Test Your Internet Speed
Check your download speed, upload speed, ping, and connection quality in seconds.
How to read your results
A speed test measures two different things. Download and upload are about how much data your connection can move. Ping, jitter and packet loss are about how quickly and reliably it moves. A connection can be strong on one and weak on the other.
- Download Mbps
- How fast data reaches you. You notice it in: streaming, web pages, app and game downloads.
- Upload Mbps
- How fast you can send data out. You notice it in: video calls, sending files, cloud backups, live streaming.
- Ping ms
- Round-trip delay to the test server. You notice it in: game responsiveness, call delay, how snappy pages feel.
- Jitter ms
- How much ping changes from moment to moment. You notice it in: choppy audio, video freezes, stutter in games.
- Packet loss %
- Share of test packets that never came back. You notice it in: dropped words on calls, players teleporting in games.
- Ping while busy ms
- Ping measured during the download and upload tests. You notice it in: lag when someone else in the home is downloading.
Is your internet speed good?
There is no single number that counts as “good” for everyone. A person living alone who streams in HD can be perfectly happy on 25 Mbps. A household with four people, two 4K TVs, a gamer and someone on work calls will feel the strain at that speed.
The useful question is: what does everyone in your home do at the same time? Add up those activities, leave room for background updates, and compare that with your result.
For reference, the FCC uses 100 Mbps download and 20 Mbps upload as its benchmark for U.S. fixed broadband.
Our guide to what counts as a good internet speed works through common household types, and the internet speed chart shows what each tier from 10 Mbps to 10 Gbps typically supports.
- Up to 25 Mbps
- One or two people browsing, streaming HD on one screen and making the occasional video call.
- 25 to 100 Mbps
- Small households streaming on a few screens, including some 4K, with calls and casual gaming.
- 100 to 500 Mbps
- Busy homes with several 4K TVs, people working from home and many connected devices.
- 500 Mbps and up
- Heavy users who download large games or files often, or many people online at once.
Download vs. upload speed
Download is the direction most people use most. Every video you watch and page you open is a download. Upload is the reverse: your camera feed on a call, photos syncing to the cloud, a file you attach to an email.
Many cable and DSL plans give you ten times more download than upload, or more. That is fine until someone starts a large backup or a few people join video calls at once. Fiber plans are often symmetric, with equal speed both ways.
Ping, jitter and packet loss
These three numbers explain most “my internet is fast but it feels bad” problems.
- Ping is the delay for a small message to reach a server and come back. Under 50 ms feels responsive. What ping means
- Jitter is how much that delay jumps around. Calls and games cope with a steady delay much better than an unsteady one. More on jitter
- Packet loss is data that never arrives. Even 1% can cause glitches in live audio and games. More on packet loss
If ping rises sharply while the test is busy downloading, you may have bufferbloat.
Internet speed for common activities
These are the figures the services themselves publish, per stream or per call. Multiply by the number of people doing each thing at once.
| Activity | Published requirement | What else matters |
|---|---|---|
| HD video (1080p) | 5 Mbps (Netflix, YouTube) | Stable WiFi to the TV |
| 4K video | 15 Mbps (Netflix), 20 Mbps (YouTube) | Your plan tier and device must support 4K |
| Group video call, 1080p | 3.8 Mbps up / 3.0 Mbps down (Zoom) | Jitter and packet loss |
| Online multiplayer games | Low bandwidth; no single published figure | Ping, jitter and packet loss matter most |
| Cloud gaming, 1080p 60 fps | 25 Mbps and under 80 ms latency (GeForce NOW) | Wired or 5 GHz WiFi recommended |
Full guides: speed for gaming · speed for streaming · speed for video calls · speed for multiple devices
How to get a more accurate result
Use a cable if you can. Plug a laptop into the router with an Ethernet cable to see what your plan really delivers.
Pause other traffic. Stop downloads, cloud backups, game updates and streaming on other devices.
Close other tabs and apps on the device you are testing with.
Turn off your VPN unless you want to measure the VPN itself.
Test three times, a few minutes apart, and look at the typical result.
Test at different times of day, including the evening, when networks are busiest.
Step-by-step: how to test your internet speed, including how to record results to share with your provider, and how to test WiFi room by room.
Common causes of slow internet
- Weak WiFi from distance, walls or interference. This is the most common cause in most homes.
- Other devices using the connection, especially updates and backups running in the background.
- Busy times on your provider’s network, usually in the evening.
- An old router or device that cannot keep up with your plan.
- A fault in the line, modem or cables.
Why WiFi and Ethernet results differ
Your internet plan delivers speed to your router. WiFi then has to carry it through the air to your device, sharing airtime with every other wireless device nearby and losing strength through walls and floors. A cable has none of those problems.
If a wired test is close to your plan speed but WiFi is much slower, the fix is in your home network, not your plan. Run a WiFi speed test in different rooms to find where the signal falls off.
How this test works
The test runs entirely in your browser. It uses Cloudflare’s open-source measurement engine and Cloudflare’s global network, so your browser connects to a nearby Cloudflare location automatically. It downloads and uploads files of increasing size, times each transfer, and reports a high-percentile result so a single slow request does not drag the number down.
Every number you see comes from that measurement. If something can’t be measured on your network, such as packet loss behind some firewalls, we show it as not available. No browser-based test is perfect: your device, browser, WiFi and the route to the server all affect the result.
Frequently asked questions
What is an internet speed test?
It is a short measurement of how fast data moves between your device and a test server. It reports download speed and upload speed in megabits per second (Mbps), plus ping, jitter and, where it can, packet loss. Together these tell you how your connection will feel for streaming, gaming and calls.
How does this speed test work?
Your browser downloads and uploads files of increasing size to Cloudflare’s network and times each transfer. It also sends many tiny requests to measure ping and jitter, and sends UDP packets through a relay to count any that go missing. The full details are on our methodology page.
What is a good internet speed?
It depends on how many people share the connection and what they do. One person streaming HD video needs about 5 Mbps; a busy family with several 4K TVs and video calls needs far more. Our guide to what counts as a good internet speed walks through it.
Why are my results different every time I test?
Your speed changes with WiFi signal, other devices using the network, busy times in your neighborhood and the route to the test server. Run three tests a few minutes apart and look at the typical value rather than one number.
Should I test on WiFi or Ethernet?
Both, if you can. A wired test shows what your internet plan delivers to your home. A WiFi test shows what you actually get in a particular room. A big gap between the two points to a WiFi problem, not your provider. See how to test WiFi speed.
How often should I test my internet?
Test whenever something feels slow, after changing your router or plan, and a few times across a normal week if you are checking whether you get the speed you pay for. Evenings are often the busiest time, so include at least one evening test.
Ready to check your connection?
The test takes under a minute on most connections.
Start TestSources
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Internet connection speed recommendations Netflix Help Center
3 Mbps for HD (720p), 5 Mbps for Full HD (1080p), 15 Mbps for 4K UHD.
Checked October 2026
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System requirements: recommended sustained speeds YouTube Help
20 Mbps for 4K, 5 Mbps for 1080p, 2.5 Mbps for 720p, 1.1 Mbps for 480p.
Checked October 2026
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Zoom system requirements: bandwidth Zoom Support
1:1 720p video 1.2 Mbps up/down; group 1080p video 3.8 Mbps up / 3.0 Mbps down.
Checked October 2026
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GeForce NOW system requirements NVIDIA
15 Mbps for 720p60, 25 Mbps for 1080p60, 45 Mbps for 4K; under 80 ms latency to a data center.
Checked October 2026
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2026 Section 706 Report (FCC 26-55) Federal Communications Commission
Keeps the U.S. fixed broadband benchmark at 100 Mbps download / 20 Mbps upload.
Checked October 2026
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@cloudflare/speedtest (measurement engine source and documentation) Cloudflare
How download, upload, latency, jitter and packet loss are measured by the engine this site uses.
Checked October 2026