05 Nov 2025
Introducing a new version of the Pulse IXP Tracker! The first version of the Tracker was released in July 2024. Since then, we’ve been gathering feedback from users and the broader Internet Society community. In September, we updated how we count IXPs, which reduced the total number reflected in the tracker, but made it more accurate. In this release, we’ve made a big upgrade, with more data, an updated look and feel, improved structure, and more ways for Internet advocates to make the case for IXP development.
What's New
More introductory front page: better context, improved graph with regional breakdown
The front page now sets a little more context about the global IXP landscape, including a regional IXP count. We’ve also added some ways to highlight countries with especially strong IXP development, and a “fast-growing IXP” that we update each month, which represents an IXP that has the highest recent member growth by percentage. This helps draw attention to IXPs that deserve recognition.
Country pages have richer, more contextual data
We’re aiming for country level pages to answer the question “what do IXPs look like in the overall Internet landscape in this country?” We’ve added some relevant stats from the country reports, and pulled in the locally cached content scores, since this can be strongly affected by IXPs. You’ll also be able to see where there are opportunities, with data about the number of population centers that do and don’t have IXPs. Countries without IXPs will return a slightly more meaningful empty state.
New data points on the IXP pages
Part of the reason for this update was to align the way we present the data with our pro-peering stance, and promote good Internet stewardship. We’ve added data about whether IXPs participate in the MANRS IXP program, since those IXPs demonstrate ongoing commitment to important security practices. And you can now see if an IXP has a RIPE Atlas anchor.
Improved information about IXP membership
The biggest changes to the Tracker are on the individual IXP pages. We’ve updated the layout, and added important information at aggregate level, such as number of ASNs joining and leaving over the past year, the proportion of members peering at the route server, a breakdown of member peering policies, and the number using any form of RPKI. In the member list, you can now interact with it and see specific information, such as peering policy, port speed, and number of other IXP locations where this ASN is present.
Improvements
Updated how we measure domestic network coverage
In the old version of the Tracker, we used a stat that showed the proportion of domestic networks that peer at IXPs, but this number didn’t accurately demonstrate the reach they have. Inspired by work being carried out by the IXPert team on IXPs in the LACNIC region, we’ve updated how we measure this, too, and now we show how many ASNs either peer directly, or are customers of those ASNs that peer directly. For now, we’re only showing this at country level because we want to continue improving the data for individual IXPs so that it’s useful for making interpretations and decisions.
Navigate straight to an IXP from the front page
In the first version, you could only get to a specific IXP by drilling down through the country-level pages. This was because the IXP list was an alphabetical, global list of over 1500 IXPs. Now you can go straight to an IXP from the front page by selecting a country, and then seeing its IXPs in a separate dropdown. You can also dive in and use the global alphabetical list.
Other Updates
Removed the top 10 countries by coverage
We’re always looking for ways to convey the benefits of IXPs, but also to showcase the impact IXPs have had in parts of the world that don’t get enough attention. The top 10 countries felt like a good way to highlight the important work done by Internet advocates in smaller countries, especially island states and territories. But we received feedback that, while well-intentioned, this data wasn’t adding value. Data is also more interesting when it’s dynamic and changing, and this list didn’t seem to change much. So we removed this list.
Started using our own identifiers for IXPs
We started out using PeeringDB’s IXP IDs (the number you see in the URLs for individual IXP pages). We were originally using the PeeringDB id for an IXP to identify that IXP (e.g. in the page URL) as PeeringDB is currently our only source of IXP info. We are looking into ways we can combine multiple sources of IXP info into a richer list of IXPs. So we have changed all our URLs to use ids assigned by our own system. This will potentially allow us to list IXPs that aren’t in PeeringDB in future.
Bug Fixes
Now you can go to a country page from an IXP page
Users spotted a bug that meant if you were on an IXP page, you could navigate to other IXPs within that country, but you couldn’t then navigate to another country’s IXP landing page from that page. You could select a country, but it returned a blank page. Now you can move with ease between countries, no matter where you are in the Tracker.