ping
Ranked 7 of 8 network diagnostic tools by recommenders
Built-in command for checking whether a network host responds, praised as reliable and essential for network discovery. Critics note that on Windows, ping without a count never stops and can spawn many processes.
Built-in command for checking whether a network host responds, praised as reliable and essential for network discovery. Critics note that on Windows, ping without a count never stops and can spawn many processes.
11 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 6
- criticize it
- 5
- approval share
- 55%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 6 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 1.2 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 5 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Reliable; preferred over buggy timeout
“It's important that the Ping app keeps sending pings even if they drop”
Comment from 28 May 2026 in “Indoor Wi-Fi Roaming with OpenWRT” “Ping is preferred because timeout is buggy”
Comment from 6 Oct 2026 in “Example.com just launched the biggest redesign in decades”
Other network diagnostic tools people recommend
The four most recommended other network diagnostic tools, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
See all 8 network diagnostic tools, rankedWhat people said
All 11 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Ping is preferred because timeout is buggy”
“He made Ping, MobileMe, and G4 Cube.”
“I use it to wrap ping.exe with colors and fewer columns”
“It's important that the Ping app keeps sending pings even if they drop”
“Apple made a social network called Ping. Disaster.”
“SJ had failures like Ping and MobileMe”
“the most useful (and thus important) discovery tool of all”
“Show me a piece of software without flaws and I'll show you either a liar, or perhaps the program "ping".”
“Why do I need both ping and ping6 this is stupid!!”
“tool "ping 8.8.8.8" never quits unless running on windows. This can spawn many processes that kill the server.”
“they'll do a reasonable job!”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.