Google is shutting down PageSpeed Service, its hosted solution for optimizing websites for faster delivery, on August 3. Developers have until then to change their DNS settings or their sites won’t be available anymore. New sign-ups have already been disabled.
PageSpeed Service, which launched four-and-a-half years ago, applies a number of optimization techniques to a site to get it to the user faster. This ranges from compressing images to optimizing cache settings, JavaScript and CSS files. The service also caches static assets and then delivers them from Google’s servers around the world. In many ways, PageSpeed Service is similar to what CloudFlare does but without the focus on security.
Because Google also offers most of the features of PageSpeed through a module for the open-source Apache server, NGINX and other web server tools, developers can still use it after Google’s own hosted solution shuts down. Many hosting providers also run the PageSpeed module on their servers already and Google specifically calls out EdgeCast’s Edge Optimizer as an alternative CDN service with PageSpeed support.
So why is Google shutting this service down? The company says that it has “regretfully decided that the time had come to re-focus their efforts elsewhere and on 5th May announced that PageSpeed Service will be turned down.” It’s worth noting, though, that CloudFlare has definitely cornered this market and it doesn’t feel like Google has put much effort into this area over the last year or two.