Is anyone else experiencing a slowdown on their website's initial page retrieval in Webflow? It seems that the slowness occurs before the assets are downloaded, with a minimum hang time of 5 seconds. The issue seems to happen even if the page has been previously visited, occurring every 4th to 6th page load. Could this be related to the speed of the Webflow CDN in fetching fresh copies of web pages?

You're describing a lag during initial page retrieval—before assets like images and scripts load—which recurs intermittently (every 4–6 loads). This often signals delays in Webflow’s CDN or server response, not the actual asset delivery.

1. Understand How Webflow Caches Pages

• Webflow uses a global CDN (AWS CloudFront) to cache and serve your static site.
• Pages are cached on the edge, but if that cache expires or is purged, the server revalidates or fetches from origin.
• Intermittent delays (every 4th–6th page load) suggest cache misses or backend revalidations, especially if the issue affects initial HTML delivery.

2. Clarify Where the Delay Happens

• Use browser DevTools (Network tab) to pinpoint the slow resource—it’s likely the document (e.g., index.html).
• Check the "waiting (TTFB)" time. If it’s consistently 5+ seconds during problematic loads, it supports an origin or CDN delay.
• Confirm the slow response is not from custom script execution or third-party embeds.

3. Consider Known CDN Behavior

• Webflow’s CDN occasionally revalidates content if an edge server's local cache expires or doesn’t contain the latest page.
• This can cause a dropdown to Webflow’s origin servers, adding noticeable TTFB delays.
• Since all published Webflow content is static, this is most likely tied to CloudFront edge-server cache strategy.

4. Check for External Factors

• Make sure there are no large redirects, heavy external embeds (like unoptimized YouTube or TikTok), or malformed scripts that might delay page readiness.
• Disable browser extensions while testing to rule out local interference.

5. What You Can Do

• Unfortunately, Webflow doesn’t give users direct control over CDN cache headers or cache invalidation.
• You can try re-publishing your site, which sometimes resets inadvertent CDN misbehavior.
• Report the behavior to Webflow Support—especially if it’s repeatable across devices or geographies.

Summary

The intermittent 5-second delay likely stems from CDN cache misses or revalidation from Webflow's servers, especially if it occurs before assets begin loading. Use DevTools to confirm high TTFB on the HTML request. Since control is limited on Webflow-hosted pages, contact support with test results to escalate CDN-related slowness.