MTR test on Mac OS

MTR combines ping and traceroute in one tool. It sends test packets to a target host and shows the latency and packet loss on every router (hop) along the route. This helps you see where a network problem starts: in your local network, at your provider, at a transit operator or near the server.

INTROSERV support often asks for an MTR report when a customer reports slow speed, lag or packet loss. This guide shows how to install MTR on macOS, run a test and save the report. On Windows, use WinMTR instead, see Checking the WinMTR channel.

Install Homebrew

macOS does not include MTR, so install it with the Homebrew package manager. If Homebrew is already installed, skip this step.

Open the Terminal app and run the installation command from the official Homebrew website:

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

The installer asks for your macOS user password and may offer to install the Command Line Tools for Xcode. Confirm it. At the end, follow the instructions in the Next steps section of the output: they add Homebrew to your PATH.

Check the installation:

brew --version

Install MTR

Install MTR:

brew install mtr

Homebrew installs MTR to the sbin folder inside its own directory: /opt/homebrew/sbin on Macs with Apple silicon and /usr/local/sbin on Macs with Intel processors. MTR needs administrator rights to send test packets, so run it with sudo and the full path. The command below finds the path automatically:

sudo "$(brew --prefix)/sbin/mtr" --version

The output shows the installed version of MTR.

Run the test

Before the test, turn off any VPN on your computer and, if possible, connect it by cable instead of Wi-Fi. This helps avoid additional factors that can affect the result. Run MTR to your server and replace YOUR_SERVER_IP with its IP address or domain name:

sudo "$(brew --prefix)/sbin/mtr" -c 1000 YOUR_SERVER_IP

The -c 1000 option runs 1000 test cycles, one per second, and collects statistics for each hop. A longer test gives a more representative picture of packet loss, but it takes about 17 minutes. For a quick check, you can use -c 100, but send the result of the full test to support.

While the test is running, MTR updates the table on the screen. To stop the test before all 1000 cycles are completed, press q.

Save the report

To send the results to support, run MTR in report mode and save the output to a file:

sudo "$(brew --prefix)/sbin/mtr" -r -c 1000 -w YOUR_SERVER_IP > mtr-report.txt

The -r option turns on report mode, and the -w option shows full host names in the report without cutting them. In report mode, the screen stays empty until the test ends. When the command finishes, the file mtr-report.txt is saved in the current folder. If you have just opened Terminal, it is usually your home folder. Attach the file to your support request.

Read the results

Each row of the table is one hop on the route, and the last row is the target host. The main columns are:

• Loss% shows the share of packets that got no response;
• Snt shows the number of packets sent;
• Last, Avg, Best and Wrst show the latency of the last packet, the average, the best and the worst latency in milliseconds;
• StDev shows how much the latency varies.

Loss on one intermediate hop that does not continue to the next hops is usually not a problem: many routers give low priority to test packets or limit how often they respond. If loss starts at one hop and continues through the following hops to the target host, it can indicate packet loss starting at that point in the route. A sharp rise in latency that stays high on the following hops, including the target host, can indicate a delay or congestion starting at that point in the route.