Keyboard Polling Rate Test
Hold any key and measure how fast it auto-repeats. Click the box below, keep a letter or number key pressed, and the meter reads your repeat rate in hertz live — plus your max, average, and the initial delay before it kicks in.
Click here, then hold any key
Click the box and hold a key down — after a short delay it starts repeating, and the meter times that stream.
Keep one letter or number key pressed. The first repeat only comes after your OS’s initial delay — give it a second before reading the meter.
Browsers see one event per press, not hardware polling. This reads your system’s key-repeat setting, so a faster keyboard won’t change it.
Raise the repeat rate and shorten the delay in your OS keyboard settings, then run the test again to confirm the change.
When you hold a key, your operating system waits out an initial delay, then fires the key over and over at a fixed pace — the key repeat rate, measured in hertz. It sets how fast an arrow key runs the cursor across a document, how quickly Backspace eats a line, and how responsive held-key movement feels in games and editors. Most systems default to 20–30 repeats per second, and both the rate and the delay are adjustable. This test times the gap between repeat events as they reach your browser, so you see the rate your system actually delivers — not a spec-sheet number.
Key repeat rate vs. hardware polling rate
They sound alike but live in different layers. Hardware polling rate is how often your keyboard reports its state over USB — 125 Hz on ordinary boards, 1000 Hz or more on gaming ones — but a web page can’t see it: the browser gets exactly one event per press, however fast the keyboard polls. What a browser can time is the auto-repeat stream, which the operating system generates — so this test (like every browser-based "keyboard polling rate test") measures your OS key repeat rate, and a faster keyboard won’t change the reading. Mouse polling differs: the browser does receive a stream of movement events, which is why the Mouse Polling Rate Tester can read a mouse’s true rate. To check individual keys, ghosting, and rollover, use the Keyboard Tester.
How to change your key repeat rate
| OS | Where to find it | What to set |
|---|---|---|
| Windows | Control Panel → Keyboard → Speed tab | Drag "Repeat rate" to Fast and "Repeat delay" to Short |
| macOS | System Settings → Keyboard | Set "Key repeat rate" to Fast and "Delay until repeat" to Short |
| Linux | Settings → Keyboard, or a terminal | Adjust the repeat controls, or run xset r rate 200 30 (200 ms delay, 30 Hz) |
What your reading means
| Reading | What it means |
|---|---|
| 30 Hz or more | Your OS is at or near its fastest repeat setting |
| 20–30 Hz | The default on most systems — fine for everyday typing |
| Under 15 Hz | A slow repeat setting — raise it if held keys feel sluggish |
| No repeats at all | Modifier keys (Shift, Ctrl, Alt) never auto-repeat — hold a letter instead. Accessibility keyboard settings can also disable repeating |