Question 1

Is this refresh rate test free?

Accepted Answer

Yes, and it always will be. There's no sign-up, no time limit, and no catch — the live Hz reading starts the moment this page loads.

Question 2

Do I need to download or install anything?

Accepted Answer

No. Everything runs in this browser tab, so there's nothing to install and nothing left behind when you close it.

Question 3

Does this tool record or upload anything from my screen?

Accepted Answer

No. This test only reads how fast your own browser can draw frames on this screen — nothing is recorded, uploaded, or sent anywhere. This tool doesn't even have a server to send it to.

Question 4

How accurate is this refresh rate reading?

Accepted Answer

It's a live estimate that gets more accurate the longer you watch it: an initial reading appears within about a second, and a confidence indicator climbs toward "high" as the sample count approaches roughly 300 frames, about ten to fifteen seconds on a 60Hz+ display. That's a deliberate middle ground between an instant-but-rougher reading and a stricter guidance of closing every other tab and waiting 30 seconds — wait for high confidence before trusting the exact decimal.

Question 5

Why does my monitor show 60Hz when it's supposed to be 144Hz or higher?

Accepted Answer

A few things commonly cause this: your OS display settings may not actually be set to the higher rate, your cable might not support the bandwidth a higher refresh rate needs (look for DisplayPort or HDMI 2.0 or newer), or — on a laptop — battery-saving mode may be capping it. Check the verdict above the reading for a specific note about your case, since the wording changes once the reading itself settles at 60Hz.

Question 6

Why did the reading restart or say "measuring again"?

Accepted Answer

This tool watches whether this tab was hidden or in the background at any point during a reading — browsers throttle background tabs, which would otherwise distort the number. If that happens, the affected samples are discarded and sampling restarts automatically, with a short note so it doesn't look like a glitch. Keep this tab in the foreground for the steadiest reading.

Question 7

Does being on battery power affect my refresh rate reading?

Accepted Answer

It can, on some laptops that cap the display or browser refresh rate to save power. Where your browser supports it (Chromium-based browsers like Chrome and Edge — this API is removed from Firefox and was never implemented in Safari, over fingerprinting concerns), the verdict above reacts to your actual charging state and mentions this only when it's genuinely true for your session, not as a blanket warning shown to everyone.

Question 8

Can this tool tell me if variable refresh rate (VRR/FreeSync/G-Sync) is active?

Accepted Answer

It can flag a pattern consistent with it: a sustained, non-constant frame-interval pattern (rather than settling on one stable value) is called out inline. No browser exposes a genuine VRR-engaged/disengaged reading, so this is a disclosed pattern-match on the timing data, not a definitive on/off readout.

Question 9

Does this test check for ghosting or motion blur?

Accepted Answer

No — that's a different, bigger job: diagnosing pixel-transition and overdrive artifacts, not reading your display's currently active refresh rate. The motion-clarity demo below the reading is a secondary visual confirmation only. Look for a dedicated ghosting or motion-blur test if that's what you need.

Question 10

Can this test measure input lag?

Accepted Answer

No — genuinely not something a browser script can measure. True input lag is the delay from an actual click to a photon leaving the screen, which needs external hardware like a photodiode or high-speed camera to measure honestly. This tool sticks to what a browser can actually verify: how fast it can draw frames.

Question 11

What's the difference between refresh rate (Hz) and frame rate (FPS)?

Accepted Answer

Refresh rate (Hz) is how many times per second your display itself redraws the screen — a fixed hardware number. Frame rate (FPS) is how many new frames a game or video is actually producing per second, which can be lower than, equal to, or (with VRR) matched to your display's refresh rate. This test measures your display's refresh rate, which is why the reading is capped by your monitor's own Hz.

Question 12

Does this work on my phone or tablet?

Accepted Answer

Yes. The same code that reads your desktop monitor's refresh rate works unmodified on mobile browsers, so you can check a phone or tablet's advertised 90Hz/120Hz display the same way.

Question 13

Can I use this to check a monitor before buying it secondhand?

Accepted Answer

Yes, that's exactly the kind of situation this is built for. Watch the reading settle, check it against the seller's claimed spec, and copy or download your report as a timestamped record before a return-window deadline.

Monitor Refresh Rate Test

Standard rates

Live stats

Frame-time stability

Motion clarity demo

Device & display info

Your report

Frequently asked questions

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