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.
Frequently Asked Questions
* * * 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.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.* * * 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.
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.
-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.
-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.
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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.
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.
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.
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.
Traceroute Tool — Map the Network Path to Any Host & Find Latency
Learn how traceroute works, how to read hop-by-hop latency results, what * * * means, how to identify congested hops, and how to use a free online traceroute tool for network diagnostics.
