Speed Test

Learn about this speed test

What it's actually measuring

This test transfers real chunks of data to and from Cloudflare's public speed-test network, the same infrastructure behind speed.cloudflare.com, and times how fast they move. Download measures how fast data reaches you. Upload measures how fast your connection can send data out. Both are reported in Mbps (megabits per second), the standard unit ISPs advertise plans in.

Reading your results

Mbps and MB/s (megabytes per second) aren't the same thing. Divide Mbps by 8 to get the MB/s figure you'd see in a file-transfer progress bar. It's also normal for upload to be noticeably lower than download, since most home connections (cable, DSL, and many fiber plans) are provisioned asymmetrically, and typical browsing downloads far more than it sends. A single test only opens one or a few connections too, so it can under-report the true ceiling of a very fast line the way a multi-connection download manager wouldn't.

Common questions

Why is my result lower than the plan I'm paying for? Wi-Fi overhead, distance from your router, other devices actively using the connection, and ISP congestion at peak hours can all pull a result below your plan's rated maximum. Testing over a wired connection with nothing else running gives the most accurate picture.

Why do different speed test sites give different numbers? Each one tests against its own network of servers, at a different distance from you, using a different number of parallel connections. None of them are "wrong," they're just measuring your path to different infrastructure.

Does a high speed-test number guarantee a fast-feeling connection? Not entirely. Throughput (this test) matters for large downloads, but latency and jitter matter more for how responsive video calls, gaming, and page loads feel. Check the Latency Checker for that half of the picture.