HTTP Ping / Latency Test
Measure the round-trip latency to a website from your browser using timed HTTP requests. This is an in-browser approximation — not a real ICMP ping — but it is a quick way to gauge how responsive a site feels from where you are.
Browsers can't send ICMP packets, so this tool times fetch() requests instead. Results include DNS, TCP, TLS and server time, and are affected by CORS and caching. For true network latency, use the ping command below.
About the HTTP ping test
The classic ping command sends small ICMP echo packets and times the reply. Web browsers are not allowed to send ICMP for security reasons, so a browser-based "ping" can only approximate latency by timing HTTP requests. This tool fires several fetch() requests at your target (with cache: 'no-store' and a cache-busting parameter) and records how long each takes with performance.now(), then reports the minimum, average and maximum.
Because each request carries the full DNS + TCP + TLS + server round trip, HTTP timings run higher and noisier than real ICMP ping. Use them to compare sites or spot big changes — not as an exact measure of raw network latency.
Run a real ICMP ping
For a true measurement, open a terminal and run the command below (it updates with the host you enter):
ping example.com
On macOS and Linux add -c 5 to send five packets (ping -c 5 example.com); on Windows, ping defaults to four. To see the whole path a packet takes, learn about ping and traceroute. Curious how latency differs from throughput? That is a matter of speed versus delay across your ISP's network.
Frequently asked questions
Is this the same as a real ping command?
No. Browsers cannot send ICMP echo packets, which is what the ping command uses. This tool times HTTP(S) requests from your browser instead, so it measures full web round-trip time — DNS, TCP, TLS and the server's response — not raw ICMP latency.
Why are my results higher than command-line ping?
An HTTP request does far more work than an ICMP echo: name resolution, TCP handshake, TLS negotiation and server-side processing all add time. Caching, CORS restrictions and your browser's connection limits also affect the numbers, so expect higher and noisier values than real ping.
Why does a site sometimes fail to test?
The tool uses no-cors requests, which usually succeed even without CORS headers, but some servers block cross-origin requests entirely, have no reachable favicon, or drop the connection. When every attempt fails you will see an error rather than a misleading result.
How do I run a real ICMP ping?
Open a terminal and run ping example.com (add -c 5 on macOS/Linux to send five packets). That uses ICMP directly and gives true network latency. The tool provides a copyable command for exactly this.
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