Online Traceroute Test

TRACEROUTE UDP
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Tracing the route…
Your IP: 

                        

                    


                    

                        

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Enter a domain or an IP address. Our test server traces the path its packets take to reach that host and lists every router along the way.

                    
Traceroute Test Overview

                    
What is traceroute?

                    
Data crossing the internet passes through many routers, often ten to twenty of them. Traceroute reveals that path. It sends probes with a hop limit of 1, then 2, then 3 and so on. Each router that sees a probe run out of hops sends back a short "time exceeded" message, and that reply tells us its address and how long the round trip took.

                    
Why run a traceroute?

                    
Ping tells you whether a host answers. Traceroute tells you where the trouble is when it does not, or when it answers slowly. It shows whether delay starts inside your hosting network, at an internet exchange, or close to the destination. It also gives clear evidence to send to a hosting provider or internet provider when you report a problem.

                    
How does this traceroute work?

                    
The trace starts from our own test server on the internet, not from your computer. We first send ICMP probes, the same kind Windows uses. If the host does not answer those, we try again with TCP probes on port 443, which most firewalls allow because web traffic uses it. The trace stops when the host replies or after 30 hops.

                    
How do I read the results?

                    
  • Each line is one hop: its number, the router's IP address and the time in milliseconds.
  • A star (*) means that router did not reply. Many routers ignore these probes, so a few stars in the middle are normal.
  • A jump in time that stays high on the following hops shows where delay is added, such as a long undersea cable.
  • One slow hop followed by normal times is usually a router that answers probes slowly. It does not slow real traffic.

                    
The summary below the output shows how many hops the trace took and whether it reached the host.

                    
Traceroute Troubleshooting and Practical Fixes

                    

                    

                    

                    
                    

                    

                    

                    
A firewall near the host drops the probes and their replies.

                    
How to fix: Check whether the website or service still opens. If it does, the host is only hiding from traceroute and nothing is broken.

                    

                    

                    

                    

                    

                    
                    

                    

                    

                    
Traffic may be dropped at that router, or a route may be missing.

                    
How to fix: Note the last address that answered and send the full output to your hosting provider or internet provider so they can check that link.

                    

                    

                    

                    

                    

                    
                    

                    

                    

                    
The path crosses a busy or very long link at that point.

                    
How to fix: If your visitors are far away, host closer to them or use a content delivery network. If the rise is inside your provider's network, report it to them.

                    

                    

                    

                    

                    

                    
                    

                    

                    

                    
Addresses such as 10.x.x.x or 192.168.x.x belong to the internal network of the provider where the trace begins.

                    
How to fix: Nothing needs fixing. These hops are normal and are not part of the public internet path.

                    

                    

                    

                    

                    

                    
FAQs

    

                    

                

                    

                        
                    

                

                

                    

                        A line of asterisks means that router did not return an ICMP Time Exceeded packet within the timeout limit. Many core internet routers prioritize routing actual transit traffic over replying to diagnostic probes, or have firewalls that drop ICMP. If subsequent hops continue responding with normal latency, the missing hop is simply ignoring probe packets and is not a sign of packet loss or failure.
                    

                

            

                    

                

                    

                        
                    

                

                

                    

                        A latency increase that persists across all subsequent hops indicates a physical network transition, such as traffic entering an undersea fiber-optic cable, crossing an ocean, or encountering a congested inter-carrier peering exchange. However, if a single hop shows high response times but all later hops return to low latency, the router itself was merely slow to generate ICMP replies (ICMP rate-limiting), while forwarding regular transit packets at full wire speed.
                    

                

            

                    

                

                    

                        
                    

                

                

                    

                        Standard Windows traceroute (tracert) uses ICMP echo requests, while traditional Unix/Linux traceroute sends high-numbered UDP packets. TCP traceroute (such as sending TCP SYN packets to port 443 or 80) is designed to pass through restrictive firewalls and load balancers that routinely drop ICMP and UDP traffic, verifying the exact path taken by web traffic.
                    

                

            

                    

                

                    

                        
                    

                

                

                    

                        If the trace proceeds normally through intermediate routers and then shows asterisks on the final hops up to hop 30, a firewall, cloud security group (such as AWS Security Groups or Cloudflare), or endpoint intrusion prevention system at the destination host is dropping incoming probe packets. If your website or application on that host is accessible via HTTP/HTTPS, the server is healthy and simply configured in stealth mode.
                    

                

            

                    

                

                    

                        
                    

                

                

                    

                        Every IP packet includes a Time to Live (TTL) field. Traceroute sends packets starting with TTL=1, incrementing by 1 for each successive probe. When a router decrements the TTL to zero, it discards the packet and sends an ICMP Type 11 (Time Exceeded) message back to our server using its own interface IP address. Our tool logs this IP and performs a reverse DNS (PTR) lookup to display the router's canonical hostname when available.