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Ranking Web 2.0 sites by server latency

Server latency is the start of the battle for site performance. There are great tutorials on how to optimise your html, but if your server takes too long sending the bytes out in the first place, there's nothing the browser can do but wait.

It gets even worse. Server latency directly affects your site's hardware requirements. Slow html, in some sense, is the user's problem; their browser will spin trying to render your spaghetti css. But the longer it takes your server to put out a page, the fewer pages it can serve per second. Which means buying more servers for the same load.

For example, if your server returns a page in 50ms, it can pump out 20 of those a second. If it takes 250ms instead, it can put out only four per second. That's a 5X difference in the number of machines needed to serve the same number of users.

Just for review here recall that 1 millisecond = 1/1000th of a second. So: 

    50ms = 1/20th of a second
    250ms = 1/4 of a second
    500ms = 1/2 of a second

The human eye's threshold for perceiving latency is about 50ms. Crudely simplified, this means that if you render a screen within 50ms or less, it's going to be perceived as instantaneous. If it takes longer, people can sense the latency. Lots of subliminal processing occurs on an image in the first 250ms, with conscious processing happening after 270ms.

(Making a leap here... This means that people's well-trained subliminal neural hardware is deciding whether to click Back even before they've consciously realized what they're looking at...cool. :-)

I'd recommend the following performance yardstick for server latency: 

    50ms = pretty good
    250ms = ave/sluggish, but still OK
    >500ms = your site is slow as molasses

Faster is always better, but if you're in the 50-100ms range you can feel pretty good about your platform. Over that, and there's probably some easy wins to be had, which will payoff in user satisfaction and a lower hardware ramp in the co-lo.

So how does the rest of the net stack up?

The following list is the result of running apachebench on 530 Web 2.0 sites pulled from CrunchBase. I also added some of the major sites such as Google, Yahoo, and so forth for comparision.

Caveat: I don't recommend trying this at home. I was deliberately trying to avoid overloading anyone's servers, so this was not a stress test, just a touch test done off-peak with a mean result coming from 10 non-concurrent fetches. Running apachebench against Google (or anyone else for that matter) is a great way to get IP-banned.

There is a huge range -- 100X! -- in performance figures, from <10ms for the fastest sites to slow sites which took seconds to squirt out their html.

Yahoo trumps google on this test, returning their homepage in a mean time of 13.620ms, vs. Google's 30.716ms. This despite Yahoo's page having nearly twice as many bytes (although still quite lean at just under 10k of html).

I included information about the site's webservers, but there doesn't seem to be any consistent trend. Apache appears on both the slowest and the fastest sites, with many other servers spread through the range too. Apparently it doesn't matter what brand of webserver you have, it's how you use it.

Anyway, on to the list.

rank site mean (ms) server sofware
1Powerset6.530Apache/2.2.3
2PermissionTV7.333Apache/2.0.52
3Urban Mapping7.639lighttpd/1.4.13
4Spoke7.791Apache/2.0.52
5BitGravity10.295bit_asic/1.1
6Songbird10.338Apache/2.0.54
7Jaxtr11.350Apache-Coyote/1.1
8BitTorrent11.355Juniper
9Media Machines11.730Apache/2.2.2
10MatchMine11.809Apache/2.2.4
11Cuill12.029thttpd/2.23beta1
12Weebly12.838Apache/2.2.2
13Yahoo13.620 
14PubMatic13.629Apache-Coyote/1.1
15gBox14.234Apache/2.0.52
16LiveWorld14.322Apache/1.3.33
17Webkinz14.351PWS/1.1.17
18Aggregate Knowledge14.464Apache
19There14.501Apache/2.0.54
20Stixy15.159Mongrel
21Vudu15.844Apache/2.0.59
22Yield Build16.252nginx/0.5.32
23Mig3316.931Apache/2.2.4
24Trusted Opinion16.974Apache-Coyote/1.1
25Demand Media17.761Microsoft-IIS/6.0
26Gigablast18.695Gigablast/1.0
27Helio19.565Sun-ONE-Web-Server/6.1
28LinkedIn20.465Apache-Coyote/1.1
29Story of My Life20.694Microsoft-IIS/6.0
30Loomia20.774Zope/(Zope
31FriendFeed20.899FriendFeedServer/0.1
32Wink21.040Apache
33GroupSwim21.395Apache-Coyote/1.1
34Gaia23.506nginx/0.6.4
35Leverage Software23.986Microsoft-IIS/6.0
36RingCentral24.866Apache/2.2.3
37GarageGames25.207Apache
38Social Platform26.003Apache/2.2.3
39Pandora26.297Jetty/5.1.3
40Zoho26.572Apache
41Cafepress27.944 
42SayNow28.743 
431800Pharmacy28.842 
44hulu28.916nginx/0.5.32
45socialthing29.076Apache/2.0.52
46Socializr29.302Commodore
47Google30.716gws
48Retrevo31.383Apache-Coyote/1.1
49Adap.tv31.542Apache/2.0.55
50Snapfish31.658Apache-Coyote/1.1
51Diigo31.885nginx/0.5.26
52Bebo32.004Resin/3.0.24
53Lala32.371Apache
54SixApart33.155Apache
55Sling Media33.362Apache/2.2.6
56Reddit33.591lighttpd/1.4.18
57deca.tv33.610Apache/2.2.3
58eBuddy34.132Apache/2.0.59
59Webligo34.470Apache/2.0.52
60Kiva35.805Microsoft-IIS/6.0
61Zing36.252Microsoft-IIS/6.0
62Cerado38.018Apache/1.3.37
63Kaboodle40.183Apache-Coyote/1.1
64eXpresso42.273Apache/2.0.54
65seesmic43.310Apache/2.0.52
66Hi543.994Apache
67Flixster44.084Apache
68Zooomr45.988lighttpd/1.4.18
69Healthline46.142Apache/2.0.54
70Me.com46.212Apache/2.0.59
71Filtrbox46.984Mongrel
72Zivity47.008Mongrel
73HOT or NOT47.242Apache
74Specificmedia47.661Apache/2.0.52
75AdBrite47.666Apache
76Revver48.397Apache/2.0.55
77VideoEgg49.798Apache
78Prosper50.258Microsoft-IIS/6.0
79Negonation51.853Apache
80Alibaba52.193Apache/2.0.59
81Gotuit Media52.526Apache
82MobiTV52.631Apache/2.0.52
83Wikia52.745Apache
84Mint53.006Apache
85BluBet54.055Microsoft-IIS/6.0
86MeeVee55.929Microsoft-IIS/6.0
87PodShow57.430Apache
88Vidoop57.492Apache/2.0.52
89Box.net59.945nginx/0.5.31
90Zenfolio59.997Microsoft-IIS/6.0
91pbwiki60.006Apache
92Pelago61.797Apache/2.0.55
93Zvents62.180nginx/0.5.32
94Userplane63.392Microsoft-IIS/6.0
95SezWho63.802Apache/2.0.54
96PlaySpan64.363Apache/2.2.4
97FFWD64.431Apache/2.0.59
98Kongregate64.462nginx/0.5.15
99HireAHelper64.725Microsoft-IIS/6.0
100Spot Runner64.788Microsoft-IIS/6.0
101spock65.347Mongrel
102Evite65.871Apache
103Fauxto66.676Microsoft-IIS/6.0
104Nirvanix66.823Microsoft-IIS/6.0
105Imeem66.963Microsoft-IIS/6.0
106WooMe67.419lighttpd/1.4.13
107GrandCentral67.771lighttpd/1.3.16
108StumbleUpon68.680Apache/2.0.55
109earthmine69.775Apache/2.0.52
110LifeLock70.528Microsoft-IIS/6.0
111Vast71.558Apache
112Stickam71.657Zeus/4_3
113TalkPlus73.307Apache/2.0.52
114AdMob74.428Apache
115SideStep74.473Apache
116SimplyHired76.095SimplyServer
117Pownce77.855Apache/2.2.3
118Picnik78.916Apache/2.2.4
119PodTech80.064Apache
120Omnifuse80.161Microsoft-IIS/6.0
121Ripl81.023Microsoft-IIS/6.0
122ilike82.758Mongrel
123InviteShare82.936lighttpd/1.4.18
124Red Light Center83.477Microsoft-IIS/6.0
125Crowd Factory83.751Apache/2.0.52
126Sampa84.375Microsoft-IIS/6.0
127Pixsy84.508Microsoft-IIS/6.0
128DocuSign85.124Apache/2.2.4
129Citysearch85.547Apache-Coyote/1.1
130Plaxo86.549Apache
131Cloudant87.593Apache
132JS Kit88.518Microsoft-IIS/6.0
133Friendster88.822Apache/1.3.33
134Wikinvest88.898Apache
135Kontera89.285Microsoft-IIS/6.0
136Genius89.372Apache/2.0.52
137Judys Book90.429Microsoft-IIS/6.0
138Action Engine94.409Microsoft-IIS/5.0
139ScanScout94.753Apache
140LineUpNewYork95.516Apache/1.3.39
141Ning96.109Ning
142GizmoProject96.198Apache/2.0.52
143PayScale96.478Microsoft-IIS/6.0
144Adpinion96.817Apache/2.0.52
145Crunchyroll97.034Apache
146Dabble DB97.752Apache/1.3.36
147YouTube99.151Apache
148Dancejam99.458nginx/0.6.6
149fav.or.it100.403Apache/2.2.3
150Parakey100.415Apache/1.3.37
151Slide101.625Apache/2.0
152Wix102.227Apache/2.0.52
153Mozy103.506Apache/2.0.54
154Covestor104.701Apache
155Intense Debate104.857Apache/2.0.55
156MySpace105.622Microsoft-IIS/6.0
157ProfileBuilder105.980Apache/2.0.52
158Glimpse106.351Apache/1.3.33
159Real Time Matrix106.649Apache/1.3.33
160Live.com107.819Microsoft-IIS/6.0
161Postini108.994Apache/2.2.4
162Parlano109.325Microsoft-IIS/6.0
1638020 Publishing109.897Apache/2.0.59
164PlentyofFish111.276Microsoft-IIS/6.0
165Swamble112.288Apache/1.3.37
166revlayer112.811Apache/1.3.37
167oDesk112.933Apache
168revision3114.459Apache/2.2.4
169OurStory115.107Apache/1.3.37
170eHarmony116.682 
171Limelight Networks117.969Apache/1.3.26
172Facebook120.261Apache/1.3.37.fb1
173College.com121.634Apache-Coyote/1.1
174Cuts122.284Apache/2.0.52
175TheFind.com123.232Apache/1.3.33
176YCombinator124.003Apache/2.2.4
177BrightQube127.786Apache/2.2.3
178Loudtalks128.143Apache/2.2.3
179Dial Directions128.276Microsoft-IIS/6.0
180Ikan129.184Apache/1.3.37
181Sphere130.008Apache/2.2.3
182SuTree130.528Microsoft-IIS/6.0
183Dotspotter131.418Apache/2.0.52
184ooma132.177Apache/2.2.4
185Tagged134.404Apache/2.2.3
186Zillow135.353Apache-Coyote/1.1
187Realius136.156Apache/1.3.37
188Neighborhood America136.971Microsoft-IIS/5.0
189Respectance138.972WWW
190Meebo143.129lighttpd/1.4.18
191Tokbox148.115Apache/2.0.59
192MediaPops149.082Apache/2.0.52
193Jooce149.394Microsoft-IIS/6.0
194Wesabe150.119Wesabe
195Mesa Dynamics150.875Apache/1.3.37
196Villij151.326Apache/2.0.59
197Lotame151.528Apache/2.0.52
198Xobni151.799Apache
199YellowBot152.567Apache/1.3.37
200madKast152.729Microsoft-IIS/6.0
201Spiceworks154.291Apache/2.2.2
202PowerReviews156.118Apache/2.0.52
203Brightkite156.484LiteSpeed
204Eventbrite158.600Apache
205JumpBox159.488Apache/2.0.55
206BuddyTV159.903Microsoft-IIS/6.0
207rmbr161.408nginx/0.6.6
208Fuzzwich161.684Apache/2.2.4
209Syntraxis162.376 
210Rubicon Project164.442Apache/2.2.4
211Jaman164.517Apache
212Swivel164.660Mongrel
213Slacker165.744Apache
214Crowdstorm166.432Apache/2.0.52
215RayV168.314Microsoft-IIS/6.0
216Cofoundr168.368LiteSpeed
217Neopets169.908Apache/1.3.33
218Tumblr173.295Apache/2.0.52
219Pageflakes174.004Microsoft-IIS/6.0
220MyStrands174.204 
221GotStatus175.236Microsoft-IIS/6.0
222IMSafer175.399Apache
223Vlingo178.503Apache/2.2.4
224Qloud179.709Apache/2.2.3
225Dash180.119Sun-ONE-Web-Server/6.1
226Ancestry.com182.219Microsoft-IIS/6.0
227Oodle184.364Apache/2.2.3
228Pubsub185.070lighttpd/1.4.15
229IceRocket185.601Apache/2.2.0
230FeedBurner186.616Apache
231Second Life187.504Apache
232Ponoko189.212Mongrel
233FlowPlay191.450Apache/1.3.37
234Twine193.959 
235Yelp194.820Apache/2.2.3
236Flickr195.611 
237ThemBid196.617lighttpd
238Ruckus196.733Apache
239coRank196.879Apache
240Like197.522Resin/3.0.14
241Yapta197.769Apache
24237signals198.129Apache/2.2.4
243AdaptiveBlue198.308Apache/2.0.52
244WebbAlert201.649Apache/2.0
245IMVU201.777Apache/2.0.54
246MyPunchbowl203.623nginx/0.6.9
247Yap203.775Apache/1.3.37
248LongJump205.890Apache/2.2.6
249Automattic206.431LiteSpeed
250Baynote208.981Apache/2.0.52
251ConVerdge211.390Apache/2.2.4
252Strayform211.795Microsoft-IIS/6.0
253MadeIt212.486Apache
254PeerMe213.750Apache/2.0
255TripIt213.962TripIt
256Zimbra214.674Apache/2.0.46
257Geni215.394nginx/0.5.26
258EchoSign217.394Apache/2.0.52
259ClearSpring217.729Apache
260ONEsite219.452Apache
261Skype219.715Apache
262eMusic222.209Apache/1.3.29
263The Generations Network222.692Microsoft-IIS/6.0
264Voodoovox222.832Microsoft-IIS/6.0
2653Jam223.156Apache/2.0.52
266SueEasy224.522Apache/2.2.0
267Seeking Alpha224.653Apache/2.2.3
268Mixaloo225.606Apache/2.0.52
269TasteBook226.858Mongrel
270Multiply231.552Apache/1.3.29
271StyleFeeder231.902Jetty/5.1.11
272Jobster232.976Apache/2.0.54
273KushCash234.464Apache/2.0.52
274Kerpoof234.502Apache/2.2.3
275TrialPay236.059Apache
276Yoomba239.851Apache-Coyote/1.1
277AdReady241.095Mongrel
278CollectiveX241.448nginx/0.5.32
279Redfin244.836Apache
280Search to Phone246.382Apache/2.2.4
281PicksPal247.021Microsoft-IIS/6.0
282FunnyOrDie248.967LiteSpeed
283WeatherBill249.163Apache-Coyote/1.1
284LocoGopher.com250.026Microsoft-IIS/6.0
285Flock251.464Apache/2.0.52
286IPartee252.502Apache
287Disqus254.282Apache/2.2.4
288Bazaarvoice254.570Apache
289SpendView255.751Microsoft-IIS/6.0
290PhoneZoo258.950Apache-Coyote/1.1
291CrowdVine259.392Mongrel
292ZocDoc259.761Microsoft-IIS/6.0
29323andMe260.001 
294VibeAgent261.017Apache/2.0.52
295KickApps262.013Apache/2.0.52
296Scribd262.835Mongrel
297ZenZui267.527Apache
298Conduit Labs267.553Apache/2.0.52
299Magnify.net268.132Apache
300CollegeWikis270.568Apache/1.3.37
301Quigo270.924Microsoft-IIS/6.0
302Eons273.847Apache/2.2.2
303Vitrue275.419Apache/2.2.4
304Kaneva276.554Microsoft-IIS/6.0
305Brightcove278.165Apache/2.0.52
306Teach The People279.942Apache/2.0.54
307TVtrip280.568Apache-Coyote/1.1
308Dubit280.867Microsoft-IIS/6.0
309Glam Media282.592Apache/1.3.33
310Barbie Girls283.372Apache/2.0.52
311Avvo287.868Mongrel
312innerActive288.675Apache/1.3.34
313MotionDSP290.962Apache/1.3.34
314Buxfer292.440Apache/2.0.54
315Wallhogs294.064Mongrel
316Clickable294.773Microsoft-IIS/6.0
317Freewebs294.797Apache-Coyote/1.1
318Hotswap295.048Apache/2.2.3
319Mimeo299.294Microsoft-IIS/6.0
320ITema302.798Apache/2.0.55
321RegOnline303.502Microsoft-IIS/6.0
322Wize308.195Apache/2.0.52
323DocSyncer308.660Apache
324MyFamily.com308.749Microsoft-IIS/6.0
325tubemogul309.421Apache/2.2.6
326Mahalo311.005Apache/2.0.59
327PayPerPost311.938Apache
328TechMeme315.163Apache/2.0.52
329DOmedia316.459nginx/0.6.9
330A9316.843 
331Truemors318.888Apache/1.3.33
332Faketown320.700Apache/2.0.59
333Zolve321.837Microsoft-IIS/6.0
334Genwi322.691Microsoft-IIS/6.0
335Terabitz323.831Apache/2.2.4
336FlexiScale324.558Apache/2.0.52
337GigaOmniMedia324.679LiteSpeed
338Mayas Mom327.297Apache
339PlanHQ327.878Apache/2.0.55
340KB Labs329.699Apache
341Jango331.007lighttpd/1.4.13
342Associated Content334.770Apache/2.2.4
343SEOMoz335.465Apache/2.2.2
344Vimeo336.560Apache/2.0.52
345Animoto339.064Mongrel
346Tagworld339.621Microsoft-IIS/6.0
347Versionate339.677lighttpd/1.4.15
348Dogster342.171Apache/2.0.52
349eXelate343.007 
350Seedcamp344.149nginx/0.5.26
351Finetune346.473Apache/2.2.4
352BroadClip349.029Microsoft-IIS/6.0
353PrepMe351.695Apache/2.0.54
354Eventful353.644Apache
355Dopplr358.512nginx/0.5.18
356EQO359.547Apache/2.2.0
357Insider Pages361.148lighttpd/1.4.13
358Active Worlds362.844Microsoft-IIS/6.0
359Doostang366.308Microsoft-IIS/6.0
360Buddy Media366.389Apache/1.3.37
361Farecast366.954Apache-Coyote/1.1
362Mogulus369.153Apache/2.2.4
363iContact371.094Apache/2.2.3
364Kyte371.853Apache/2.2.4
365Newsvine372.990Apache/2.2.6
366JackBe376.393Apache
367Topix377.252Apache/1.3.34
368Contrastream379.417Mongrel
369Yeigo381.591Apache/2.0.55
370Sermo381.733Apache/2.0.52
371Club Penguin383.774Apache
372WikiYou383.867Apache/2.2.4
373Ask384.179Apache
374Curse384.826Apache
375GuildCafe386.937Apache/2.2.3
376Vtap388.818Apache/2.2.0
377ENURGI393.292Microsoft-IIS/6.0
378MocoSpace398.536Resin/3.1.1
379SodaHead403.767Apache/2.2.4
380iJigg405.674Apache
381Docstoc405.679Microsoft-IIS/6.0
382Vidora.TV406.283Apache/2.0.52
383FixYa409.316Microsoft-IIS/6.0
384Goojet414.340Apache/2.2.3
385RealEditor415.483Apache/2.2.3
386TripUp423.759Apache/1.3.37
387Grockit426.672Apache-Coyote/1.1
388G.ho.st428.721Apache
389Satisfaction432.793Apache/1.3.37
390Gizmoz435.405Apache/2.0.55
391Omnidrive435.870Apache/2.2.3
392Comeks445.080Apache-Coyote/1.1
393Helium445.639Apache/2.2.3
394NowPublic446.075Apache
395Cognitive Code447.225Apache/1.3.37
396Recipezaar447.907Apache/2.2.3
397Treemo447.997Apache/2.2.4
398Mashery456.483lighttpd/1.4.18
399Visible Technologies458.414Apache
400Photobucket460.356Apache
401Akamai468.384Apache/1.3.37
402Babelgum490.453Apache/2.0.52
403JibJab491.847Mongrel
404Digg500.251Apache
405ChaCha500.447Mongrel
406Boomi500.890Apache/2.0.52
407alluc502.072Apache/1.3.37
408Tabblo506.642lighttpd/1.4.16
409aniBoom509.140Microsoft-IIS/6.0
410FAROO523.085Apache/1.3.33
411Social Media527.535Apache/2.2.3
412blogTV529.238Microsoft-IIS/6.0
413Wixi531.411Apache/2.2.3
414CriticalMetrics534.457nginx/0.5.17
415Mydeo537.590Microsoft-IIS/6.0
416Viewdle539.326nginx/0.5.31
417Socialtext540.043Apache/2.0.55
418Nimbuzz540.731Apache
419MyToons547.286nginx/0.5.32
420Azureus549.448Apache/2.0.54
421Kelkoo552.794Apache
422Habbo Hotel569.010Apache/2.0.59
423Technorati570.968Apache
424SellABand574.025Apache/1.3.34
425SlapVid579.040Apache/2.0.52
426BeFunky579.443Apache/1.3.37
427Carbonite582.033Microsoft-IIS/6.0
428Meetro584.606Apache/2.2.6
429in2apps584.704Microsoft-IIS/6.0
430Tangler590.898Apache-Coyote/1.1
431Mesmo.tv598.332Apache-Coyote/1.1
432CollegeHumor605.934Apache
433SecondRotation616.196nginx/0.6.4
434DietTV621.197Apache-Coyote/1.1
435JumpTV630.459Apache
436Greenest Host644.875Apache/1.3.37
437MyHeritage645.084Apache/2.0.55
438Wetpaint647.199Apache
439SpiralFrog650.100Microsoft-IIS/6.0
440delicious658.015 
441Jiglu658.238Apache-Coyote/1.1
442Flektor682.060lighttpd/1.4.11
443MySQL687.172Apache/2.0.58
444Headr690.803Apache/2.2.2
445Spotplex694.687Apache
446Wikipedia.org702.339Apache
447SuicideGirls709.956Apache/1.3.34
448Blip.tv713.073Apache
449SplashCast719.424Microsoft-IIS/6.0
450Jimdo725.237Apache
451Jive Software726.345Apache/2.0.52
452Fleck739.327Apache/2.2.2
453Empressr754.054Microsoft-IIS/6.0
454Goowy780.279Microsoft-IIS/5.0
455wunderloop787.979Apache/2.0.52
456HereOrThere789.900Mongrel
457GoLightly794.651Apache/1.3.37
458netvibes802.915netvibes.com
459WallStrip812.487Apache
460Wakoopa815.857Mongrel
461Zlio819.757Apache/2.2.4
462Jaiku821.486nginx/0.5.30
463ActionThis826.461Microsoft-IIS/6.0
464Gydget836.604Mongrel
465Zopa840.302 
466Skinkers854.856Apache
467King.com856.586Apache
468Joost869.763Apache/2.2.5-dev
469Edgeio884.327Apache/2.0.52
470blinkBox891.309Microsoft-IIS/6.0
471Fon893.813Apache
472Moo904.256Apache/2.2.3
473AllPeers907.195Apache/1.3.37
474coComment909.412Apache/2.0.55
475Soup.io909.449Mongrel
476IODA916.205Microsoft-IIS/6.0
477Photoways918.553Apache
478Federated Media927.623Microsoft-IIS/6.0
479Alisoft937.135Apache/2.0.55
480Spreadshirt944.376Apache
481Viagogo948.048Microsoft-IIS/6.0
482Outdoorzy951.553Microsoft-IIS/6.0
483Extreme Reality953.152Apache/2.0.45
484CrowdSpirit954.845Apache/2.2.3
485edocr955.946Apache/2.0.52
486Snocap975.574Apache/2.2.2
487Instructables976.110Resin/3.0.23
4885min980.089Microsoft-IIS/6.0
489TripHub987.185Microsoft-IIS/6.0
490Snooth998.769Apache/2.0.54
491Sclipo1006.731Apache/2.0.58
492Coghead1020.879Apache/2.0.52
493Polar Rose1028.874Jetty(6.1.4)
494Velvet Puffin1044.001Apache-Coyote/1.1
495Songkick1060.608Mongrel
496Steorn1074.392Microsoft-IIS/6.0
497Political Base1117.042Apache/2.2.3
498Feedjit1117.999Apache
499MusicShake1120.846Apache/2.2.3
500Twitter1132.542hi
501Pickle1155.917Apache-Coyote/1.1
502asklaila1193.269Apache/2.0.52
503Kaltura1198.750Apache/2.2.4
504Zipidee1235.749Microsoft-IIS/6.0
505MetaCafe1237.588Apache
506Wishpot1256.617Microsoft-IIS/6.0
507BuzzNet1341.089Apache
508Blinkx1365.359Concealed
509Payoneer1378.236Microsoft-IIS/6.0
510Ceedo1429.477Apache/1.3.37
511truphone1561.454Apache
512Trutap1586.333Apache/2.0.52
513Sportingo1610.014Apache
514Small World Labs1667.940Apache
515Millsberry1732.306Apache
516Conduit1776.425Microsoft-IIS/6.0
517Amazon.com1799.803 
518WebJam1812.535Microsoft-IIS/6.0
519lijit1849.460Apache/2.2.2
520Broadband Mechanics1913.463Frontier/10.1a6-WinNT
521Last.fm1938.633Apache/1.3.33
522Fotolog2033.115Apache/1.3.33
523Fring2038.505Microsoft-IIS/6.0
524Mixx2342.879Mongrel
525Clipmarks2356.621Microsoft-IIS/6.0
526Zannel3708.041Apache-Coyote/1.1
527Rupture3906.020nginx/0.5.5
528Taobao5820.517Apache
529Blurb7970.433Mongrel
530Fora.TV15370.180Apache/2.2.4

Posted on November 4, 2007 9:06 AM |

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Comments (17)

Greg Linden:

It is sad to see Amazon clocking in at 1.8 seconds. Oh, Amazon, what has become of you?

Posted by Greg Linden | November 4, 2007 11:49 AM

Posted on November 4, 2007 11:49

Rich Skrenta:

Yeah I was surprised too. I even double-checked with curl:

rc$ time curl -s http://www.amazon.com/ > /dev/null
real 0m1.745s
user 0m0.005s
sys 0m0.006s

Yah, that's a pretty slow homepage. :(


Posted by Rich Skrenta | November 4, 2007 11:54 AM

Posted on November 4, 2007 11:54

Dossy Shiobara:

I'm kinda sad that AOLserver didn't even have a single showing in the list. What about BookMooch ? :-)

Posted by Dossy Shiobara | November 4, 2007 2:54 PM

Posted on November 4, 2007 14:54

Esad:

Some of the URLs you visited are static html pages that when served by a decent web server have neglectible "rendering times", while other ones perform lots of dynamic things, which is somewhat unfair comparison. I guess that data above isn't the average latency from multiple locations in the world, which means that its heavily biased towards the geographical/network proximity to where the test was conducted from.

Posted by Esad | November 4, 2007 3:13 PM

Posted on November 4, 2007 15:13

Saravanan:

189 Wikpedia.org 138.382 Microsoft-IIS/6.0

wikipedia.org ?

Posted by Saravanan | November 4, 2007 3:54 PM

Posted on November 4, 2007 15:54

Rich Skrenta:

Oops, fixed Wikipedia's entry, the typo came from CrunchBase. Too bad for them, 'Wikpedia' is a lot faster than the real site. Wikipedia drops down to position 446 with a 700+ms server time.

Posted by Rich Skrenta | November 4, 2007 4:29 PM

Posted on November 4, 2007 16:29

Julian:

I can't believe so many sites show the exact server version they use. Real bad IT security.

Posted by Julian | November 5, 2007 7:56 AM

Posted on November 5, 2007 07:56

teenwag:

u forgot teenwag

Posted by teenwag | November 5, 2007 11:34 AM

Posted on November 5, 2007 11:34

Rich Skrenta:

You guys aren't even in crunchbase...time to do some industry awareness-building pr. :-)

Posted by Rich Skrenta | November 5, 2007 11:39 AM

Posted on November 5, 2007 11:39

Emile:

It would be interesting to have some sort of "money" value associated with each site. Like how much each site is worth, or how much has been invested. We would love to be able to have a VPS or a dedicated box. Currently we are on shared hosting, but we will move as soon as we have funds.

Posted by Emile | November 5, 2007 8:52 PM

Posted on November 5, 2007 20:52

Patrick:

Hi,
I did some tries on first sites on the list and last ones with Firebug extensions for Firefox, and the first 2 sites went very bad comparing to some last ones.
It is very important to understand that being fast measured by apachebench is really easy, when displaying a full page with Firebug is far different.

Posted by Patrick | November 6, 2007 12:35 AM

Posted on November 6, 2007 00:35

Michael Cafarella:

The results here are very surprising. Reducing latency is probably the most straightforward thing a site can do to increase its traffic (though obviously it's not always straightforward for the engineers). Assuming these numbers are good and these sites' users act as expected (that is, they hugely prefer fast sites), it suggests there's some serious CTO dereliction of duty going on.

Posted by Michael Cafarella | November 6, 2007 7:18 AM

Posted on November 6, 2007 07:18

Rich Skrenta:

Firebug/Yslow are great tools. But you can't see pure server latency through them because the Firefox setup/render time is too long. It can take 50-100ms for Firefox to render a few k of html. If you have an average length/complexity page, you need to factor out which part of your performance is coming from the server latency vs. the html/css/etc. By all means use Firebug/Yslow for the latter part.

Also as I mentioned getting server latency down is nice on your ops infrastructure. A site that serves pages in an ave 50ms uses 1/10th the hardware of a site with a 500ms ave. Tuning html is great for user satisfaction but doesn't (generally) affect your instracture requirements.

Posted by Rich Skrenta | November 6, 2007 8:18 AM

Posted on November 6, 2007 08:18

Steve Souders:

Wow, this is so incredibly cool.

I definitely agree with Esad that the geo location of the test and server affect latency. It's also good to read the Wikipedia article about latency.

One thing I would say, and kind of the whole point of our performance research at Yahoo!, is that this should be looked at from a performance efficiency perspective, and not a user experience perspective. If you have stylesheets or scripts at the top of your web page, the HTML document isn't even rendered. So if you want to address user response times looking at the whole page's load time is key.

Performance efficiency is still critical. As Richard points out, improving server performance reduces hardware requirements, which in turn reduces power consumption (green karma!).

Great, great info here!

Steve Souders
Chief Performance Yahoo!
YSlow author

Posted by Steve Souders | November 6, 2007 2:31 PM

Posted on November 6, 2007 14:31

Mark Johnson:

Does Powerset get some kind of certificate or gilded award for "winning?" Or is there a monetary prize? If so, you can write the check out to me. =)

Posted by Mark Johnson | November 6, 2007 6:52 PM

Posted on November 6, 2007 18:52

Rich Skrenta:

Good job on the site perf Mark! But I do think you guys may have a geographical advantage over some of the others, since I believe I saw a couple of your racks a few rows away from us the last time I was in our co-lo. :)

Posted by Rich Skrenta | November 6, 2007 7:31 PM

Posted on November 6, 2007 19:31

Chris:

Hey,

Great post -- unfortunately, you did this right before we did a performance update. You should re-do our site ;)

@Steve Souders: You should update YSlow to actually examine ETags instead of just telling people to disable them.

CG

Posted by Chris | November 10, 2007 7:49 PM

Posted on November 10, 2007 19:49

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