NETCONFIG

Traceroute

Map the exact path and router hops packets take across the internet.

Trace from (up to 3 places)
Method
Quick presets

See the path packets take to any host

Trace from probes in up to three countries at once and compare the routes. Each hop shows its address, latency and loss, with a plain-language reading of where time is spent.

About the traceroute

See every router between servers in up to three countries and a target host, with the delay at each hop. It is an online traceroute (the same idea as tracert on Windows) for finding where in the path latency grows or packets are lost, and for comparing the route from different regions.

Also searched as: online traceroute · trace route · tracert online · network path tracer · hop by hop trace · route tracer · path analysis

Reading the hops

Each line is a router that forwarded your packet. The times show how long the reply took. Latency that jumps at one hop and stays high afterwards marks a slow link at that point; a spike on one hop that returns to normal is usually a router that deprioritises ICMP replies and is not a real problem.

Stars and timeouts

A row of asterisks means that hop did not answer. Many routers are configured not to. It only matters if every hop after it also times out, which means packets are being dropped there.

When to use it

Use traceroute to show an ISP where a problem starts, to confirm that traffic leaves your network on the right link, or to compare the path of two hosts that behave differently.

How this tool works and how to read the results

What this tool does

Runs a real traceroute from our server to the destination you specify, revealing every router hop along the path and the latency at each one — useful for isolating exactly where a routing problem or latency spike is occurring, rather than just knowing the destination overall is slow or unreachable.

How it works

Traceroute sends probes with incrementing TTL (time-to-live) values. Each router along the path decrements the TTL and, when it hits zero, replies with a time-exceeded message — revealing itself as one hop, before the probe continues one hop further on the next attempt. The result is a hop-by-hop map of the actual path your traffic takes.

A note on availability

This depends on the underlying hosting environment supporting the trace — if it's not available in the current environment, the tool says so plainly rather than showing incomplete or fabricated data.

When you'd use this

Isolating whether a latency problem is happening on your own network, your ISP's, a transit provider's, or the destination's — each hop's latency jump tells you where in the path the slowdown actually occurs.

Frequently asked questions

Why does the traceroute stop before reaching the destination?

Many routers and firewalls block or deprioritize the ICMP/UDP probes traceroute relies on, showing '* * *' timeouts even when the actual path to the destination is working fine — it's a common false alarm, not proof of an outage.

Why do some hops show a latency spike and then drop back down?

Routers often rate-limit or deprioritize their own ICMP responses below normal traffic-forwarding priority. A slow or timed-out hop mid-path doesn't necessarily mean real congestion there — check whether the hops after it are still fast.

Does traceroute show the path traffic takes back to me?

No — it only shows the outbound path to the destination. The return path can take a completely different route due to asymmetric routing, which traceroute alone can't reveal.

What is the difference between traceroute and tracert?

They are the same tool. traceroute is the Linux and macOS command, tracert the Windows one. Both list the routers on the way to a destination.

Why do some hops show asterisks?

The router received your probe but is set not to reply. It is normal and harmless unless all later hops also fail.

Does a high number at one hop mean that router is the problem?

Not necessarily. Routers answer probes with low priority. Look at whether the delay stays high on the hops after it: if it does, the problem is at or before that hop.

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