What goes into page weight
Page weight is the total size of everything the browser downloads to show the page: HTML, stylesheets, scripts, fonts, images and any video that loads automatically. The calculator asks for one number, but it is worth knowing where the megabytes come from. On a typical content site, images account for more than half, scripts come next, and fonts and styles make up most of the rest.
Rough targets
| Page type | A reasonable size |
|---|---|
| Text article | Under 1 MB |
| Business homepage with photos | 1 to 2 MB |
| Image-heavy gallery | 2 to 4 MB, loaded progressively |
| Online shop category page | 1.5 to 3 MB |
Why the connection matters
A page that feels fine on office broadband can be painful on a phone in a train. Try the slow connection options in the calculator to see the difference. If a good share of your visitors are on mobile, optimise for them first.
Cheap wins
- Compress and resize images; use WebP or AVIF where supported.
- Defer scripts that are not needed for the first screen.
- Limit font families and weights. Each one is a file.
- Turn on Gzip or Brotli on the server.
- Set long cache times for static files so repeat visitors download almost nothing.
The model here is simplified and ignores parallel downloads, caching and rendering. Use it to compare scenarios, not to predict exact numbers. For real measurements, test the live page. More tips in Making WordPress Faster.