Visualize the network path from your device to any destination, hop by hop.
A traceroute is a network diagnostic tool that maps the path your data takes across the internet from your device to a target server. It shows each router (called a "hop") your packets pass through, along with the time it takes to reach each one. This is invaluable for identifying where network slowdowns or failures occur.
Traditional traceroute works by sending packets with incrementally increasing TTL (Time to Live) values. Each router decrements the TTL, and when it reaches zero, the router sends back a "time exceeded" message, revealing its identity. This tool uses HTTP-based timing measurements through Cloudflare's global network to simulate this process from your browser.
The traceroute shows your data's journey: from your device, through your local network gateway, across your ISP's network, through internet backbone routers, and finally to the Cloudflare edge server nearest to you. Each hop includes latency measurements showing how long it takes to reach that point. A sudden large increase in latency between hops indicates a potential bottleneck.
Traceroute is useful when you experience slow connections to specific websites (to see where the delay occurs), when diagnosing network outages, when verifying your VPN is routing traffic as expected, or when comparing network paths between different ISPs or locations. It's a fundamental tool in every network administrator's toolkit.
A traceroute is a network diagnostic tool that shows the path your data takes from your device to a destination server, displaying each router or "hop" along the way with latency measurements. It helps identify where slowdowns or failures occur in the network path.
Since browsers cannot perform traditional ICMP-based traceroutes, this tool uses HTTP-based timing measurements combined with Cloudflare's edge network information. It measures latency to the Cloudflare edge and uses infrastructure data to map the network path.
High latency can be caused by geographic distance between hops, congested network links, sub-optimal routing, ISP network issues, or internet backbone congestion. Look for the hop where latency suddenly increases to identify the bottleneck in your connection.
A network hop is each router or network device your data passes through en route to its destination. Each hop adds latency. A typical internet connection traverses 10-20 hops. Fewer hops generally means a more direct and faster route.
Each entry shows a hop number, the network device label, and the round-trip latency. Watch for sudden latency increases (indicating slow links), and note the total hop count (fewer is better). The latency bars visually show where time is being spent in the path.