Mouse Polling Rate Test
Free mouse polling rate test. Swirl for 5 seconds and see your rate in Hz. Raw input in Chrome or Edge on Windows counts every report, up to 8000 Hz.
Use the tester above to measure your mouse polling rate in Hz. Move the mouse fast in circles and watch the Max value. To check buttons, scroll, and double-click instead, use the Mouse Test.
How to use
- Click to start. Click the test box. Your cursor hides for 5 seconds while the test counts your mouse's reports.
- Swirl the mouse fast. Draw big, fast circles until the cursor comes back. A mouse only sends a report when it moves, so a slow hand reads low.
- Read the Max. Read Max and the badge. Then change a setting or a USB port and run it again to compare.
Why test this
Polling rate is how often your mouse reports its position to the computer, measured in Hz. A 1000 Hz mouse sends an update every millisecond, while an old 125 Hz office mouse sends one every eight. A higher rate means less cursor lag and tighter aim tracking. That's why gaming mice now ship at 1000, 4000, or 8000 Hz. The box prints a number. What you actually get depends on the driver, the USB port, the wireless mode, and whether you changed any onboard setting. A new 4K or 8K mouse often ships at 1000 Hz until you raise it in the software. The spec and the real rate don't always match. Swirl for 5 seconds and you'll see how many reports your mouse sends each second. Nothing to install. Run it after you switch modes or plug into a different USB port. Buying a used mouse? Run it before you game.
What the results mean
The big number is your Max, the highest rate the test caught during the 5-second run. Closest standard snaps it to a common rate between 125 and 8000 Hz. A 2K, 4K, or 8K badge confirms that class when a raw input run lands on it. Reports is the total: every position report your mouse sent. In Chrome or Edge on Windows the test locks your cursor and reads raw input, so a high-rate mouse lands close to its setting. Without raw input you get the regular cursor path, where Windows keeps only the latest move when moves arrive faster than the browser reads them. Firefox takes raw input but still drops reports at 8000 Hz. In both cases the badge says "or faster", and a reading above 1000 Hz is a minimum. If a reading looks low, swirl faster and run it again.
FAQ
- What is a good mouse polling rate?
- For most people 1000 Hz is plenty and has been the standard for years. Competitive players sometimes run 4000 or 8000 Hz for a slightly smoother feel, but it uses more CPU. Anything at or above 1000 Hz feels responsive.
- How do I test if my 8000 Hz mouse really runs at 8000 Hz?
- Set 8000 Hz in the mouse software, open this test in Chrome or Edge on Windows, click the box and swirl fast for the full 5 seconds. Our Logitech PRO X Superlight 2 DEX at 8000 Hz read between 7850 and 7980 Hz, and the badge said 8K. A reading stuck near 1000 means the setting didn't apply.
- Why is my polling rate lower than the rated Hz?
- Swirl faster or raise the DPI first: your mouse reports only when it moves. A hub or KVM switch can drop it to USB Full Speed, which caps it at 1000 Hz, so plug straight into the PC. If the badge says "or faster", switch to Chrome or Edge on Windows: your browser lost reports above 1000 Hz, as Firefox did with our 8000 Hz mouse.
- Does a higher polling rate make me a better gamer?
- It helps at the margins. Going from 125 to 1000 Hz cuts input delay you can feel. Past 1000 Hz the gains are tiny and mostly matter on a high refresh display. Sensor quality, your settings, and practice matter more.
- Is this polling rate test accurate?
- Yes, in Chrome or Edge on Windows, where the test reads raw input: our 8000 Hz mouse read 7850 to 7980. Other browsers lose reports at high rates, Firefox included, and there a result above 1000 Hz only tells you the floor.
How we measure
Click the box. Pointer Lock captures your cursor, and the test asks for raw input. In Chrome and Edge on Windows, each report then comes from Windows raw input, not from the cursor. Your browser bundles reports into pointer events, and each event carries the samples merged into it. Samples are what the test counts, not events. The run lasts 5 seconds, and Reports is the total it counted.
The rate is the sample count divided by the time those samples span, over a rolling 1 second window. The first batch in the window is left out, because a run of batches spans one fewer gap than it has batches. Each batch is timed by the stamp on its last sample, not by when the page got to it, so a late frame can't inflate the rate. A stamp more than 50 ms older than its arrival gives way to the arrival time. Firefox once stamped an event 2.7 seconds late. Two single samples are never timed against each other: at 8000 Hz a report comes every 0.125 ms, and a browser rounds its stamps to 0.1 ms in Chrome and 1 ms in Firefox. It also stamps a sample when the system passes it along, not when the mouse sent it.
Max is the highest rate from any window that spans at least 400 ms. Closest standard snaps Max to 125, 250, 500, 1000, 2000, 4000 or 8000 Hz. Two of those steps come from USB timing: a full speed device can send one report per millisecond, 1000 a second, and a high speed device one every 0.125 ms, 8000 a second. A raw input Max within 5% of a standard confirms it, and from 2000 Hz up a badge says so. Otherwise a Max above 1000 Hz gets an "or faster" badge, because it is only a floor.
What a browser cannot see
Raw input depends on the browser. Chrome grants it on Windows, macOS and ChromeOS, but not on Linux. Firefox needs version 152 on Windows or macOS. Safari needs version 18.4 and a connected mouse. Without it, the test reads the regular cursor path, and that run never confirms a standard.
Our Logitech PRO X Superlight 2 DEX set to 8000 Hz read 7850 to 7980 Hz with raw input in Chrome on Windows. Over the regular cursor path the same mouse read 3300 to 3900 Hz. On that path Windows drops movement smaller than a pixel and keeps only the latest move when the browser falls behind. Firefox accepted raw input but still dropped reports from the same mouse.
We haven't measured a Mac. By default, macOS merges mouse moves before an app ever sees them. Stop moving and the reports stop too, so a slow or idle hand reads low. Through a hub or KVM switch the mouse can fall to USB full speed, and that caps it at 1000 Hz.
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