
    "SI": 2800,
    "TTI": 3200
  },
  "grade": "B",
  "passedAudits": 42,
  "failedAudits": 8,
  "opportunities": [
    {
      "id": "unused-javascript",
      "title": "Remove unused JavaScript",
      "description": "Remove unused JavaScript to reduce bytes consumed by network activity.",
      "score": 0.45,
      "savings": "0.8 s"
    }
  ],
  "diagnostics": [
    {
      "id": "dom-size",
      "title": "Avoid an excessive DOM size",
      "description": "A large DOM will increase memory usage.",
      "displayValue": "1,234 elements"
    }
  ],
  "screenshots": {
    "final": "data:image/jpeg;base64,...",
    "thumbnails": ["data:image/jpeg;base64,..."]
  }
}

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🔗 Webhook Integration

Receive results automatically when audits complete:

Zapier

1. Create a "Webhooks by Zapier" trigger
2. Choose "Catch Hook"
3. Copy the webhook URL to input
4. Trigger actions based on scores

Make (Integromat)

1. Create a "Webhooks" module
2. Choose "Custom webhook"
3. Copy URL and add to actor input
4. Build automations on results

n8n

1. Add "Webhook" node
2. Set to POST method
3. Use URL in actor input
4. Process scores in workflow

Webhook Payload

{
  "event": "lighthouse_audit_completed",
  "timestamp": "2024-01-15T10:30:00.000Z",
  "actor": "google-lighthouse-checker",
  "urlsAudited": 3,
  "results": [
    {
      "url": "https://example.com",
      "scores": { "performance": 85, "seo": 95 },
      "grade": "B",
      "coreWebVitals": { "LCP": 2100, "CLS": 0.05 }
    }
  ]
}

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💰 Pricing

Usage	Cost
Demo Mode	Free
Per audit	$0.10
Bulk (100+ URLs)	$0.08/audit
Enterprise	Contact us

Prices are estimates. Actual costs depend on Apify compute usage.

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🏃 Quick Start

1. Single URL Audit

{
  "url": "https://yoursite.com",
  "device": "mobile"
}

2. Batch Audit

{
  "urls": ["https://site1.com", "https://site2.com", "https://site3.com"],
  "maxConcurrency": 3
}

3. With Webhook

{
  "url": "https://yoursite.com",
  "webhookUrl": "https://hooks.zapier.com/hooks/catch/123/abc"
}

4. Demo Mode (Free)

{
  "demoMode": true
}

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🔧 API Integration

Using Apify API

const { ApifyClient } = require('apify-client');

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: 'YOUR_API_TOKEN' });

const run = await client.actor('localhowl/google-lighthouse-checker').call({
  urls: ['https://example.com'],
  device: 'mobile',
  categories: ['performance', 'seo']
});

const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
console.log(items);

Using cURL

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/localhowl~google-lighthouse-checker/runs?token=YOUR_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"url": "https://example.com", "device": "mobile"}'

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📈 Understanding Scores

Performance Grade Scale

Grade	Score Range	Meaning
A	90-100	Excellent - Meets all Core Web Vitals
B	80-89	Good - Minor optimizations needed
C	70-79	Average - Several improvements possible
D	50-69	Poor - Significant issues affecting UX
F	0-49	Failing - Urgent fixes required

Core Web Vitals Thresholds

Metric	Good	Needs Improvement	Poor
LCP	≤ 2.5s	2.5s - 4s	> 4s
FID	≤ 100ms	100ms - 300ms	> 300ms
CLS	≤ 0.1	0.1 - 0.25	> 0.25

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🆚 Comparison

Feature	This Actor	PageSpeed API	GTmetrix	WebPageTest
Price	$0.10/audit	$500+/mo	$15+/mo	Free (limited)
Rate Limits	Unlimited	Strict	Limited	Queue-based
Batch URLs	✅	❌	Limited	❌
Webhooks	✅	❌	❌	❌
API Access	✅	✅	✅	✅
Screenshots	✅	✅	✅	✅
Full Report	✅	✅	Partial	✅

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📝 Changelog

v1.0.0 (2024-12)

• Initial release
• Core Web Vitals extraction
• Mobile and desktop device emulation
• Batch URL processing
• Webhook integration
• Demo mode for testing

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🏷️ Keywords

google lighthouse, core web vitals, page speed, performance audit, web vitals, LCP, FID, CLS, website speed test, SEO audit, accessibility audit, lighthouse api, pagespeed insights alternative, website performance, mobile speed test, desktop speed test, web performance monitoring, site speed checker, lighthouse batch, performance score, best practices audit, pwa audit, web optimization, page load time, speed index, time to interactive, largest contentful paint, cumulative layout shift, first input delay, lighthouse automation, performance testing api

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🤝 Support

• Issues: GitHub Issues

• Documentation: Apify Docs

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Built by John Rippy | johnrippy.link

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Keywords

google lighthouse, pagespeed insights, core web vitals, website performance audit, seo audit, lighthouse api, website speed test, zapier integration, make integration, n8n integration