Prefetch
W3C, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United StatesThe rel="prefetch" attribute on 
HTML <link> elements tells the browser to download resources that are likely to be needed for future navigation when the current page is idle.
It allows caching resources in advance with low priority and is commonly used for next-page documents, scripts, styles, or assets in multi-step flows.
According to our data, Prefetch is the 7th most popular performance optimization technology on the web.
It has 2.9% of the performance optimization market share and is detected on 1.7% of all websites.
It is especially popular in Vietnam, where it appears on 14.2% of all websites, and in Australia, where it appears on 2.1%.
- 🏠 Website
- 🔗 Links
Wikipedia
developer.mozilla.org📊 Rankings and Market Share
- Performance Optimization
- Rank: 7
- Market share: 2.9%
- Standards
- Rank: 17
- Market share: 1.9%
🏆 Prefetch Awards
- ⭐ 6th most popular in Vietnam in the Performance Optimization category.
- ⭐ 6th most popular in Thailand in the Performance Optimization category.
- ⭐ 6th most popular in Sweden in the Performance Optimization category.
- ⭐ 6th most popular in Iran in the Performance Optimization category.
- ⭐ 6th most popular in South Africa in the Performance Optimization category.
- ⭐ 6th most popular in Israel in the Performance Optimization category.
- ⭐ 6th most popular in Norway in the Performance Optimization category.
- ⭐ 6th most popular in Cambodia in the Performance Optimization category.
- ⭐ 6th most popular in Iceland in the Performance Optimization category.
- ⭐ 6th most popular in Uzbekistan in the Performance Optimization category.
⚡ Sites Using Prefetch
We have data on 70,524 websites that use Prefetch performance optimization technology. Here is a list of some of the top ranked ones.
The highest rated site using Prefetch is 
bing.com.
| # | Website | Rank | Country | Language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | bing.com |
#16 | United States | English |
| 2 |  tiktok.com |
#25 | China | English |
| 3 | #34 | United States | English | |
| 4 | #60 | Hong Kong | American English | |
| 5 | #148 | Brazil | Brazilian Portuguese | |
| 6 |  sap.com |
#196 | Germany | English |
| 7 |  alibaba.com |
#210 | China | English |
| 8 | #223 | Singapore | English | |
| 9 |  ok.ru |
#269 | Russia | English |
| 10 | python.org | #313 | United States | English |
| 11 | #318 | Argentina | Mexican Spanish | |
| 12 |  mercadolibre.com.ar |
#327 | Uruguay | Spanish |
| 13 | #348 | Switzerland | English | |
| 14 | #380 | United States | American English | |
| 15 | #424 | China | American English | |
| 16 | #430 | United States | English | |
| 17 | #471 | Australia | English | |
| 18 | #519 | United States | American English | |
| 19 | #531 | United States | English | |
| 20 | #613 | United States | Korean |
📈 Usage Statistics
Most of the sites that use Prefetch:
- are located in the United States
- have content in English
- use the .com domain extension
- fall into the Online Shopping category.
Most of the sites using Prefetch are from the United States, Vietnam, and the United Kingdom.
- United States 20.8%
- Vietnam 7.4%
- United Kingdom 6.1%
- Germany 5.7%
- Japan 3.8%
- France 3.4%
- Australia 3.1%
- Netherlands 2.9%
- Spain 2.6%
- Other 44.2%
Most Prefetch users speak English, Vietnamese, or German.
- English 54.5%
- Vietnamese 6.6%
- German 5.7%
- Spanish 4.6%
- French 3.6%
- Japanese 3.1%
- Portuguese 2.5%
- Dutch 2.1%
- Russian 2%
- Other 15.3%
Prefetch performance optimization technology is especially popular on .com and .org top-level domains.
- .com 46.6%
- .org 5.5%
- .de 3.2%
- .co.uk 2.5%
- .net 2.4%
- .com.au 1.9%
- .vn 1.7%
- .nl 1.6%
- .com.br 1.6%
- Other 33%
The primary market segments for websites utilizing Prefetch include online shopping, business, and marketing and merchandising.
- Online Shopping 17.7%
- Business 15.5%
- Marketing/Merchandising 10.8%
- Internet Services 4.5%
- Blogs/Wiki 4.4%
- Travel 4.1%
- Entertainment 4.1%
- Education/Reference 4.1%
- Fashion/Beauty 4.1%
- Other 30.7%
🕵️ Similar Technologies
These are some of the best Prefetch alternatives.
🆚 Compare Alternatives
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💬 Frequently Asked Questions
What is the company behind Prefetch?
Prefetch is owned by World Wide Web Consortium, Inc., headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States.
Which country uses Prefetch the most?
The majority of Prefetch users are from the United States.
Who uses Prefetch?
According to our data, Prefetch is used on thousands of sites, including such established ones as bing.com, tiktok.com, and triplinkintl.com.
Is Prefetch used on government websites?
Overall, we found Prefetch on 27 government sites in the United States.
Do academic institutions use Prefetch?
Yes. In total, we know of 52 academic websites in the United States that use Prefetch.
How does Prefetch compare to its competitors?
Prefetch is a fairly popular performance optimization technology, ranking ahead of 27 other performance optimization technologies we track.
What are the alternatives to Prefetch?
Alternatives and possible competitors to Prefetch may include DNS Prefetch, 
Speculation Rules, and Preconnect.
👉 See Also
🗃️ About This Data
- We evaluate the popularity of technologies based on the number of websites where we detect their usage.
- Technologies without a detectable web footprint, and those we do not track, are not reflected in the calculated market share.
- This report is based on the analysis of 4,046,631 websites.
- Statistics were last calculated on .
- For more details, see our methodology and disclaimer.