8 free tools to test if your site is ready for mobile

Mobile is here to stay. If your site isn’t optimized for mobile you’re not only losing out on visitors, but also potential subscribers, volunteers, and donors.

There are many mobile-testing sites out there and these are my favorites. These free tools can help you identify and prioritize ways to optimize your site for mobile.

While these tools can give you an idea of how your website might look on different devices, there’s no substitute for actually trying out your site on real phones and tablets. I’ve found that some elements look the same on these test sites as they do on my phone, and some are quite different. Use these tools as a resource while you’re building a site, but be sure to test the final product on a few mobile devices.

Three of these eight tools are by Google. If you’re trying to improve your SEO, you care the most about how your site ranks in Google so it makes sense to use their tools.

1. Google Developers Mobile-Friendly Test

This is a quick and easy test to verify if your website is mobile-friendly. Just plug in your web address and wait a few seconds for the results!

Google Developers Mobile-Friendly Test

2. Google Chrome

You don’t need to go to a separate website to check how your website will look on mobile devices. When you’re using the Google Chrome browser, press Ctrl + Shift + C (or Cmd + Shift + C on a Mac). Click on the mobile device icon and select the device you want to test from the drop-down list.

This is a quick and easy test that’s useful when you’re building a site or when you want to show someone how your mobile site looks on a moment’s notice. The only downside is that you can’t see how the site looks when you rotate a mobile device.

Google Chrome mobile test

3. Mobiletest.me

This is a simple, user-friendly tool to see how your site looks on various devices. Use the “My favourites” feature to bookmark the top mobile devices people use to access your site.

Mobiltest.me site for testing mobile websites

Mobiletest.me mobile test options

4. Screenfly

Test how your site looks on desktop, tablet, mobile, and TV. You can generate a link to easily share the results. They also have tools to help you build sitemaps and wireframes.

Screenfly mobile test

5. mobiReady

Use mobiReady to test multiple sizes of mobile devices at once. Compare your site to the top 1000 Alexa sites to see how “mobile ready” it is. MobiReady also gives very specific recommendations so you can see what needs improvement.

mobiReady’s recommendations for improvement

6. Dyanatrace

Use this tool to compare your response time to other countries and industries. See what percentage images, JavaScript, CSS, HTML, and text take up on your mobile and desktop sites. Also see the breakdown of the response time for how your page loads so you know exactly what is slowing your site down. You do have to exchange your contact information to get their report and they offer a free consultation to help you identify ways to improve.

Dynatrace moblie test

7. W3C mobileOK Checker

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is an international community that works with organizations and the public to develop web standards. They have a handy mobile checker that will give you specific recommendations on how to make your site more mobile-friendly and let you know which changes are a top priority.