- Diana Gabor, UX/UI Designer at BoatyardX
There’s a common belief in the digital world: paying for something guarantees a better experience. Premium plans, ad-free apps, and gated content promise superior quality—but is this always true?
To find out, we turned our heads towards the digital news industry and conducted a detailed analysis of 10 popular U.K. news websites split evenly between free-access platforms and those using paywalls. The goal? To determine what makes some digital experiences stand out while others miss the mark and share some lessons that anyone building a website or launching a digital product can use.
Why news websites matter for UX insights
News websites might not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of UX best practices, but they’re aspiring for success in a widely competitive and complex landscape:
- They’re under a lot of pressure: Few other platforms must serve such a demanding and diverse audience and compete in a high-stakes game where attention spans are short, and alternatives are just a click away.
- They must stay ahead of the curve: Because of their massive reach, news websites are forced to innovate quickly. What works for them can work for any digital product.
- They reflect user expectations: Whether it’s a reader skimming headlines or a shopper scrolling for deals, the principles of great UX apply universally.
Our analysis approach
We relied on a combination of three distinct industry-standard evaluations methodologies. Each offered us unique insight into how well these platforms delivered a positive user experience.
1. Performance Audit
We used Lighthouse, a performance evaluation tool offered by Google to measure loading speed, interactivity, and responsiveness on desktop and mobile and assessed homepage and article metrics.
2. Usability Audit
We performed a heuristic evaluation by applying Jakob Nielsen’s 10 usability principles to identify common pain points within the navigation focusing on clarity, error prevention, and ease of interaction.
3. Accessibility Audit
Benchmarked each site’s article page against WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) standards. We reviewed elements like contrast ratios, font scalability, and keyboard navigation.
Speed: first impressions matter
Let’s start with performance. Imagine clicking on a website, waiting… waiting… and then leaving before the page even loads. That’s what 53% of users do if a site takes more than three seconds to load. Speed is non-negotiable; long loading times can drive users away before they engage. Here’s how the news sites scored:
- Free platforms excel at homepage speed: Free websites like The Sun did well for homepage speed, scoring an impressive 79 out of 100 in our Lighthouse tests.
- Paid platforms deliver better depth: On individual article pages, paid sites like The Independent came out on top with scores averaging around 84 out of 100.
- Mobile struggles: Across the board, mobile performance underperformed. Most sites scored lower on their mobile versions compared to desktop, a significant issue in today’s mobile-first landscape.
Simplicity keeps users coming back
Usability is about minimising effort for the user, as such, good usability means users don’t have to think too hard to find what they need. News platforms are known for storing large amounts of information. So, how did they fare?
- Common patterns: The evaluation of the navigation bar revealed that all sites had issues. Certain ones were more common than others, such as ambiguous labelling or the lack of clear indicators of the user’s position within the site hierarchy.
- Paid platforms did better overall: Websites like The Economist were more consistent with their scoring recording a reduced number of usability issues compared to free platforms like BBC, which had 11 each.
Inclusive design wins hearts
Accessibility is often overlooked, but it’s critical for reaching a wider audience. With the European Accessibility Act (EAA) taking effect starting with 2025, compliance is about to become a legal necessity for all digital products. Here’s what we found for the news websites:
- No perfect scores: No site was in full adherence to the standards. However, our data showed that some were violated more frequently than others. For example, most sites struggled with insufficient contrast ratios and poor text readability.
- Paid platforms did better overall: Sites like The Financial Times and The Telegraph performed well, with designs that made them easier to use for individuals with visual impairments.
Key takeaways for product teams
Do paywalls guarantee a better UX? Not entirely. The predominant trend does place paywall sites as providers of an improved experience due to the reduced number of usability and accessibility issues. That said, when comparing the platforms individually rather than as groups, the best scores were achieved by The Sun, a free-access tabloid platform.
Revenue models alone don’t determine UX quality. Instead, thoughtful design choices, strategic investments, and a user-centred approach are what truly make the difference. Whether your platform is free, paid, or somewhere in between, success hinges on balancing performance, usability, and accessibility. These aren’t just checkboxes; they’re essential elements that directly impact user satisfaction, loyalty, and ultimately, your business’s bottom line.
Whether you’re building a news platform, or any digital product, balancing performance, usability, and accessibility is key. At BoatyardX, we simplify these complexities to create platforms that exceed user expectations.
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