Accurate spectral measurement and wavelength determination are fundamental and vital for many fields.A compact spectrum analyzer with high performance is expected to meet the growing requirements,and speckle-based spectrum analyzer is a potential solution.The basic principle is based on using the random medium to establish a speckle-to-wavelength mapping relationship for spectrum reconstruction.This article introduces current speckle-based spectrum analyzers with different schemes and reviews recent advances in this field.Besides,some applications by using speckle-based spectrum analyzers are also introduced.Finally,the existing challenges and the future prospects of using speckle for spectrum recovery are discussed.