Time to First Byte (TTFB)

Time to First Byte (TTFB) measures how long a visitor’s browser waits between requesting a page and receiving the first piece of data back from the server. It captures everything that happens behind the scenes: looking up the domain, establishing the connection, and the server actually processing the request. Google recommends a TTFB under 800 milliseconds, but well-optimized static sites routinely hit under 200ms.

The Simple Version

When you click a link, your browser sends a request to the server. TTFB measures how long it takes before the server starts sending anything back. Think of it like ordering food: TTFB is the time between placing your order and the waiter starting to walk toward your table, not the time to finish the meal.

Lower is better. A TTFB under 200 milliseconds is considered fast.

Why It Matters

TTFB is one of the first performance metrics that affects how fast your site feels. If the server takes a long time to respond, everything else is delayed: the page doesn’t start rendering, the text doesn’t appear, and the visitor waits. Google uses TTFB as a factor in search rankings through Core Web Vitals.

Static sites have an inherent advantage here because the server doesn’t need to do any computation. It just hands over a pre-built file.

How It’s Used on This Site

Because this site is statically generated and hosted on Vercel’s global CDN, TTFB is extremely low. Pages are pre-built at build time and served as static files, so the server responds almost instantly.