The Stedman diagram has been used for some years to display aspects of the performance of instruments measuring surface roughness. Such diagrams are herein employed to compare the features of a range of proprietary measuring instruments, including contact and non-contact devices. An extension of the basic diagram is proposed, which would allow it to include a further aspect: the speed of data collection. Figures of merit based on the revised diagram are computed, which enable instruments to be ranked on these particular aspects of their performance. Contact instruments emerge as comparable to non-contact, as their slower rate of data acquisition can be offset by the greater area they can access in amplitude–wavelength space. © 2014 IOP Publishing Ltd.