There are many factors that can affect your internet speeds, such as using Wi-Fi, the time of day and how many active devices you have on your network. By running a good speed test, you can determine what speeds you’re actually getting, as well as your current download speeds, upload speeds and latency (or ping) for whatever device you’re running the test on.
However, there are many speed tests promising to do the job, so which one should you trust?
Best internet speed test overall
A good speed test, like the one from Ookla, which is our pick for best speed test overall, will help you determine what speeds you’re getting at your household. You may be surprised to find they’re lower than the advertised speeds from your provider.
To help you decide which test is best for you, we evaluated multiple speed tests based on speed, consistency, accessibility and browser compatibility and provided you with our top picks.
Watch this: How to speed up your Wi-Fi
Best internet speed tests of 2023
One of our favorites is the Ookla speed test, which has a strong reputation for consistency and for being one of the first speed tests on the web. Popularity aside, we like Ookla for having everything a basic user needs from a speed test: accuracy, the ability to view your speed test history (when you create an account), a wide array of servers to connect to, and even a handy app for speed testing from your Android or iOS device. Incidentally, Ookla’s speed test is also the one we use when we’re testing Wi-Fi routers.
Ookla’s done a good job of keeping up with the times by adding new features and capabilities over the years. The service released a video-specific speed test that measures your network’s ability to handle 4K video streams, and it recently added a free VPN to its mobile app. In addition to the website and the smartphone apps, Ookla also has apps you can run on Windows or on Mac. You can even run the Ookla speed test on an Apple TV.
All of that said, Ookla does display banner ads while you run basic speed tests. That’s not surprising, but it might make a slight impact on your results, depending on the strength of your connection at the time of the test.
Fast.com is another great broadband test, and the interface is about as simple and straightforward as it gets. However, one of its biggest advantages is that it’s owned by Netflix. That might seem odd at first, but it’s actually what makes it a great pick for online streamers, because the test is structured around checking to see if your connection is strong enough to stream Netflix in maximum resolution without buffering.
While Fast.com is a great tool for some, it won’t be the most helpful test for all users. The basic interface is easy to use, yes, but it also lacks some of the advanced settings and metrics you’ll find with other speed tests. Most notably, you can’t specify which server you’d like to connect with for your test.