Last Updated on June 5, 2026
These days, everyone has a super fast internet connection and the days of slow dial up internet are long gone (thankfully!). But how do you know if you are getting the download and upload speed that you are paying for? Sure, there are websites you can go to, but you may have noticed that you are not getting the results you should be. And when you try a different web browser, you get different results which makes things even more confusing.
Speedtest.net is a popular website used to check internet speeds for your connection. It will use local servers close to your location and you can even choose different ones to test with. But since you are using it via a web browser, you may not get accurate results. Things such web browser security settings or extensions can interfere with the results. In this article, we will be showing you how to use the Speedtest desktop app & command line internet speed testing tools.
The Speedtest Desktop App
1. Download the Standalone Application
Ookla is the official maker of the Speedtest utility. They have a dedicated desktop application that you can easily download via the Microsoft store for Windows users. Installing the app gives you a powerful standalone tool. You can use it to check your raw internet speed without needing to open a bloated web browser. Open the Microsoft Store app and search directly for Speedtest. Be absolutely sure to choose the correct result and verify the official publisher is Ookla. Click on the Get or Install button to deploy it on your computer.
2. Recognize Browser Limitations
The image below clearly shows the Speedtest results using the standard Speedtest.net website on the Google Chrome web browser. This specific internet connection should theoretically be pushing between 300 and 400 Mbps. You can plainly see we are only getting a pathetic 15 Mbps download speed. Browser overhead completely bottlenecks the active test.
3. Run the Desktop App Test
Now we will execute the speed test all over again. We will use the exact same GigabitNow server using the native Speedtest desktop app. As you can clearly see in the image below, we now hit well over 400 Mbps for our raw download speed. This is exactly what we should be getting from our ISP
4. Select Different Test Servers
You are never locked into a single testing location. Look directly at the bottom of the desktop app interface. You can click the right arrow icon to select another server entirely. This allows you to easily see how your connection results will vary when routing traffic to different physical datacenters.
The Speedtest Command Line Interface (CLI)
1. Extract the CLI Executable
Some technology professionals heavily prefer to do things strictly via the command line. You can easily download the standalone Speedtest CLI tool to do exactly that. Once you extract the downloaded zip file, you will explicitly have a file called speedtest.exe sitting in your folder. You can double click this file to run the CLI tool directly. The window will abruptly close the exact second the test has completed.
2. Launch the Command Prompt
A much better method is to open a standard command prompt manually. Navigate directly to the directory where you have extracted the zip file. You can simply type speedtest right at the terminal prompt to start the background tool. The very first time you run it, you will need to type in yes to explicitly accept the software license agreement.
3. Execute the CLI Speed Test
The command line tool will immediately begin testing your network. It performs a rigorous download and upload speed test just like the desktop app and website tools do. The terminal will print out your idle latency, download bandwidth, and total packet loss directly on the black screen.
4. View the Sharable Web Results
The tool provides a permanent record of your test. Look at the very end of the terminal results. You will be given a unique URL link. You can easily copy and paste this link into a web browser. This takes you directly to the Speedtest website to view your specific results in a much more user friendly graphical format.
5. Access the Advanced Help Menu
The Speedtest command line tool features many powerful backend switches. You can easily use these parameters to carefully tweak how the tool performs its active tests. You can type speedtest -help right at the prompt to see the complete list of available options. The terminal will print out standard usage information and the active software version number.
6. Control the Target Servers
You do not have to rely on the automatic server selection. You can use the -L switch to force the tool to list the nearest available servers. You can then execute the command with the -s parameter followed by a specific server ID number. This forces the utility to ping that exact datacenter for the test. You can also use the -o switch to specify a server using its fully qualified domain name.
7. Manage the Interface and IP Routing
Advanced network setups might require specific routing rules. You can use the -I switch to force the tool to bind to a specific network interface. The -i switch lets you bind the test to a specified local IP address when connecting to the remote servers. This is completely invaluable for testing specific active network cards in a multi-adapter machine.
8. Customize the Visual Output
You can heavily modify exactly what the terminal displays during a test. Using the -p switch lets you easily enable or disable the visual progress bar. The -P parameter controls the precise number of decimals used in the final speed results. You can use the -f switch to change the raw output format entirely. Typing -u lets you specify the exact output unit for displaying speeds so you can view the results in megabytes rather than megabits.
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