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 2.4% of the performance optimization market share and is detected on 1.4% of all websites.
- 🏠 Website
- 🔗 Links
Wikipedia
developer.mozilla.org📊 Rankings and Market Share
- Performance Optimization
- Rank: 7
- Market share: 2.4%
- Standards
- Rank: 16
- Market share: 1.5%
🏆 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 Iran 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.
- ⭐ 7th most popular in the United States in the Performance Optimization category.
- ⭐ 7th most popular in the Netherlands in the Performance Optimization category.
- ⭐ 7th most popular in Australia in the Performance Optimization category.
- ⭐ 7th most popular in Russia in the Performance Optimization category.
⚡ Sites Using Prefetch
We have data on 49,341 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 |
#14 | United States | English |
| 2 |  tiktok.com |
#18 | China | English |
| 3 | #88 | Switzerland | English | |
| 4 | #163 | Brazil | Brazilian Portuguese | |
| 5 | #199 | English | ||
| 6 | #222 | Singapore | English | |
| 7 |  trustpilot.com |
#284 | Denmark | English |
| 8 |  ok.ru |
#295 | Russia | English |
| 9 | #300 | United States | American English | |
| 10 |  mercadolibre.com.ar |
#322 | Argentina | Spanish |
| 11 | #331 | Argentina | Mexican Spanish | |
| 12 | #373 | China | American English | |
| 13 | python.org | #429 | English | |
| 14 | #445 | English | ||
| 15 |  sap.com |
#455 | Germany | English |
| 16 | #467 | Singapore | English | |
| 17 | #604 | United States | Korean | |
| 18 | #790 | Philippines | English | |
| 19 | #832 | Vietnam | Vietnamese | |
| 20 | #907 | Bangladesh | English |
📈 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 Germany.
- United States 17%
- Vietnam 8.9%
- Germany 5.8%
- United Kingdom 5.6%
- France 3.9%
- Japan 3.6%
- Netherlands 3.3%
- Australia 2.8%
- Spain 2.8%
- Other 46.3%
Most Prefetch users speak English, Vietnamese, or German.
- English 51%
- Vietnamese 8.2%
- German 5.2%
- Spanish 4.8%
- French 3.5%
- Japanese 2.9%
- Dutch 2.4%
- Russian 2.3%
- Portuguese 2.3%
- Other 17.4%
Prefetch performance optimization technology is especially popular on .com top-level domains.
- .com 45.5%
- .org 4.4%
- .de 3.1%
- .net 2.6%
- .co.uk 2.3%
- .vn 2%
- .nl 1.9%
- .com.au 1.8%
- .ru 1.5%
- Other 34.9%
The primary market segments for websites utilizing Prefetch include online shopping, business, and marketing and merchandising.
- Online Shopping 18.5%
- Business 14.9%
- Marketing/Merchandising 9.9%
- Internet Services 5.1%
- Blogs/Wiki 4.7%
- Fashion/Beauty 4.1%
- Travel 4%
- Education/Reference 3.9%
- Entertainment 3.9%
- Other 31%
🕵️ Similar Technologies
These are some of the best Prefetch 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 who.int.
Is Prefetch used on government websites?
Overall, we found Prefetch on 18 government sites in the United States.
Do academic institutions use Prefetch?
Yes. In total, we know of 40 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, Preconnect, and Preload.
👉 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 3,629,123 websites.
- Statistics were last calculated on .
- For more details, see our methodology and disclaimer.