Online Traceroute Tool

Trace the full network path from our server to any hostname or IP. See every router hop and its latency in real time.

Hostname or IP Address

Max Hops

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Frequently Asked Questions

Traceroute maps the path packets take from source to destination across the internet. It works by sending packets with increasing TTL (Time To Live) values — each router decrements TTL by 1, and when TTL reaches 0, the router sends back an error message revealing its IP address and latency.

* * * means that hop did not respond within the timeout. It could be a router configured to silently drop TTL-exceeded packets (common on backbone routers), or ICMP is filtered by a firewall. If only some intermediate hops show * * * but the destination responds, the route is still working fine.

Large RTT increases at a hop indicate a slow link — often a transatlantic or transcontinental submarine cable crossing. For example, going from Europe to the US typically adds 70–120 ms in a single hop. High latency at one hop doesn't necessarily mean that hop is the problem — what matters is the final destination's RTT.

They are the same concept: traceroute is the Linux/macOS command, tracert is the Windows equivalent. Both trace the path to a destination, but they use different protocols by default — traceroute uses UDP, while tracert uses ICMP echo requests.

Traceroute discovers each hop along the path by exploiting the TTL (Time To Live) mechanism. It sends the first packet with TTL=1 — the first router decrements it to 0 and sends back an ICMP "Time Exceeded" message, revealing the router's IP and the latency to reach it. Then it sends a packet with TTL=2, which expires at the second router. This process repeats, incrementing TTL by 1 each time, until the destination is reached. Three probes are sent per hop (shown as three RTT values). The destination responds with an ICMP Port Unreachable (UDP mode) or Echo Reply (ICMP mode), ending the trace.

* * * at a hop means that router did not respond within the timeout period. The most common reason is that the router is configured to silently drop TTL-expired ICMP packets rather than send a "Time Exceeded" response — a common configuration on backbone routers for security and performance. It can also mean a firewall is filtering ICMP. Crucially, * * * at intermediate hops does not mean the path is broken — if the final destination responds, packets are getting through fine. Only * * * at the final hop indicates the destination is unreachable.

Ping tests connectivity to a single host — it sends ICMP Echo Requests and measures the round-trip time and packet loss. It shows you whether a host is reachable and how fast, but nothing about the path.

Traceroute maps every router hop along the path to the destination by incrementing TTL. It shows where latency is introduced, which ISP or backbone is used, and which hop is causing slowdowns or drops. Use ping for a quick latency check and traceroute for network path diagnosis.

A large RTT jump at a specific hop (e.g. from 10 ms at hop 7 to 120 ms at hop 8) usually indicates a long-distance link — commonly a transatlantic or transcontinental submarine cable. The key rule is: look at the final destination's RTT, not individual hops. If the destination RTT is acceptable but one intermediate hop shows high latency, that router likely just de-prioritises ICMP responses (rate limiting) rather than being a bottleneck for real traffic. Only worry if the high latency persists from that hop onward to the destination.

By default, traceroute limits the trace to 30 hops. This is controlled by the -m (max TTL) parameter. Most internet destinations are reachable in 10–20 hops. If the trace reaches 30 hops without finding the destination, it means either the destination is unreachable, the route is extremely long, or there is a routing loop. This tool lets you choose between 15, 20, or 30 maximum hops. The IPv4 TTL field is 8 bits, so the absolute maximum is 255 hops, but no practical route comes close to that.

tracert is the Windows command, traceroute is the Linux/macOS equivalent. The core concept — incrementing TTL to discover each hop — is identical. The key difference is the default probe protocol: traceroute (Linux) uses UDP packets by default (which can be blocked differently than ICMP), while tracert (Windows) uses ICMP Echo Requests by default. Linux traceroute can be set to use ICMP with the -I flag. This tool uses the server's traceroute command, which may use UDP or ICMP depending on server configuration. Results can differ between the two due to asymmetric routing and firewall rules.

About This Online Traceroute Tool

This free Traceroute tool maps the full network path from our server to any hostname or IP address. It works by sending packets with incrementally increasing TTL values — each router on the path decrements the TTL and, when it reaches zero, sends back a "Time Exceeded" message revealing that router's IP and latency. Results stream to your browser in real time and are parsed into a hop-by-hop summary table on completion.

When to use this tool

Diagnose where latency spikes occur on the path to a remote host
Map which ISP and backbone network handles a particular route
Identify transatlantic or intercontinental hops that add delay
Compare routing paths to different destination servers

Standards & References

How It Works

TTL Probes

Packets are sent with TTL=1, 2, 3… Each router decrements TTL by 1 and sends back an ICMP "time exceeded" message when TTL hits 0.

Real-Time Streaming

Each hop line appears as it arrives via Server-Sent Events. Hops with * * * are routers that silently drop TTL-expired packets.

Hop Summary Table

After completion, each hop is parsed into a table showing the hop number, hostname or IP, RTT, and whether it responded or timed out.

Reading Traceroute Output

1 192.168.1.1 (192.168.1.1) 1.234 ms

A responding hop. #1 is the hop number. The hostname/IP is the router that responded. RTT is the round-trip time to that router.

5 * * *

No response from this hop within the timeout. The router either blocks ICMP or de-prioritizes TTL-expired responses. Doesn't mean the path is broken.

8 ae-2.r01.fra01.de (1.2.3.4) 12.5 ms

The hostname reveals the router's location (e.g., fra01.de = Frankfurt, Germany). ISP backbone routers often have descriptive hostnames showing city and carrier.

12 dest.example.com 95.3 ms

The final destination hop. This RTT is the true end-to-end latency. A large jump from the previous hop usually means a transatlantic or intercontinental link was crossed.

In-depth guides and technical articles.

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Internet Jun 23, 2026

Traceroute Reveals Internet Topology — How to Read Autonomous Systems, IXPs, and Network Boundaries in Your Results

Traceroute doesn't just show latency — it reveals internet topology: which Autonomous Systems your traffic crosses, where it hits an Internet Exchange Point and stays local, and where it traverses a transit provider and potentially crosses continents. Here's how to read ASN changes as network boundary crossings, what IXPs like LINX and AMS-IX do for routing efficiency, and why traceroute RTT values are cumulative (explaining why hop 3 can show lower latency than hop 2).

Internet Jun 18, 2026

Traceroute Only Shows One Direction — and ECMP Means That Direction Changes Between Runs

Traceroute shows the path your packets take to a destination — but the return path is completely different and invisible, and even the forward path can vary between consecutive traceroutes due to ECMP load balancing. Here's how TTL-based probe discovery works, why ECMP makes each probe potentially follow a different path through multi-path networks, how Paris traceroute solves this, and why "* * *" in the middle of a traceroute usually isn't a problem.

Internet Jun 12, 2026

Beyond a Single Traceroute: MTR, Asymmetric Routing, and Diagnosing Intermittent Network Issues

A single traceroute that "looks fine" doesn't rule out intermittent problems — and the path it shows is only the outbound direction, while routing is frequently asymmetric. Here's how MTR's continuous measurement reveals intermittent loss that single snapshots miss, why a hop showing loss often isn't "the problem" (ICMP rate-limiting), and how to localize issues to your network, the path, or the destination.

Internet Jun 9, 2026

BGP: How Internet Routing Works — and Why Route Leaks Can Take Down Major Services

BGP is the protocol that routes traffic across the internet's 80,000 autonomous systems — and its trust model is why a misconfiguration at a small ISP took down Cloudflare, Amazon, and Facebook for two hours. Here's how BGP works, how anycast CDNs use it, and why RPKI is the partial fix.

Internet Jun 8, 2026

How to Read a Traceroute: What the Output Actually Tells You

A single high-latency traceroute hop usually isn't a problem. Asterisks don't mean the hop is down. Here's how to read traceroute output, identify where latency is actually introduced, and distinguish ICMP rate limiting from real network issues.