The ultimate speed test test 2022

The best free online speed tests

TL;DR

Despite a bias of -10.5% is Ookla's Speedtest the gold standard. Speedtests with similar results which are a good alternative are SpeedSmart, Google Fiber and Measurement Lab.

The advice above is based on a comprehensive test as described below.

 

Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Declaration of Interest
  3. What is the best?
  4. Method of measurement
  5. Speed tests to test
  6. The results
  7. Conclusions
  8. Other findings
 

Introduction

Based on previous speed test tests (2021, 2020 updated and 2020) I have learned that there are three categories of speed tests. These categories are: Realistic, Mainstream and Conservative.

Ookla's Speedtest is the gold standard

Ookla's Speedtest is the example of a mainstream speedtest. It is recommended and used by almost all Internet Service Providers and occurs in almost every advise regarding speed tests. This despite the negative bias of 10.5%.

Although I have detected during the speed test test of 2021 that Ookla's Speedtest haves a negative bias of 10.5%, Ookla's Speedtest is clearly the gold standard.

The question I like to answer in this speed test test is: Which speed test -whose result is in line with the advertised download speed- is the best speedtest there is?

 

Declaration of Interest

Although it is not relevant for this test it is good to know that in the past I (Hans van der Graaf) programmed my own speed test Internet Speed at a Glance. This because I was often not interested in the exact internet speed. Usually I want a quick indication if there are any problems with the internet connection.

In this speed test test I will treat Internet Speed at a Glance like all other speed tests being tested.

 

What is the best?

For this speed test test, it is assumed that the best speed test has the following characteristics:

The best speed test

The best speed test is ...

  1. Accurate and consistent
  2. Free to use
  3. Easy to use
  4. Privacy friendly
  5. Informative
  6. Fast
 

Method of measurement

The following measurement method is used for this ultimate speed test test:

Accuracy and consistency

Based on the download speed as advertised by my ISP (which offers an Ookla Speed test) the download speed to measure is 75Mbps.

Each speed test is tested at least 3 times with a clean browser on a wired Linux desktop.

The average of the measured download speed and the standard deviation is calculated for all speed tests. If the download speed deviates more than 3Mbps, the speed test is excluded from this test.

In practice this test is only testing the mainstream speed tests.

Based on these results, all speed tests with significant results are selected. The resulting speed tests are sorted by the average of the measured download speed and the standard deviation. Number 1 on the list earns 5 points, number 2: 4 points, number 3: 3 points, number 4: 2 points and number 5: 1 point.

Free to use

When the speed test is free to use and there are no ads, the speed test earns 1 point. If the speed test is free, but there are ads, the speed test does not earn points. If the speed test cannot be used for free, it will be excluded from this test.

Easy to use

The speed test must work in:

  1. Edge on Windows
  2. Chrome on Windows
  3. Chrome on Android
  4. Safari on iOS
  5. Firefox on Linux

If not, the speed test is excluded from this test.

The speed test must be mobile-friendly according to Google (Gone) and Bing. If not, the speed test is excluded from this test.

The accesibility of the speed test is tested with the Tingtun Page Checker. If there are no barriers found then the speed test earns 2 points. If there are barriers found the speed test does not earn points.

When the speed test could be started with a single click (or no click at all), the speed test earns 1 point. If 3 or more clicks are required, the speed test is excluded from the list. When the speed test could be restarted with 1 click the speed test earns 1 point too.

Privacy friendly

When the speed test does not require cookies then the speed test earns 1 point.

Informative

The more information the speed test gives the more points it earns. The speed test earns a point for:

  1. a progress indicator
  2. a countdown timer for the expected wait time
  3. a graph of the download speed
  4. the upload speed
  5. a graph of the upload speed
  6. ping / latency / jitter

Fast

It is manually timed how long it takes to take a speed test to complete the test. If this time exceeds 30 seconds (when testing at 75 Mbps), the speed test is excluded from this test. The speed tests are ranked (fast to slow) based on the average of the measured time. Number 1 on the list earns 5 points, number 2: 4 points, number 3: 3 points, number 4: 2 points and number 5: 1 point.

 

Speed tests to test

For this speed test test this list of unique speed tests will be used.

 

The results

Previous speed test tests learns that the following speed tests are out of scope for this speed test test:

Realistic speed tests

Speed tests in this category all measured a speed test which have a median higher then 78 Mbps.

  1. SpeedOf.me median: 83.50, Standard deviation: 0.05
  2. Comparitech Median: 81.09, Standard deviation: 1.40
  3. LibreSpeed Median: 80, Standard deviation: 0.3
  4. Open Speed Test Median: 79.26, Standard deviation: 0.55
  5. Xfinity xFi Speed Test Median:79.2, Standard deviation: 2.1

Conservative speed tests

Speed tests in this category all measured a speed test which have a median lower then 72 Mbps.

  1. Toast Median: 71.2, Standard deviation: 8.1
  2. Bandwidth Place Median: 70.00, Standard deviation: 0.07
  3. Fast Median: 64, Standard deviation: 9

Other speed tests

The results of these speed tests are not suitable for this speed test test.

  1. Broadband Internet Speed test (Gone) No meaningful results
  2. N Perf doesn't work with Safari on iOS
  3. RCN Speedtest (now: Astound Speedtest Not mobile friendly
  4. Speedtest4.PHP No meaningful results
  5. Internet Speed at a Glance No unambiguous results

Speed tests to test

Hence the speed tests in scope for this speed test test are:

  1. Bredbandskollen A new speed test in the list
  2. CompareSpeedTest (Gone)
  3. Which Broadband Checker A new speed test in the list
  4. SpeedSmart Median: 78.56, Standard deviation: 1.93
  5. TestMy.net Median: 76.9, Standard deviation: 0.2
  6. SamKnows Median: 76.4, Standard deviation: 0.0
  7. Google Fiber Median: 76.4, Standard deviation: 0.2
  8. Fireprobe Median: 76.25, Standard deviation: 0.12
  9. Measurement Lab Median:76.05, Standard deviation: 0.27
  10. Cloudflare Median: 75.4, Standard deviation: 0.2
  11. DSLReports Median: 75.2, Standard deviation: 1.1
  12. Meter.net Median: 74.98, Standard deviation: 0.20
  13. Broadband Speed Checker Median: 74.85, Standard deviation: 0.23
  14. Ookla Speedtest Median: 74.23, Standard deviation: 0.37

Note that a quick scan -with just one test- revealed that SpeedSmart should be included in the list (although in previous tests the median was above the 78 Mbps) and that CompareSpeedTest should be removed (the median is above the 78 Mbps). However CompareSpeedTest is a brand new speed test for me so I wanted to give it a try.

The raw data

All speed tests in the list above are tested in the same way. The findings of these tests could be find at the following pages:

  1. Bredbandskollen
  2. Broadband Speed Checker
  3. Cloudflare
  4. CompareSpeedTest
  5. DSLReports
  6. Fireprobe
  7. Google Fiber
  8. Measurement Lab
  9. Meter.net
  10. Ookla Speedtest
  11. SamKnows
  12. SpeedSmart
  13. TestMy.net
  14. Which Broadband Checker
 

Conclusions

Based on the above research Broadband Speed Checker, Cloudfare, DSLReports, Fireprobe, Ookla Speedtest, SamKnows and Which Broadband Checker are all not fast enough. Hence these speed tests are excluded for this test.

TestMy.net has an unrealistic low test result and is therefor excluded for this test.

CompareSpeedTest is indeed not a mainstream speed test hence this speed test is excluded for this test too.

Of the remaining speed tests these are the biasses (with respect to the advertised speed of 75 Mbps):

The most accurate speed tests
  1. SpeedSmart (75 * 10^0 Mbps) has a bias of 0 Mbps
  2. Google Fiber (76 * 10^0 Mbps) has a bias of 1 Mbps
  3. Measurement Lab (761 * 10^-1 Mbps) has a bias of 1.1 Mbps
  4. Bredbandskollen (77 * 10^0 Mbps) has a bias of 2 Mbps
  5. Meter.net (7 * 10^1 Mbps) has a bias of -5 Mbps

Based on these results, the following points are awarded: SpeedSmart 5 points, Google Fiber 4 points, Measurement Lab 3 points, Bredbandskollen 2 points and Meter.net 1 point.

The fastest speed tests
  1. Google Fiber 16 seconds
  2. Measurement Lab 21 seconds
  3. Bredbandskollen 22 seconds
  4. Meter.net 24 seconds
  5. SpeedSmart 27 seconds

Based on these results, the following points are awarded: Google Fiber 5 points, Measurement Lab 4 points, Bredbandskollen 3 points, Meter.net 2 points and SpeedSmart 1 points.

As a result this is the overall score:

Overall score
  1. Google Fiber 14 points
  2. Measurement Lab 13 points
  3. SpeedSmart 12 points
  4. Bredbandskollen 10 points
  5. Meter.net 8 points
 

Other findings

Based on the above test and a comparison with the results of previous speed tests, the following can be concluded:

  1. Google Fiber and Ookla Speedtest both measure 76 * 10^0 Mbps while the advertised download speed is 75 Mbps
  2. SamKnows is the only speedtest with a standard deviation that is smaller than the significant number