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Internet speed test
Check your real download, upload, ping and jitter, plus how much your latency rises when the line is busy. Then read what the numbers mean for streaming, gaming and video calls, in plain English.
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How the test works
Latency
Twenty tiny requests measure the round trip to the nearest server of Cloudflare’s global network. The middle value is your ping; how much it changes from one request to the next is your jitter.
Download
Several parallel transfers fill your line, more of them on very fast connections. The first seconds are left out, so the slow start of every connection does not drag the result down.
Upload
The same in the other direction, with random data that nothing on the way can compress. Meanwhile latency is measured again, to see how your line behaves under load.
The test stops on its own when the speed is stable, so it rarely takes more than 25 seconds. On mobile data, choose Data saver.
What the numbers mean
- Download
- How fast data reaches you, in megabits per second (Mbps). It decides how quickly pages, videos and games arrive. 8 Mbps equal 1 megabyte per second.
- Upload
- How fast you send data: video calls, cloud backups, sending large files, streaming yourself.
- Ping
- The time a tiny message needs to reach the server and come back, in milliseconds. Lower feels snappier, and for games and calls it matters more than speed.
- Jitter
- How much the ping changes from moment to moment. High jitter makes calls choppy and games stutter, even on a fast line.
- Latency under load
- The ping while the line is busy downloading or uploading. A big jump is called bufferbloat: everything slows down as soon as someone else downloads.
How fast should my internet be?
| Use | Download | Upload | Ping |
|---|---|---|---|
| Web, email, music | 5 Mbps | 1 Mbps | under 100 ms |
| HD streaming | 10 Mbps | 1 Mbps | any |
| 4K streaming, per screen | 25 Mbps | 1 Mbps | any |
| HD video calls | 5 Mbps | 3 Mbps | under 100 ms |
| Online gaming | 10 Mbps | 3 Mbps | under 50 ms, best under 25 ms |
| Working from home, cloud files | 50 Mbps | 20 Mbps | under 60 ms |
| Busy home, several people | 200 Mbps or more | 50 Mbps | low under load |
Questions and answers
How accurate is this speed test?
It measures real transfers to the nearest server of Cloudflare’s global network, with several parallel connections on fast lines, leaving out the first seconds while connections are still speeding up. Nothing is estimated or simulated. The result is what your device gets right now, so Wi-Fi, the device itself and other traffic at home all count.
Why is my result lower than the speed of my plan?
The most common reasons are Wi-Fi (walls, distance, older standards), a computer or router port limited to 1 Gbps, other devices using the line during the test, and evening congestion. For the fairest comparison, test with a cable plugged into the router and nothing else running.
What is a good ping for gaming?
Under 25 ms is excellent, under 50 ms is good for nearly every game, and above 100 ms most players notice the delay. Low jitter and a small rise in latency under load matter as much as the ping itself.
What is bufferbloat?
It is the extra delay that appears when your line is busy: queues in the router fill up and every packet has to wait. You notice it as lag in games or calls while someone downloads. Routers with SQM, Smart Queue or a good QoS setting fix most of it.
How much data does the test use?
The full test uses a few hundred megabytes on average lines and up to about 2 GB on gigabit connections. Data saver stops at about 130 MB, which suits mobile plans, but may read low on very fast lines.
Is anything about me stored?
Your past results are kept only in your browser. ZeroG Labs saves anonymous statistics for each test: the results, the approximate city and provider reported by Cloudflare, device type, browser family and connection type. Your IP address is never stored. To run the test your browser connects to Cloudflare, which sees your IP address like any website you visit.
Does it work on phones and tablets?
Yes, in any modern browser. On mobile data choose Data saver, and remember that speed on a mobile network changes a lot with signal, place and time of day.
Why does the test use Cloudflare?
Cloudflare runs servers in hundreds of cities, so almost everyone is tested against a server close to them, with enough capacity for multi gigabit lines. The same server is used for latency, download and upload, so the numbers are consistent with each other.