Takes about 20 seconds
Settings
Server: the nearest Cloudflare data centre, chosen automatically. Load: speed.cloudflare.com.
How our ping test works: a browser cannot send classic ICMP ping, so we time small web requests (HTTP round trips) to the nearest Cloudflare data centre, one every 0.2 seconds, about 20–25 on a quiet line after 2 warm-up requests. Your ping is the median of those, and the result also shows the fastest and slowest. The same run then measures ping during a download and an upload, which is the bufferbloat part. Full method.
What "ping" means
Ping is the time it takes a small message to travel from your device to a server and back, measured in milliseconds (ms). The name comes from the classic "ping" tool, which uses ICMP echo messages defined in IETF RFC 792. In everyday speech "ping" now means any round-trip time measurement. Lower is better.
What is a good ping?
It depends on what you do and how far away the server is. Distance alone adds delay, because signals can only travel so fast through cables. As a rough guide, lower is better, and ping in the hundreds of milliseconds is noticeable in calls and fast games. The more important question is often whether ping stays steady: see the jitter test.
Why your ping changes
- Busy line: uploads and downloads can fill router queues and push ping up. That is bufferbloat; check it with the bufferbloat test.
- Wi‑Fi: interference and weak signal add delay.
- Server distance: a server on another continent will always have higher ping.
- Route and provider congestion: evening peaks can add delay outside your home.
What’s good? Our colour guide
| Ping | Range |
|---|---|
| Good | up to 50 ms |
| OK | more than 50, up to 100 ms |
| High | more than 100 ms |
These are the labels this test uses, as a rough guide, not an official standard.
Other tests
FAQ
Is ping the same as latency?
Nearly. Ping is a way of measuring round-trip latency. The latency test explains the difference in more detail.
Why does my ping differ from other ping tests?
Each test talks to different servers by different methods, so numbers vary. Compare results from the same test over time.
Does more bandwidth lower ping?
Not by itself. Ping depends mostly on distance, routing and queues, not on how many megabits your plan has.