While comparing our new PHP5 Magento Hosting we found this speed test site. Although UK based Magento eCommerce Hosts are, for the moment, few in number, we thought we would create a Spreadsheet Tool to use the Internet Supervision speed test to compare our speed against other Hosting providers. The calculator allows you to run speed tests on a Web Hosts Demo Magento site (most Hosts have an example Hosted Magento site, for examples see the Magento forums) and compare them against each other.

As a lot of you will be aware, the geographical location of your Web Hosting affects the speed at which your target market will experience your site. For example, a site Hosted in the UK, aimed at the UK, is always faster than a site Hosted in the US targeting the UK - as the distance between the server and end users is greater. Our tool allows you to see which Host is best suited to your geographical location and target audience. It proved useful to us, maybe it will be useful for you J…

For best results (and patient people!) it is best to do 3 or more tests on the URL and then use the average results in the calculator - there is an average calculator on sheet 2 of the Spreadsheet. It is also worth testing a variety of pages – for instance, the main page and the checkout page – to get a better idea of performance.

You can download our spreadsheet tool here.

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