Open Visual Traceroute alternative: Route Map, native and open source
Route Map is a free, open source visual traceroute with native installers for Windows, macOS and Linux. It places each router by its operator's own hostname first, checks every placement against the round trip, and shows where each hop's location came from.
Also: Windows Installer Windows Zip macOS Apple silicon macOS Intel Linux Debian, Ubuntu (.deb) Linux Fedora, RHEL, openSUSE (.rpm) Linux AppImage Linux tar.gz. v0.5.0-beta.4, checksums and install steps.
About Open Visual Traceroute
Open Visual Traceroute is a free, open source visual traceroute by Leo Lewis, written in Java and licensed under the LGPLv32,4. It runs on Windows, Linux, macOS and FreeBSD with a 3D globe or 2D map, whois and a Gantt view2,3. Its newest download is a Windows installer, 2.1.1, dated 10 June 2026; the newest macOS and Linux packages are 2.0.0, from January 20221.
Side by side
"Not stated" means Open Visual Traceroute's own pages do not say, not that it lacks the feature.
| Route Map v0.5.0-beta.4 | Open Visual Traceroute 2.x | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free3 |
| Licence | Open source, AGPL-3.0 | Open source, LGPLv32,4 |
| Platforms | Windows 10 and 11, macOS 12 or later, Linux x86_64, with native installers | Java on Windows, Linux, macOS and FreeBSD; the Windows installer bundles a Java runtime2,3 |
| Last release | v0.5.0-beta.4 | Windows 2.1.1, 10 June 2026; macOS and Linux 2.0.0, January 20221 |
| How a hop gets its place | The router's hostname first (CAIDA Hoiho, carrier site codes), then DB-IP Lite on your machine or RIPEstat online | A GeoIP database, refreshed monthly3 |
| Physics check | Every placement checked against the round trip; rejections shown with the reason | Not stated |
| Source shown per hop | Yes | Not stated |
| AS path and RPKI | AS path offline from DB-IP Lite ASN; RPKI per AS from RIPEstat | Whois; RPKI not stated2 |
| Continuous monitoring | Watch, mtr style, with a ping plot | Not stated |
| Multipath discovery | Paths: Paris traceroute with the multipath detection algorithm | Not stated |
| Reverse trace | From a RIPE Atlas probe near the target back to you, with your own Atlas key | Not stated |
| DNS timing | Yes | Not stated (it reads DNS LOC records)3 |
| Port tests | Yes, at most 32 ports; a reachability check, not a scanner | Not stated |
| Remote agents | Your own servers, over your own ssh | Not stated |
| Exports | PNG, PDF, JSON | Image or text2 |
| Telemetry | None | Not stated |
| Submarine cables | No: the cable data is sold under licence | Not stated |
| Exchange points | No: PeeringDB's terms do not allow bundling its list | Not stated |
What Route Map does not do
Route Map draws no submarine cables and labels no exchange points: the cable data is sold under licence, and PeeringDB's terms do not allow bundling its prefix list. Its Windows and macOS builds are not code-signed yet. It traces from your computer or from a server you already reach with ssh, and runs no measurement servers of its own. Its port test is a reachability check, not a port scanner.
See also: Route Map and VisualRoute, and what a visual traceroute shows, and where most of them go wrong.
Sources
- sourceforge.net/projects/openvisualtrace/files/2.0.0/: OpenVisualTraceroute2.1.1.exe dated 2026-06-10; the dmg, deb and rpm files dated January 2022; read 26 October 2026
- sourceforge.net/projects/openvisualtrace/, read 26 October 2026
- The project's README.txt on SourceForge, read 26 October 2026
- github.com/leolewis/openvisualtraceroute, read 26 October 2026
If something here is wrong or out of date, tell us at [email protected] and we will correct it.