Troubleshoot website performance issues

If your Webflow website takes longer than 2-3 seconds to load, there are a few possible causes. Let’s take a looks at 3 and how to solve them.

In this lesson:

1. Webflow service issues
2. Network connection troubleshooting
3. Site optimization

Note: Your site might not load as expected in China due to access restriction.

Webflow service issues

If you’re having trouble with your Webflow site, it might be because of a Webflow service error. Here are 3 places you can check:

1. Down for everyone or just me will give you Webflow’s current status
2. Webflow's status page monitors and reports incident details around the clock for the Webflow Dashboard, servers, etc. 
3. Webflow's Twitter account shares updates about Webflow performance issues

Network connection troubleshooting

Slow or intermittent network connection can also cause slow load times. 

Note: If you're experiencing a network issue, test your local network/router, contact your internet service provider, or wait until the network connection is resolved.

Let’s look at 3 ways you can troubleshoot your network connection. 

1. Try a proxy server or VPN

Proxy servers load your site from a third-party location and usually bypass local network problems. Try loading your site using a proxy server or VPN. If your site loads normally through a proxy server but slowly for you, you’ve identified a network problem.

2. Test the site in the US or Canada

If you aren't in the Americas, ask someone in the United States or Canada to test the site’s performance. If it loads fast for them but slow for you, then you’ve identified a network problem.

3. Contact us

Let us know which site is giving you trouble and we can test it on our end. If the site loads fast for us but slow for you, you’ve most likely got a network problem.

Site optimization

There are many reasons for loading issues — some examples are:

• Unnecessarily large images
• Linked assets
• Third-party plugins
• Excessive transitions/transforms
• Excessive interactions and animations
• Embedded content

Test your site's load time with a free online website speed test, and follow the steps below to speed things up.

Optimize large images

Large images are the single most common reason websites perform slowly. Here are some best practices when it comes to images in your Webflow site:

1. Use vector images when possible
2. Compress raster images
3. Use the correct image format (JPG, PNG, GIF, etc.)
4. Keep image display size as close to the image’s natural size as possible

Limit linked elements

Many web pages contain references to elements hosted on external servers, requiring additional time to load through your server and browser. The more linked elements you have (e.g. scripts, images, Twitter feeds, etc), the slower your website.

Limit the number of linked elements on your site as much as possible. If your site is hosted on your own server, upload copies of external content to your server instead of using a third-party server every time your page loads.

Update, replace, or remove third-party plugins

Plugins can be poorly written, poorly maintained, and even unsupported, causing slow loads. If your plugins are causing your site to load slowly, consider updating them, replacing them with similar plugins with better ratings for efficiency and speed, or removing them entirely.

Remove unnecessary transitions/transforms

Webflow makes it easy to add CSS transitions and transforms to your site, but you shouldn't overdo it. Only use transitions and transforms that add to the experience. And when adding transitions, only select the properties you wish the transition to affect, rather than all properties.

Remove unnecessary interactions

Each interaction on your site adds load time. Make sure your site element structure allows you to:

• Use the same interaction on multiple elements
• Avoid using duplicate interactions when possible
• Use interactions only when they truly add to the experience