ScriptsApr 14, 2026·3 min read

gping — Ping with a Real-Time Terminal Graph

gping replaces `ping` with a terminal graph showing latency over time. Watch packet loss spikes and jitter visually, ping multiple targets side by side, and finally understand what your network is doing.

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TL;DR
gping is a terminal tool that replaces ping with a real-time graph showing latency, jitter, and packet loss.
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What it is

gping is a command-line tool that replaces the standard ping utility with a real-time terminal graph. Instead of scrolling text lines, you see latency plotted over time. You can ping multiple hosts simultaneously and compare their response patterns side by side.

This tool is aimed at network engineers, sysadmins, and developers who need to quickly visualize network behavior. If you have ever stared at raw ping output trying to spot a pattern, gping makes it obvious at a glance.

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How it saves time or tokens

gping eliminates the step of exporting ping output to a spreadsheet or graphing tool. The visualization is immediate and runs in your terminal. When troubleshooting intermittent latency or packet loss, the graph reveals patterns (periodic spikes, gradual degradation) that are invisible in text output. A 10-minute diagnosis becomes a 30-second visual scan.

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How to use

  1. Install gping on your platform:
# macOS
brew install gping

# Linux (cargo)
cargo install gping

# Windows
choco install gping
  1. Ping a single host:
gping google.com
  1. Compare multiple hosts side by side:
gping google.com cloudflare.com 8.8.8.8
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Example

Ping your DNS resolver and a remote server to compare latency:

# Compare local DNS vs remote
gping 1.1.1.1 8.8.8.8 your-server.example.com

# Use a specific interval (200ms)
gping -i 200 google.com

# Ping with a specific buffer size
gping -b 1024 google.com

The terminal displays a scrolling graph with each target in a different color. Spikes and drops are immediately visible.

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Related on TokRepo

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Common pitfalls

  • Running gping without sufficient terminal width. The graph needs at least 80 columns to render clearly. Resize your terminal if the graph looks compressed.
  • Forgetting that gping measures ICMP latency, not application-level latency. A clean gping graph does not guarantee your HTTP API is healthy.
  • On some Linux distributions, unprivileged users cannot send ICMP packets. You may need to run sudo setcap cap_net_raw+ep $(which gping) or run with sudo.

Frequently Asked Questions

How is gping different from the standard ping command?+

Standard ping outputs text lines with round-trip times. gping plots those times on a real-time terminal graph, making it easy to spot trends, spikes, and packet loss patterns visually. It also supports pinging multiple hosts simultaneously with color-coded lines.

Can I use gping to monitor network latency over long periods?+

Yes. gping runs continuously until you stop it with Ctrl+C. The graph scrolls horizontally, showing the most recent data points. For long-term monitoring with data persistence, consider exporting to a time-series database, but for quick live checks gping works well.

Does gping work on Windows?+

Yes. gping is available via Chocolatey (choco install gping), Scoop, or direct download from the GitHub releases page. It runs natively on Windows, macOS, and Linux.

Can gping detect packet loss?+

Yes. When a ping packet is lost, gping shows a gap in the graph line. Multiple consecutive gaps indicate sustained packet loss. This visual pattern is much easier to spot than scanning text output for 'Request timeout' lines.

What is the performance overhead of running gping?+

Minimal. gping sends the same ICMP packets as standard ping and adds lightweight terminal rendering. CPU and memory usage are negligible. The default ping interval is 500ms, which you can adjust with the -i flag.

Citations (3)
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