The size of the data blocks sent during the test.
LANBench is a free, lightweight, and easy-to-use utility designed to benchmark the . Unlike simple file copy tests that rely on the speed of your hard drive, LANBench tests the maximum achievable speed directly through your network’s TCP protocol. This provides a much more accurate measurement of your network hardware's actual capabilities.
LANBench may be small in size (approximately 1.9 MB), but it packs a punch for network diagnostics:
To evaluate the performance of LANBench, we conducted several experiments on a Gigabit Ethernet network. The server and client were connected to the same switch, and the distance between them was approximately 10 meters. We ran the benchmarking test for 10 minutes, with a packet size of 1400 bytes and a buffer size of 64 KB. LANBench
The controller spawns worker goroutines/threads. Each worker:
To run the LANBench server, use the following command:
Define how long the test runs (e.g., 30 seconds is good for an average). The size of the data blocks sent during the test
: Supports specialized data paths including Send Only , Receive Only , or simultaneous Bidirectional testing.
Listens for incoming connections and measures traffic.
Specifically designed to benchmark TCP performance. This provides a much more accurate measurement of
LANBench uses the TCP and UDP protocols to send and receive data packets. The tool allows users to configure various parameters, such as the packet size, buffer size, and number of iterations. The tool also provides features to measure the throughput, latency, and packet loss of the network.
is the "friendly" alternative—providing a simple graphical interface that gives you the same essential "pipe-filling" data without the need to learn terminal commands. The Verdict
Developed by Zach Saw and engineered on the Winsock 2.2 API , this lightweight tool measures Local Area Network (LAN) throughput by utilizing an optimized multithreaded architecture. It bypasses typical system bottlenecks, such as slow read/write speeds of storage drives, by generating and sending synthetic traffic entirely within system memory (RAM).
| Tool | Protocol Support | Platform | Key Strength | Key Weakness | |---|---|---|---|---| | | TCP only | Windows | Simple, lightweight, free, portable | Limited to TCP, dated UI | | iPerf3 | TCP & UDP | Cross-platform | Industry standard, highly configurable | No native GUI, steeper learning curve | | LAN Speed Test | File-based | Cross-platform | Works with only one computer (needs shared folder) | Results influenced by disk I/O | | TamoSoft Throughput Test | TCP & UDP | Windows | Supports both TCP and UDP, GUI-based | Less customizable than iPerf | | NetIO-GUI | TCP & UDP | Windows | Tests range of packet sizes automatically | Less intuitive interface |