While hardware has continued to evolve and improve exponentially over time, the software running on it may not include the same improvements. Some could even argue that the performance and efficiency of software has taken a step back. One microcosm of this would be the modern web. This research sets out to investigate different categories of websites by profiling their performance data. Big differences are found in some categories, in terms of performance and efficiency, while in others the differences are negligible. Using the collected data, suggestions of more efficient and performant alternatives to the usual bloated sites most people use are made. Categories like web apps, and comparing them to native versions, are also investigated. A thorough literature review has been completed to substantiate some of the claims being made. Data was collected in Spring 2023 and Spring 2024 to view how things have progressed and if there are any trends. What was found is that some of the bigger players in each category have improved somewhat compared to the last data collection and the underdogs have actually gotten slightly worse. When viewing web apps vs. native apps, it is found that the native apps use more resources but run smoothly. The web apps still have issues with feature parity and while their single process takes less resource, processes related to them make the total more than the native and overall offer worse performance. Whatever is found, it will help to know how to develop more performant and efficient software. It is best to have your software be as close to the hardware of your machine as you can.

Recommended Citation: Cossifos A., Matthews K., Ricanek K., Shi Y., (2024). Evaluating the Performance and Optimization of the Modern Web. UNCW MS CSIS Proceedings. V. 18 , N. 15 .