Skip to main content

Alternatives To Google's Deprecated Web Vitals Chrome Extension

· 3 min read

Google has announced that they're ending support for the Web Vitals Chrome extension in January 2025.

Read this article to learn what tools you can use instead.

Web Vitals extension

Web Vitals reporting in Chrome DevTools

Google has been busy working on improvements to the Performance tab in Chrome's developer tools.

While previously the Performance tab was only used to collect for in-depth performance profiles, it now prominently provides a summary of web vitals metrics on the page.

Web Vitals in DevTools

Follow these steps to view DevTools performance data:

  1. Right click on the page
  2. Select Inspect
  3. Select the Performance tab at the top of Chrome DevTools

You can also set up DevTools to show field data in addition to the local page speed metrics.

Field data in DevTools

Web vitals console logs

Google's Web Vitals extension also showed a list of reported metrics and page interactions in the DevTools console.

DevTools console web vitals data

If you want to view interactions and layout shifts, this data is now also shown in the Performance tab, right below the high-level Core Web Vitals metrics.

DevTools showing INP interactions

To view the Largest Contentful Paint component breakdown, click Record and reload.

Record and reload in DevTools

Ensure the sidebar on the left is expanded and open the LCP by phase breakdown

LCP subpart breakdown in Chrome DevTools

You can also find the Interaction to Next Paint component breakdown in the Interactions lane of the performance recording.

INP component breakdown

DebugBear Site Speed Chrome extension

If you want to view local Core Web Vitals data without opening DevTools you can switch to the Site Speed extension by DebugBear instead.

Simply click the extension icon to see the Core Web Vitals metrics at a glance.

DebugBear Site Speed Extension

As a bonus, it can surface observed metrics for the simulated data on PageSpeed Insights!

PageSpeed Insights observed metrics

Run a full website speed test

Instead of viewing local data, running a website speed test from a controlled lab environment can give you more detailed insights into your page performance.

The test result summary will tell you the lab-based metrics as well as show how the page is doing on in the Chrome UX Report data that impacts SEO.

Page speed result summary

The network request waterfall can help you understand how what's happening on the network when loading the page. Depending on what resources have loaded, different parts of the website content will show up in the rendering filmstrip at the top.

Page speed request waterfall

You also get tailored recommendations to improve your website performance.

Page Speed recommendations

Illustration of a website speed test reportIllustration of a website speed test report

Run A Free Page Speed Test

Test Your Website:

  • No Login Required
  • Automated Recommendations
  • Google SEO Assessment

Get a monthly email with page speed tips