Report updated May 5, 2026
Speed
For mobile and broadband users seeking to troubleshoot connectivity, monitor service outages, and verify network performance.
Speed is an established games app that is free with in-app purchases. With a 4.5/5 rating from 1.5M reviews, it shows polarized user reception. Users particularly appreciate consistent speed measurement accuracy provides reliable data for users monitoring their internet service provider performance, though aggressive advertising overlays obscure critical test results and display misleading system update notifications to users remains a common concern.
What is Speed?
Speed is a network diagnostic utility for mobile and broadband users, providing speed tests, coverage maps, and service status monitoring on iOS and Android.
Users hire Speed to verify ISP performance and troubleshoot connectivity, relying on the app to provide objective data for service disputes.
Current Momentum
v7.0 · 3w ago
Maintenance- Integrated Downdetector status monitoring.
- Updated test experience for readability.
- Added new network performance articles.
What makes this app unique?
What Does It Look Like?
What Are The Key Features?
Real-time status monitoring for third-party online services.
Encrypted connection service with 2GB free data.
Visual representation of mobile provider signal strength.
How much does it cost?
- Free tier with ads and 2GB VPN limit
- Premium subscription for ad-free and unlimited VPN
Freemium model uses ad-supported free tier to maintain scale, gating privacy and ad-removal behind premium.
Who Built It?
Adam Doherty
Providing network diagnostic tools for mobile and broadband users to verify connectivity performance. Focused on delivering rapid, data-driven insights for home and cellular network troubleshooting.
Portfolio
13
Apps
What other apps does Adam Doherty make?
Internet Speed Test Speedcheck
WiFi Speed Test
Simple Speedcheck
SpeedCheck Internet Speed Test
Craps Strategy Pro
CASER: Case Search & Alerts
Explore the full Adam Doherty report
Portfolio breakdown, audience, momentum, and every app published by Adam Doherty.
What do users think recently?
High confidence · 59 reviews analyzed · Based on 59 reviews. Signal may be noisy.
How did the latest release land?
What is the recent mood?
Recent user voice shows a mixed sentiment. Users appreciate consistent speed measurement accuracy provides reliable data for users monitoring their internet service provider performance, but report aggressive advertising overlays obscure critical test results and display misleading system update notifications to users.
What Users Love
What Frustrates Users
What Users Want
View the full user-sentiment analysis
Mood gauge, ratings & review-volume history, every praise / complaint / request, and sentiment over time.
What is the competitive landscape for Speed?
How's The Games Market?
Market outlook for this category
Available very soon
The rivals identified
Nemeses(1)
Ookla
This is the industry-standard benchmark for internet performance with a massive, global server infrastructure that the target app cannot match.
Differentiators
- Operates a proprietary global server network that ensures consistent, high-accuracy testing across diverse geographic regions.
- Integrates deep-level ISP performance data and historical trends that provide context beyond a simple speed snapshot.
- Maintains a massive cross-platform ecosystem that establishes the brand as the universal standard for connectivity testing.
Head to head
The target app cannot compete on raw infrastructure scale; it must defend by offering a superior, ad-free, and privacy-focused user experience that prioritizes speed and simplicity.
Contenders(2)
Positions itself as a user-friendly, ad-free alternative that focuses on real-world application performance.
Differentiators
- Translates raw speed test data into practical performance scores for specific apps like YouTube, Spotify, and WhatsApp.
- Provides a completely ad-free interface that removes the friction and visual clutter common in competing speed test apps.
High-velocity release cadence and comprehensive testing metrics make this a strong alternative for power users.
Differentiators
- Includes advanced testing for streaming quality and web browsing performance rather than just raw bandwidth throughput.
- Maintains a high-frequency update schedule that consistently introduces new diagnostic features and UI refinements.
Same space(2)
A long-standing utility that focuses on historical tracking and detailed performance logging for power users.
Differentiators
- Features robust historical data logging that allows users to track performance trends over extended periods of time.
- Optimized for detailed performance reporting that appeals to users who require granular data for troubleshooting ISP issues.
Focuses on network discovery and security diagnostics rather than just raw internet speed measurement.
Differentiators
- Provides deep-dive network security scanning to identify unauthorized devices connected to the local wifi network.
- Offers comprehensive device identification and manufacturer details that go far beyond basic connectivity performance metrics.
Compare Speed against every rival
All rivals in one side-by-side table — identity, store metrics, ratings & sentiment, and strategic intel — plus a head-to-head page for each.
The outtake for Speed
Strengths to defend, gaps to attack
Core Strengths
- Global server network ensures consistent baseline metrics
- Downdetector integration drives daily utility beyond testing
Critical Frictions
- Aggressive ad overlays obscure critical test results
- Excessive permission requests trigger privacy distrust
Growth Levers
- Develop B2B partnerships for aggregated network data
- Introduce wearable-specific diagnostic tools
Market Threats
- Ad-free competitors siphoning privacy-conscious users
- EU data-minimization trends tightening permission requirements
What are the next best moves?
Audit permission scope because excessive requests trigger privacy distrust → improve user sentiment
Privacy-conscious users label the app as a data harvesting tool due to unnecessary access requests.
Trade-off: Push the wearable companion app sprint to Q3 — permission hygiene is a higher-priority churn risk.
Remove ad overlays from test results because they obscure data → increase retention
Aggressive advertising overlays are the #1 complaint theme in user reviews.
Trade-off: Pause the annual subscription price-test — ad-blocking has 4x the impact on user churn.
A counter-intuitive read
The app's #1 threat is not feature parity from rivals, but its own ad-monetization strategy, which creates a negative-sum game where every ad-impression increases the likelihood of user churn to ad-free alternatives.
Feature Gaps vs Competitors
- Ad-free interface (available in Meteor but missing here)
- Advanced streaming quality metrics (available in nPerf but missing here)
Key Takeaways
Speed maintains a strong utility core, but aggressive ad-monetization is eroding user trust and driving churn to ad-free competitors, so the PM must prioritize ad-transparency and permission-scope audits to defend the user base.
Where Is It Heading?
Declining
The network diagnostic market is consolidating around privacy-first, ad-free experiences, leaving Speed's current ad-heavy model exposed. Unless the team pivots to a transparent subscription value proposition, the current sentiment decline will accelerate churn to competitors like Meteor.
Aggressive ad overlays in the latest update trigger high-frequency churn complaints, which compounds the rating drag already visible on Android.
Excessive permission requests in recent builds drive privacy-conscious users toward ad-free competitors, accelerating churn pressure into the next quarter.