M-Lab Knowledge Base M-Lab is a community project: its tests are open source, its data is public, and its measurement infrastructure is maintained through partnerships with networks, institutions, and developers worldwide. Integrating an M-Lab test into your product is one of the most direct ways to participate in that community — your users run measurements that contribute to the global public dataset, and in return you get access to reliable, independently verifiable speed test infrastructure.
Who Has Integrated M-Lab Tests
The Network Diagnostic Tool (NDT) is M-Lab’s most widely integrated test. Third-party integrations include Google Search (the “internet speed test” panel in search results), Speedup America, Fing, and a number of ISP portals and consumer applications. Each integration runs the same standardized test and contributes results to M-Lab’s open archive.
Adding NDT to Your Website or Application
M-Lab’s tests are open source and available as client libraries for several platforms:
| Platform | Library |
|---|---|
| JavaScript (browser) | ndt7-js |
| Go | ndt7-client-go |
| iOS | ndt7-client-ios |
| Android | ndt7-client-android |
All clients follow the same flow:
- Query the Locate API to find the nearest M-Lab server for the user
- Run the NDT7 test (download and upload, ~10 seconds each)
- Display results; the raw measurement is automatically uploaded to M-Lab’s archive
Access Tokens
NDT7 tests run through the Locate API require an access token returned in the Locate API response. Your client must pass this token to the test server when connecting. Tokens bind a measurement to its session and are logged in the raw data, so the provenance of every test is auditable. The reference client libraries handle this automatically.
Data from Your Integration
Measurements from your integration flow into M-Lab’s standard data pipeline and are published to BigQuery and Google Cloud Storage within ~24 hours. This means your users’ tests become part of the open public dataset — searchable by the community.
Choosing Between M-Lab-Managed and Host-Managed Servers
By default, clients are directed to the nearest M-Lab-managed server via the Locate API. For integrators who want more control — or want to place measurement capacity directly in their own network — M-Lab offers two paths:
M-Lab-managed servers — the default. No infrastructure work required. Your users are served by M-Lab’s global network of servers at internet exchange facilities. Results appear in ndt7_union and ndt7 BigQuery views.
Host-Managed servers (BYOS) — your organization hosts an M-Lab node on your own infrastructure using Docker. This is well-suited to ISPs, IXPs, and large platforms that want measurements anchored to specific networks. Results appear in ndt7_dynamic. See Running Your Own M-Lab Node: The BYOS Program for hardware requirements and deployment steps.
Contributing Infrastructure as a Community Partner
M-Lab’s measurement coverage depends on organizations that contribute servers and network capacity. Several models exist for infrastructure partners:
- BYOS nodes — deploy a Docker-based M-Lab node on your servers. Used by ISPs, academic networks, and community broadband providers. All measurements from your node become open data.
- IXP hosting — internet exchange points hosting M-Lab nodes provide measurement capacity to all member networks, making them a high-leverage contribution point.
- Research partnerships — academic and research institutions can work with M-Lab to run additional experiments alongside NDT. New experiments go through M-Lab’s Experiment Review Committee.
Hosting a node also gives you a direct view into how users on your network experience the internet, queryable via BigQuery using the server.Site field.
Getting Support
The M-Lab team regularly works with application and web developers to support integrations. To get started:
- Review the M-Lab Developer Guide for technical documentation
- Email support@measurementlab.net to discuss your integration or infrastructure partnership
- Join the M-Lab Discuss group to connect with the broader community of developers and researchers using M-Lab
M-Lab support typically responds within five business days.