Fix Safari Slow Page Loading Issue in Mac

Safari is the default browser on macOS for browsing and viewing certain type of web files like CSS. The performance of Safari will be very good when the Mac is new but over the period of time undoubtedly the pages will start loading very slowly. Notably the same page loading slow in Safari will load very fast on other browsers like Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox on the same Mac.

How to Fix Safari Slow Loading Pages in Mac?

After trying out with multiple tricks, here are consolidated list of tips for improving the page loading speed with Safari.

1. Change DNS

Though DNS servers are not directly related to the browser as such, one of the main reasons for slow page loading is the caching problems due to DNS servers. Safari obtains DNS servers from your ISP’s through default settings. You can change the DNS servers to any reliable public servers like Google Public DNS servers and try loading the page again. Learn more about changing DNS in macOS.

Note: Remember to clear your browser’s cache after changing DNS server settings.

2. Switch Off DNS Prefetching

Besides DNS servers, Safari also do DNS prefetching to resolve the domain names to IP addresses for all resources on a webpage. For example, if a page has 10 links and 3 images, then Safari proactively will try to get the server IP address of each of the links and images (10 + 3). This will help to load the links and images faster if clicked upon, but may cause slow loading of the current page you are trying to view. So you can disable the DNS prefetching option and check whether the page can be loaded faster. In Mac the DNS prefetching needs to be disabled using “Terminal” application as explained below:

Open “Terminal”, paste the below command and press enter.

defaults write com.apple.safari WebKitDNSPrefetchingEnabled -boolean false

This will disable DNS prefetching and you can enable it anytime later using the command:

defaults delete com.apple.safari WebKitDNSPrefetchingEnabled

Learn more Safari tips to improve daily productivity.

3. Change IPv6 Settings

Generally the IPv6 is configured as “Automatically” which you can change to “Link-local only” and check the page speed. You can change the IPv6 settings under “System Preferences > Network > Advanced > TCP/IP > Configure IPv6“. You should have admin access to access advanced network settings on a Mac.

4. Delete Safari Preferences File

Safari uses preferences file to control the settings and the corrupted preferences file may also cause slow loading of web pages. You can delete the file and check whether the pages can be loaded faster. In order to delete the preferences file, launch “Finder”, press “Command + Shift + G” and go to “~/Library/Preferences” folder. Find the file “com.apple.Safari.plist” and delete it.

Note: Safari will automatically regenerate this preferences file when you open next time.

5. Clear History and Website Data [Reset Safari]

The older version of Safari has a exclusive option called “Reset Safari” to make the browser to its initial factory settings. But this option is removed and no more available in later versions. Now the resetting has lengthy process of removing the cache, history and other saved data.

The browsing history and cache from Safari may sometime causes slow page loading. You can clear the history under the menu “History > Clear History…”. Webpages will tend to load slower after cleanup the history as the cached scripts and CSS files are removed from the temporary browser storage. Hence, conclude the speed after using sometime instead of deciding immediately after clearing the history.

In order to cleanup the cache, you should first enable “Develop” menu in Safari. Go to menu “Safari > Preferences” and navigate to “Advanced” section. Enable the checkbox “Show Develop menu in the menu bar” option. Learn more tips for developers in Safari.

Once the “Develop” menu is enabled, you can clear the cache by going to the menu item “Develop > Empty Caches”.

6. Disable AutoFill

AutoFill enables you to store the data like usernames and password and fetch them when the page is loaded on Safari. You can disable this feature by navigating to “Safari > Preferences” and disable all AutoFill web forms options under “AutoFill” tab.

7. Check Your Plugins

Plugins are external program affecting Safari’s behavior thus have a chance to slow down the performance. Check installed plugins by navigating to the menu “Help > Installed Plug-ins”. A new window will open showing all the list of installed plugins on your Safari. Unlike Safari version 10 and lower, you can manage the plugins for each site in Safari 11.

Go to the “Safari > Preferences” and then go to “Websites” tab. Under “Plug-ins”  section, choose the plugin and disable on the site your don’t want the plugin to work. Alternatively you can also “Remove” the plugin completely and check if that helps to load the pages fast.

In order to delete any plugin causing issues go to “Finder” and press “Command “Shift + G” to open “Go to folder” box. Enter “~/Library/Internet Plug-ins” where you will find all the active plugins. Right click on the plugin and click “Move to Trash” option to delete it.

Note: You can restore the plugin from trash if it does not resolve the page loading issue. In addition, you can also disable all plugins to check the page loading speed and then enable one by one to find which plugin is causing the issue.

8. Check Your Extensions

Extensions are also external programs similar to plugins altering the behavior of Safari browser. Go to “Safari > Preferences” to view and manage all your extensions. You can also disable all extensions and re-launch Safari to check the page loading speed.

9. Check Memory Usage

All applications including Safari will be slow when your Mac is running out of memory. There are free apps to check the memory consumption and release the locked memory. Dr. Cleaner and Memory Clean are two such apps you can download freely from App Store. These apps will also show which applications consuming more memory so that you can close that when you are using Safari.

10. Chrome Vs Safari

Google Chrome is undoubtedly a wonderful browser on Windows based platforms. But on Mac it is popular for consuming more resources and slowing down the performance. Especially when you have Chrome and Safari installed on your Mac, you can expect the dead performance from Safari. As Safari is a platform dependent browser only works on Apple platforms, we highly recommend using it as a default browser on your Mac. Delete any other browsers like Google Chrome and restart the Mac to give a try on Safari. Below is the “Activity Monitor” status showing the memory usage of Chrome and Safari when the same webpages are opened.

11. Check Your Network

Sometimes the slow network could be the root cause for slowing things down:

• Check your router works properly by removing the power cable and restarting.
• Check with your ISP whether they had done any changes in network settings.
• Ensure the site or any of the services on the site is not blocked in your country or by your ISP. For example, Google services are blocked in some countries and opening a webpage calling any of the Google services like fonts, JavaScript libraries, Google+ link may cause delay in loading the page. In this case Safari as a browser will not have any influence on slow page loading.

12. Keep the Updated Safari and macOS Version

Above all the points, ensure to update the OS and Safari to the latest versions. The latest macOS High Sierra with Safari v11.0 has additional options to improve the performance of page loading compared to previous versions. For example, Safari v11.0 will stop the automatic playing videos with audio which essentially will improve the loading speed of the pages with embedded videos.

13. Change Search Engine

The default search engine in Safari will vary depending on your country. It is worth to change the default search engines to different one and check the page loading speed is getting affected. You can change the search engine by going to preferences and under the “Search” tab.

14. Change Network Service Order

The latest versions of MacBook does not have ethernet port, hence you only have Wi-Fi option. But on the older version, you still have ethernet and Wi-Fi. In this case, there could be connection problem when you connected to internet via both cable and wireless which may cause slow loading of webpages. You can decide which network you prefer when multiple networks are connected in your network settings.

Go to “Apple” icon on the left top corner and then to “System Preferences… > Network” section. First click on the lock pad saying “Click the lock to prevent further changes”, enter your admin password to enable editing. Select any of the network, click on the gear icon and click “Set Service Order” option.

You will see another popup screen in which you can drag the order of your network. After changing the order click “OK” button and then click “Apply” button to save the changes.

15. Check Error on SSD Drive

Low storage space not only slow down Safari but the entire Mac. So ensure to have sufficient storage space on your Mac. Besides the space, there could be errors on the volume which might cause glitches. Go to “Disk Utility” application and use the “First Aid” option to check the errors on your volume. It will also repair the errors so that you can check that helps to load the pages faster.

Wrapping Up

We hope one of the above mentioned solutions should fix Safari slow loading pages on your Mac. Also we strongly recommend to upgrade to the latest browser and OS versions. If nothing works out for you then try Chrome or Firefox as default browser.