/research/us-store-speed-2026 · Ad pixel

Does TikTok Pixel slow down a store?

In 7IT’s test of 367 US online stores, TikTok Pixel ran on 109 of them (29.7%). On the median store that loads it, it downloaded 159 KB and kept the phone busy for 0.16 s before the page could respond.

29.7%of 367 US stores run it
159 KBmedian download on stores that load it
0.16 smedian time the phone spends running it

Stores with it and without it.

StoresMedian scoreMain contentBlocking timeApps on the page
With TikTok Pixel1093012.6 s2121 ms30
Without2583911.2 s916 ms15

Stores that run TikTok Pixel had a median score of 30, against 39 for stores without it. They also run more apps overall (a median of 30 against 15), so that gap is not all TikTok Pixel’s doing. The size and phone time above are TikTok Pixel’s own. On this sample there is no score penalty that can be pinned on it.

One in four stores that load it download more than 164 KB of it, and spend more than 0.22 s running it. Median Google phone-lab results, home pages only, September 2026. Method and limits in the study.

If you run TikTok Pixel.

  • Ad pixels count visits; they do not need to block the visit. Load them after the first interaction, or move them server-side (Conversions API, server-side tagging) so the phone does less.
  • Check every pixel still feeds a campaign that is running. Pixels outlive campaigns.
  • One container for all pixels, loaded late, beats many tags each loading early.