Speedtest For Linux

A new Internet speed test app/framework/project/implementation is definitely not something that most people would get overly excited about, me included. Well, at least, at first.

I was somewhat hesitant about trying out Speedtest, but then I got to reading about LibreSpeed, which is the open-source and super-lightweight speed test implementation written in JavaScript (which also uses XMLHttpRequest and Web Workers).

As its name clearly states, it's a speed test application for Linux. More to the point, it's a GUI for LibreSpeed (or a LibreSpeed client) built using GTK4+/Libadwaita.

What does this mean? In short, it means that it's a really simple, lightweight, and stylish (especially if you're a GNOME user) app that you can use for measuring things like upload and download speeds, as well as  your connection's ping and jitter values.

The main appeal for LibreSpeed is that it's a self-hosted and open-source speed test for HTML5. This means that anyone can use it in their project or app (both for desktop and mobile applications).

It's also really easy to configure, it supports PHP, Node, and multiple servers, just to name a few of its features. I already mentioned that it's super lightweight and this is mainly because it doesn't use Flash, Java, or WebSocket.

Even though it's not that relevant for this specific app, LibreSpeed is also compatible with pretty much all modern browsers including Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and even Safari (and Internet Explorer 11).

Speedtest is a really good example of what a good GUI app is, in spite of its simplicity. Speedtest is a gorgeous and simple GUI for LibreSpeed, and definitely one of the best apps of this sort for Linux.