Google Chrome Gets 'Highest Ever' Speedometer Score; Company Reveals Optimisations Behind Improved Performance

Google Chrome has received the "highest score ever" on the Speedometer 3 test, the company announced in a blog post. The benchmark is designed to test browser performance, and the strongest performers are usually browsers that are based on Google's open source browser engine. Google says that the performance of its Chrome browser has improved by 10 percent since August 2024. It's worth noting that Speedometer 3.1 has now replaced the version used by Google, as the latest version of the benchmarking tool.

Google Chrome Performance Improved by 10 Percent Since August 2024

Thomas Nattestad, a Chrome Product Manager said in a blog post that the company focused on "refining fundamental rendering paths across the entire stack", adding that these efforts have resulted in the browser's performance improving by 10 percent on the Speedometer 3 test since August 2024. Google's open source Blink rendering engine is also used by other browsers including Microsoft Edge, Opera, and Vivaldi.

Chrome's performance across recent versions on the Speedometer 3 test
Photo Credit: Google

The latest Chrome 137 (stable) version scored 51.43 points on the Speedometer 3 benchmark test, while the Chrome 138 (beta) and Chrome 139 (dev) versions scored 51.83 and 52.35 points, respectively. A graph shared by the company showing the performance of recent versions shows a gradually increasing score.

According to the company, the Speedometer 3 benchmark was run on a MacBook Pro with an M4 chip, running on macOS 15. The benchmark test that measures browser performance is developed by a group of firms including Apple, Google, Intel, Microsoft, and Mozilla. However, not all browser makers publish their Speedometer scores regularly.

In order to optimise Chrome's performance, the company says it looked at workloads on the Speedometer 3 test, which measures the responsiveness of a browser's rendering engine. Google also studied the functions in which Chrome spent the most time.

This allowed the company to make "targeted optimisations" to Chrome's browser engine, improving garbage collection, focusing on the right code, and optimising workloads. Technical users can read more about the company's improvements in the blog post. 

As a result of these enhancements, the browser's score increased by 10 percent since August 2024. The company also revealed that Chrome's Speedometer 3 score has increased by 72 percent since May 2022. It's worth noting that Google has yet to publish details of Chrome's performance on Speedometer 3.1, which supersedes the Speedometer 3 test.