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RIPE Atlas

atlas.ripe.net

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Spec score 8.4 #9 of 37 in Network Diagnostic Software

What it is

RIPE Atlas is a global probe network for measuring Internet connectivity and reachability in real time. Most collected results are freely available to browse, download or use, including for people without a probe or RIPE NCC account. Users with enough credits can schedule their own ping, DNS, traceroute and SSL certificate measurements through the portal or API, with settings such as address family and interval. The network also runs built-in measurements automatically, some of which provide historical records spanning years. Eligible new users can claim a one-time grant of 50,000 free credits, while connected probe hosts earn credits. Probe-host applications are assessed by location; approved applicants receive a probe by post at no charge. Software probe options include Linux, Raspbian, Docker and OpenWRT. RIPE Atlas offers REST and streaming APIs, as well as command-line tools requiring Python. It is listed for web, API, Linux and macOS, with additional platform support including BSD and Turris; Windows is experimental. Probe IP addresses can appear in measurements, but personal email addresses are not shown.

Spec sheet

What it does
RIPE Atlas is a global network of probes and anchors that actively measures Internet connectivity and makes data available through maps, visualisations and APIs.Read 15 Oct 2026 · ripe.net
Purpose
RIPE Atlas is a global network of probes that measures Internet connectivity and reachability in real time.Read 30 Sep 2026 · atlas.ripe.net
Privacy
Probe IP addresses can appear in measurements, while personal email addresses are never shown.Read 30 Sep 2026 · atlas.ripe.net
Headquarters
Amsterdam, NetherlandsRead 23 Sep 2026 · atlas.ripe.net
Founded
2010Read 23 Sep 2026 · atlas.ripe.net
API and tooling
RIPE Atlas provides a REST API, a streaming API, and command-line tools that require Python.Read 30 Sep 2026 · atlas.ripe.net
Authentication
The API supports scoped API keys and session-based authentication, while many read operations work anonymously.Read 15 Oct 2026 · beta-ui.atlas.ripe.net
Built-in measurements
Connected probes automatically run predefined ping, traceroute, DNS, SSL/TLS and HTTP measurements toward well-known targets.Read 15 Oct 2026 · ui.prod.atlas.ripe.net
Credits
Probe hosts earn credits while probes remain connected and spend those credits on user-defined measurements.Read 15 Oct 2026 · atlas.ripe.net
Custom measurements
Users can schedule their own measurements through the portal or API when they have enough credits.Read 15 Oct 2026 · atlas.ripe.net
Documentation
Documentation includes getting-started guides, how-to procedures, troubleshooting, API manuals, endpoint references, release notes and security disclosures.Read 15 Oct 2026 · beta-ui.atlas.ripe.net
Independent use case
Microsoft researchers used more than 8,000 predominantly home-hosted RIPE Atlas probes to investigate anycast CDN performance.Read 15 Oct 2026 · microsoft.com
Independent use case: NAT64
A 2024 RIPE Labs study used RIPE Atlas to measure NAT64 deployment and performance across networks.Read 15 Oct 2026 · labs.ripe.net
Limit: API rate limits
A January 2025 RIPE Atlas mailing-list report describes errors from too many concurrent WebSocket connections and observations of 100% packet loss or very long RTTs.Read 15 Oct 2026 · mailman.ripe.net
Limit: Missing data
A peer-reviewed study found that regular RIPE Atlas measurements commonly lose data points, including many losses occurring while probes appeared connected.Read 15 Oct 2026 · arxiv.org
Limit: Sampling bias
Independent analysis reports that RIPE Atlas vantage-point deployment and its probe-selection algorithm can produce substantial measurement bias compared with random sampling.Read 15 Oct 2026 · tma.ifip.org
Maker founded
The RIPE NCC began operations in April 1992.Read 15 Oct 2026 · ripe.net
Maker headquarters
The RIPE NCC Amsterdam office is at Stationsplein 11, Amsterdam, Netherlands.Read 15 Oct 2026 · ripe.net
Maker legal status
RIPE NCC is a not-for-profit membership organisation under Dutch law, funded by members and governed by an elected board.Read 15 Oct 2026 · ripe.net
Maker size
The RIPE NCC says it has more than 175 people from over 40 countries.Read 15 Oct 2026 · ripe.net
Measurement types
Built-in and user-defined tests include ping, traceroute, DNS, SSL/TLS, NTP and HTTP measurements for anchors.Read 15 Oct 2026 · ripe.net
Network scale
The RIPE NCC states that the network contains more than 14,000 probes.Read 15 Oct 2026 · ripe.net
Notable news: anchor upgrade
The RIPE NCC announced an RIPE Atlas anchor operating-system upgrade on 28 June 2024.Read 15 Oct 2026 · ripe.net
Open-source probe code
The RIPE Atlas software-probe code is publicly maintained in a RIPE-NCC GitHub repository.Read 15 Oct 2026 · github.com
Organization
RIPE NCC’s Amsterdam office is at Stationsplein 11 in Amsterdam, Netherlands.Read 30 Sep 2026 · ripe.net
Praise: Research utility
Independent research papers use RIPE Atlas for large-scale Internet measurement, including studies involving roughly 10,000 vantage points and billions of results.Read 15 Oct 2026 · arxiv.org
Privacy behavior
Probe locations are irreversibly obfuscated by up to one kilometre for public views, and probes do not inspect local private traffic.Read 15 Oct 2026 · ui.prod.atlas.ripe.net
Probe hosting
Approved applicants receive a hardware probe by post at no charge and earn credits after connecting it.Read 15 Oct 2026 · atlas.ripe.net
Public data
The vast majority of collected data is freely available to browse, download, or use without hosting a probe or having a RIPE NCC account.Read 30 Sep 2026 · atlas.ripe.net
Python SDK
RIPE-NCC publishes Cousteau, a Python wrapper for the RIPE Atlas API, installable with pip and released under GPL-3.0.Read 15 Oct 2026 · github.com
Quota
User-defined measurement quotas include 100 simultaneous measurements, 1,000 probes per measurement, 100,000 daily results and 1,000,000 daily credits.Read 15 Oct 2026 · atlas.ripe.net
Rating on Trustpilot
RIPE NCC has a TrustScore of 2.6 out of 5 from 4 reviews.Read 15 Oct 2026 · trustpilot.com
REST API
The REST API v2 exposes endpoints for measurements, probes, anchors, credits, API keys and participation requests.Read 15 Oct 2026 · atlas.ripe.net
Security controls
Probes accept no inbound connections, use mutually authenticated outbound connections and refuse to measure private RFC1918 addresses.Read 15 Oct 2026 · ui.prod.atlas.ripe.net
Security review
An external security firm reviewed the website and v5 hardware probe in March 2023; reported issues were corrected and no exploitation evidence was found.Read 15 Oct 2026 · beta-ui.atlas.ripe.net
Security reviews
RIPE NCC says an external security firm reviewed the security mechanisms of the website and v5 hardware probe in March 2023.Read 30 Sep 2026 · atlas.ripe.net
Self-hosting limit
Software probes can only be configured as public probes.Read 15 Oct 2026 · atlas.ripe.net
Software probes
Software probes can run without dedicated hardware on maintained infrastructure such as Debian, RHEL, Linux source builds, Docker, OpenWRT, Raspbian and Turris.Read 15 Oct 2026 · atlas.ripe.net
Streaming API
Built-in measurement results can also be consumed through a streaming API.Read 15 Oct 2026 · ui.prod.atlas.ripe.net
Trustpilot complaint
One Trustpilot reviewer alleged difficulty reporting abuse and claimed RIPE-addressed systems were associated with extortion emails.Read 15 Oct 2026 · trustpilot.com
Use cases
The service terms describe its purposes as research, network monitoring, network debugging, and alerting about network events.Read 30 Sep 2026 · ripe.net

Plans and prices

RIPE Atlas Free public data is freely available · custom measurements require credits Read 30 Sep 2026 · atlas.ripe.net
RIPE Atlas Free Public measurements and data · Custom measurements require credits · Up to 100 simultaneous measurements · Up to 1,000 probes per measurement · Up to 100,000 results per day Read 15 Oct 2026 · ripe.net

Every RIPE Atlas plan and price →

Strong points and limits

Strong points

  • Most collected data is freely available.
  • Supports ping, DNS, traceroute and SSL tests.
  • Offers REST and streaming APIs.
  • Eligible new users can claim 50,000 credits.

Limits

  • Custom measurements require credits.
  • Windows support is experimental.
  • Probe IP addresses can appear in measurements.

Who it suits

RIPE Atlas suits researchers and network operators who need public connectivity measurements or want to schedule their own tests. Probe hosting may suit users whose location is accepted for an application.

Verdict

RIPE Atlas offers public results alongside credit-based custom measurements and several ways to access them. Check the platform details and IP-address visibility before using it for a particular workflow.

Where Specifiction places it

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