The XDA story this week about the Raspberry Pi bot that caught an ISP lying about its promised speeds is the right kind of home-lab work. One speed test at 2 pm proves nothing. Two months of hourly samples proves everything. If you want to argue with a support agent, you need a graph and a CSV, not a screenshot. These are the eight desktop apps we run on Windows, macOS, and Linux to log ISP speed on a schedule and keep the receipts.
What to look for in an ISP speed logging app
Speed apps and speed loggers are different tools. Pick for the fight you actually need to have:
- Scheduled tests, not one-off. Anything you have to click is worthless as evidence.
- A time-series database. InfluxDB, SQLite, or a flat CSV. If it only shows the last result, keep looking.
- Download, upload, latency, and jitter. ISPs cheat on the numbers they can hide. Log all four.
- Multi-server sampling. A test against one bad relay isn’t proof of anything. Rotate servers.
- Runs headless. A speed logger that needs a browser tab open all day is a Chrome tab, not a monitor.
- Exportable data. CSV or Prometheus scrape. You’ll want it in a chart the support agent has to look at.
Quick comparison
| App | Best for | Self-host | Schedule | Free tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Speedtest by Ookla CLI | Headless Ookla runs into any DB | Yes | via cron | Yes |
| LibreSpeed | Self-hosted browser and CLI tester | Yes | via cron | Yes (open source) |
| SmokePing | Latency graphs that survive years | Yes | Built-in | Yes (open source) |
| iperf3 | Two-endpoint bandwidth truth | Yes | via cron | Yes |
| PRTG Network Monitor | Windows-first fleet monitoring | Yes | Built-in | 100 sensors free |
| Netdata | Real-time host and network graphs | Yes | Built-in | Yes |
| Uptime Kuma | HTTP and TCP uptime with alerts | Yes | Built-in | Yes (open source) |
| MyBroadbandTest | Long-running background testing on Windows | No | Built-in | Yes |
The 8 best ISP speed logging apps
1. Speedtest by Ookla CLI, best for headless Ookla runs into any database
Speedtest by Ookla CLI is the same Ookla test the support agent will run against you, in a form you can put on cron. JSON output pipes straight into InfluxDB, Prometheus, or a CSV. Ships as a signed binary for Windows, macOS, Intel and Apple Silicon, and every mainstream Linux.
Where it falls short: Free tier locks you to Ookla’s server pool, which is what you want against your ISP but not what you want for scientific baselining.
Pricing:
- Free: unlimited scheduled runs, CSV and JSON output
- Paid: none for CLI use
Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux.
Download: Speedtest CLI
Bottom line: The one everyone should start with. Same numbers your ISP will quote back at you.
2. LibreSpeed, best for a self-hosted browser and CLI tester
LibreSpeed is the open-source speed test that runs entirely on your own hardware. Stand up the server on a VPS in a datacenter you trust, then run the CLI from home against it. Now you’re testing your line to a known-good endpoint, not to Ookla’s nearest cache.
Where it falls short: You are also responsible for the test server. Underpowered VPS instances cap the numbers before the ISP does.
Pricing:
- Free: open source, MIT license
- Paid: none
Platforms: any Docker host; CLI on Windows, macOS, Linux.
Download: LibreSpeed
Bottom line: The tester to run when you suspect the public test servers are lying too.
3. SmokePing, best for latency graphs that survive years
SmokePing is the tool network engineers still keep running because nothing else charts latency and jitter the way it does. The graphs shade packet-loss variance, so a line that looked “up” during a screenshot is exposed as intermittently drop-prone at 11 pm on Tuesdays.
Where it falls short: Perl and RRDtool. The install is fine on Debian, ugly everywhere else.
Pricing:
- Free: open source, GPL
- Paid: none
Platforms: Linux, macOS via Homebrew, Windows via WSL.
Download: SmokePing
Bottom line: If your fight is about latency and jitter, not bandwidth, this is the tool.
4. iperf3, best for two-endpoint bandwidth truth
iperf3 doesn’t test to Ookla. It tests between two machines you control. Spin up a server on a friend’s fibre line or a cheap cloud VM and you get the real ceiling of your connection, not a shaped Ookla path.
Where it falls short: No scheduling or storage. Wrap it in cron and pipe to a file yourself.
Pricing:
- Free: open source, BSD
- Paid: none
Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux, FreeBSD.
Download: iperf3
Bottom line: The truth-serum test. Pair with a cloud endpoint and you can stop guessing.
5. PRTG Network Monitor, best for Windows-first fleet monitoring
PRTG is the Paessler product that IT teams run in small businesses. It packages a speed sensor, a ping sensor, and a bandwidth sensor into a dashboard non-technical stakeholders can read. The free tier covers 100 sensors, which is enough for a single connection with plenty of headroom.
Where it falls short: Windows-only server. Above 100 sensors, the price jumps to enterprise territory quickly.
Pricing:
- Free: 100 sensors, unlimited time
- Paid: from around $2,150 per year for 500 sensors
Platforms: Windows Server host, web UI everywhere.
Download: PRTG
Bottom line: The best pick when a non-technical stakeholder needs to see the graphs.
6. Netdata, best for real-time host and network graphs
Netdata is the agent you install on a Linux, macOS, or Windows box and immediately get a thousand graphs, including per-interface bandwidth, drops, retransmits, and interface errors. The Cloud tier is free for small labs and lets you correlate across nodes.
Where it falls short: Not a scheduled speed tester on its own. Pair with Ookla CLI or LibreSpeed to feed the numbers in.
Pricing:
- Free: agent open source, Cloud free tier
- Paid: Cloud from $9 per node per month
Platforms: Linux, macOS, Windows, FreeBSD.
Download: Netdata
Bottom line: The graph layer to sit on top of your scheduled speed tests.
7. Uptime Kuma, best for HTTP and TCP uptime with alerts
Uptime Kuma watches your gateway and your favourite public endpoints on a schedule and pages you when the connection drops. It doesn’t itself measure throughput, but combining a “gateway ping” monitor with a scheduled Ookla run gives you both symptoms and evidence in the same dashboard.
Where it falls short: Not a bandwidth logger. It answers “is the link up?” not “at what speed?”
Pricing:
- Free: open source, MIT
- Paid: none
Platforms: any Docker host; native on Windows, macOS, Linux.
Download: Uptime Kuma
Bottom line: Pair with an Ookla cron job. Kuma sees drops, Ookla shows degradation.
8. MyBroadbandTest, best for long-running background testing on Windows
MyBroadbandTest by SamKnows-style tools runs quietly in the Windows tray and tests every 30 minutes to a rotating pool of ISPs. The dashboard shows a 30-day heat map that makes the pattern of an over-subscribed evening line obvious to anyone reading the graph.
Where it falls short: Windows only. The vendor decides which servers you test against, so it isn’t the tool to catch an ISP that has cosied up to that vendor.
Pricing:
- Free: full features, ad-supported
- Paid: none
Platforms: Windows.
Download: MyBroadbandTest
Bottom line: The click-and-forget option for a Windows box that just needs to log evidence.
How to pick the right one
- If you want the simplest evidence pipeline: Speedtest by Ookla CLI + cron + a CSV, then plot the CSV.
- If you don’t trust the public test servers: LibreSpeed against your own VPS.
- If latency and jitter are the actual complaint: SmokePing.
- If you already run a home lab: Netdata for the graphs, Ookla CLI for the numbers, Uptime Kuma for the alerts.
- If a non-technical stakeholder needs to look at it: PRTG.
- If you’re on Windows and don’t want to think about it: MyBroadbandTest.
FAQ
Do speed test apps use bandwidth caps? Every scheduled run costs data. On a metered line, cap the run to a shorter test window or use latency-only monitoring like SmokePing and top it up with a full Ookla run once a day.
Which speed test does my ISP take seriously? Ookla. Every consumer ISP support agent has seen an Ookla result. Screenshots of anything else start the argument.
Can I automate speed tests on macOS?
Yes. Speedtest CLI and iperf3 both run natively on macOS. Add a launchd plist to run on a schedule.
Is a Raspberry Pi enough to log a gigabit connection? A Pi 4 or Pi 5 with a proper power supply can saturate a gigabit line long enough for a valid test. Pi Zero and older models can’t.
Do these apps also test IPv6? Speedtest CLI, iperf3, and LibreSpeed all support IPv6. Ookla still defaults to IPv4 unless you pass the flag.
