Trustpilot: impact on page speed
Category: Review widget
Trustpilot TrustBoxes load a script and iframes to show ratings and reviews. They often appear in headers or footers and therefore on every page.
On 1.1 % of the 4108 homepages measured, Trustpilot is among the five heaviest third parties. Where it is, it takes a median of 35 ms of main-thread time; on the heaviest quarter of those sites it takes 54 ms or more.
1.1 %
of homepages: among the five heaviest third parties
35 ms
median main-thread time
54 ms
main-thread time on the heaviest quarter (p75)
41 KB
median transfer size
Distribution across homepages
Percentiles across 46 homepages with Trustpilot.
| Percentile | Main-thread time | Transfer size |
|---|---|---|
| p25 |
21 ms
|
38 KB |
| Median |
35 ms
|
41 KB |
| p75 |
54 ms
|
69 KB |
| p90 |
104 ms
|
116 KB |
In context
By median main-thread time, Trustpilot ranks 51st of 65 third parties in the benchmark, lighter than Other Google APIs/SDKs and heavier than New Relic.
On 2.2 % of the homepages where it appears, Trustpilot alone uses 250 milliseconds of main-thread time or more, the mark from which Lighthouse flags third-party code.
Homepages with Trustpilot weigh 2.7 MB at the median (JavaScript: 1.2 MB), homepages without it 4.3 MB (JavaScript: 1.6 MB).
Often loaded together with
Share of homepages with Trustpilot where the other tool is also among the five heaviest third parties.
- Google Tag Manager 54 %
- Optanon 22 %
- Cookiebot 11 %
How to spot Trustpilot on your page
The bootstrap script loads from widget.trustpilot.com and then creates one iframe per TrustBox on the page. Each iframe is a small separate document with its own requests, so several boxes on one page add up. Showing the star rating as plain text in the header and keeping one interactive box further down usually keeps the trust signal at a fraction of the cost.
How to reduce the impact of Trustpilot
- Load TrustBoxes below the fold only when they scroll into view.
- Use a static rating display in the header and keep the interactive widget for product or review pages.
- Reserve the widget height in CSS to avoid layout shifts.
Frequently asked questions
How can I load Trustpilot with less impact?
Load TrustBoxes below the fold only when they scroll into view. Use a static rating display in the header and keep the interactive widget for product or review pages.
Does Trustpilot affect Core Web Vitals?
Trustpilot widgets are iframes that load their own scripts and fonts. A TrustBox placed near the top of the page competes with the main content for bandwidth and can delay LCP, and because the widget sets its height only after loading, it often shifts the content around it. Carousel widgets with many reviews add main-thread work as well.
Method and sample: Third-Party Benchmark.