Refresh Rate Test — Check Your Screen's Hz Online
Find out how many times per second your screen really updates. The test starts automatically and reports your measured refresh rate, frame time, jitter and dropped frames — plus the fix if a high-refresh monitor is stuck at 60Hz.
The meter starts automatically — no button needed. Keep this tab in front for a clean reading.
Your system (read locally, never uploaded)
Benchmark history
What refresh rate means
Refresh rate, measured in hertz, is how many times per second your display draws a new image. A 60Hz screen updates every 16.7 milliseconds; a 144Hz screen every 6.9 milliseconds; a 240Hz screen every 4.2 milliseconds. Each step halves or trims the time an old frame sits on screen, which is why motion looks clearer and tracking a moving object feels easier as Hz rises. It is a property of the display pipeline — panel, cable, port, graphics driver and operating system setting all have to agree before the higher rate is real.
That chain is exactly why this test exists. The most common failure is silent: a gaming monitor that has run at 60Hz since the day it was unboxed because Windows defaulted to 60 and nobody checked. The second most common is a cable that cannot carry the rate at the chosen resolution. Both look identical from the outside — the monitor's own menu may even claim the higher rate — but frame timing does not lie: if the browser is receiving a frame every 16.7 ms, the screen is running at 60Hz, whatever the settings page says.
Why does my high-refresh monitor show 60?
This is the single most common problem this test uncovers: someone buys a 144Hz monitor, plugs it in, and Windows quietly keeps it at 60Hz. Work through the checklist in order. First, open your operating system display settings and set the refresh rate to the highest value listed — on Windows that is Settings, System, Display, Advanced display; on macOS it is System Settings, Displays, Refresh Rate. Second, check the cable and port: many older HDMI cables and some laptop docks cap out at 60Hz at higher resolutions, while DisplayPort or a certified high-speed HDMI cable carries the full rate. Third, plug laptops into power and turn off battery-saver mode, which commonly caps rendering at 60 or even 30 frames per second. Fourth, disconnect a second, slower monitor temporarily — mixed refresh rates can drag the compositor to the lowest common rate. Fifth, make sure hardware acceleration is enabled in your browser settings, and test in a second browser to rule out an extension. Run the test again after each change; the detected rate should jump the moment the real bottleneck is gone.
Common refresh rates and frame times
| Refresh rate | Frame time | Where you meet it |
|---|---|---|
| 60 Hz | 16.67 ms | Standard office monitors, most laptops and TVs |
| 75 Hz | 13.33 ms | Budget monitor step-up |
| 90 Hz | 11.11 ms | Mid-range phones, VR headsets |
| 120 Hz | 8.33 ms | ProMotion phones and laptops, consoles, TVs |
| 144 Hz | 6.94 ms | The most common gaming monitor rate |
| 165 Hz | 6.06 ms | Overclocked gaming panels |
| 240 Hz | 4.17 ms | Esports monitors |
| 360 Hz | 2.78 ms | Top-end competitive displays |
How to run this refresh rate test
- Open the page and keep the tab in front — measurement begins automatically.
- Give it three to five seconds: the detected rate snaps to the nearest standard value once enough frames are timed.
- Read the measured rate alongside frame time and jitter. A healthy result is steady, with jitter under about half a millisecond.
- If the number is lower than your monitor's rating, work through the stuck-at-60 checklist above and measure again after each change.
For the companion view — how many frames your system delivers, not just what the screen can show — run the FPS test. If motion feels uneven even at the right rate, the stutter test shows the individual late frames, and the frame skipping test checks whether frames are being dropped entirely.
Frequently asked questions
How is my refresh rate measured?
The test times every frame your browser draws over a few seconds. The typical gap between frames gives the rate directly: 16.7 ms is 60 Hz, 8.3 ms is 120 Hz, 6.9 ms is 144 Hz. It measures what the display is doing now, not what the box claimed.
Why does my 144Hz monitor show 60 Hz?
Usually the operating system is still set to 60Hz, the cable or port cannot carry the higher rate, or battery-saver mode is capping the browser. The checklist on this page walks through each cause in order.
Is refresh rate the same as FPS?
No. Refresh rate (Hz) is how many times your screen can show a new picture each second; frame rate (FPS) is how many pictures your computer produces. The screen sets the ceiling: a game making 200 FPS on a 144Hz monitor only shows 144 of them.
Can a browser test be trusted for Hz?
For the active rate, yes — browsers draw one frame per display refresh, so frame timing reveals the rate to within about a hertz. It cannot see past a browser or power-saving cap, which the result notes honestly.
My phone shows a changing rate — is that normal?
Yes. Many modern phones use adaptive refresh, dropping to a low rate when the screen is still and rising when something moves. This page keeps an animation running during measurement precisely so the panel stays at its working rate.