How this ping test works
Your browser sends 21 tiny requests to the nearest Cloudflare location before the speed tests start, while your connection is quiet. Each one is timed from the moment the request leaves to the moment the first byte of the reply arrives, minus the time the server reports spending on it. The ping shown is the median of those measurements, which ignores the occasional outlier.
The test keeps measuring ping during the download and upload tests too. You will find those numbers under “Test details” in your result. If ping rises a lot while the connection is busy, see the bufferbloat test.
What is a good ping?
| Ping | How it usually feels |
|---|---|
| Under 20 ms | Excellent. Typical of a good wired connection to a nearby server. |
| 20–50 ms | Very good for gaming, calls and browsing. |
| 50–100 ms | Fine for most things. Fast competitive games may feel slightly delayed. |
| 100–150 ms | Noticeable in games; calls start to feel less natural. |
| Over 150 ms | Lag in games and talk-over on calls is likely. |
These bands are general guidance. For reference, Microsoft’s Teams guidance targets a round-trip time under 100 ms to its network, and NVIDIA’s GeForce NOW cloud gaming service asks for under 80 ms to its data center.
Why your ping in games may be higher
This test measures ping to the closest Cloudflare location, which is often in your city or region. That shows the best your connection can do. A game or call server might be in another state or country. Data in fiber travels at roughly two-thirds the speed of light, so every 1,000 miles of distance adds roughly 16 ms of round-trip time before any equipment delay.
What causes high ping
- WiFi. Wireless adds delay and, more importantly, variation. Test on a cable to compare.
- A busy connection. Downloads, uploads and streaming fill queues in the router and modem, so your small packets wait in line.
- Connection type. Fiber usually has the lowest ping, then cable, DSL and fixed wireless. Mobile networks are higher and less steady. Geostationary satellite is much higher because of the distance to orbit.
- Distance and routing to the server you are using.
- VPNs and proxies, which add an extra stop on the way.
Our guide on how to reduce ping covers each of these. For a fuller explanation of latency, see what ping means.