gping - Ping with a Live Graph Cheatsheet
gping is a Rust CLI that replaces the wall of scrolling text from ping with a live, scrolling latency graph in your terminal. It can plot several hosts on the same chart for easy comparison, and can even graph the execution time of an arbitrary command over repeated runs. It runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows.
Installation
| Platform | Command |
|---|
| Cargo (all platforms) | cargo install gping |
| macOS (Homebrew) | brew install gping |
| Arch Linux | sudo pacman -S gping |
| Debian/Ubuntu (repo) | sudo apt install gping |
| Fedora | sudo dnf install gping |
| Windows (Scoop) | scoop install gping |
| Windows (Choco) | choco install gping |
| Nix | nix-env -iA nixpkgs.gping |
Basic Usage
| Command | Description |
|---|
gping example.com | Live latency graph for one host |
gping 1.1.1.1 8.8.8.8 | Plot multiple hosts on one graph |
gping google.com cloudflare.com | Compare two providers side by side |
gping --help | Show all options |
gping --version | Version |
Key Options
| Option | Description |
|---|
-n, --watch-interval SECS | Seconds between pings (e.g. 0.5 for faster sampling) |
-b, --buffer N | Number of points to keep on screen |
-4 | Force IPv4 |
-6 | Force IPv6 |
--simple-graphics | Use ASCII instead of Braille (better on limited terminals) |
-i, --interface NAME | Ping from a specific network interface |
-c, --clear | Clear the screen before starting |
--color COLOR | Set a line color for the host |
Graphing a Command
gping can chart how long a command takes across repeated executions — useful for spotting variance or flaky latency.
| Command | Description |
|---|
gping --cmd "curl -s https://example.com" | Graph the run time of a command |
gping --cmd "ping -c1 1.1.1.1" | Wrap another command and chart it |
Interactive Keys
| Key | Action |
|---|
q / Ctrl+C | Quit |
| Resize terminal | Graph rescales automatically |
Common Workflows
# Is it my Wi-Fi or the site? Compare the gateway vs a public resolver
gping 192.168.1.1 1.1.1.1
# High-resolution sampling during a video call to spot jitter
gping -n 0.2 8.8.8.8
# Compare two CDNs head to head
gping cloudflare.com fastly.com
# Plot how long a health-check curl takes over time
gping --cmd "curl -so /dev/null -w '%{time_total}' https://example.com"
| Tool | Output | Notes |
|---|
| gping | Live graph | Multi-host, Rust, cross-platform |
| ping | Scrolling text | Universal baseline |
| prettyping | Inline sparkline | Wraps ping, single host |
| mtr | Per-hop table | Traceroute + ping combined |
Resources
