Refresh Rate Test

Sample how often your browser is able to present a frame. This is a browser-reported timing, not a measurement of the panel — see below for what that distinction costs you.

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5-second automatic sample

Keep this tab visible. The result appears automatically.

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What this does not tell you

This is not your monitor's refresh rate. It is how often this browser tab was able to present a frame, and several things sit between the two:

  • ·Browsers cap animation callbacks to the compositor, which may run below the panel's rate.
  • ·Variable refresh (G-Sync, FreeSync, ProMotion) deliberately varies the interval.
  • ·A laptop on battery often drops to 60 Hz to save power.
  • ·Other tabs, screen recording and heavy background apps all steal frames.

So a result of ~144 Hz is consistent with a 144 Hz panel, but it does not prove one — and a result of ~60 Hz on a 144 Hz monitor usually means a setting is wrong, not that the monitor is.

Getting a sample worth reading

Close other tabs and applications, unplug the laptop from battery power or plug it in — whichever matches how you actually use it — and keep this tab focused for the whole run. Sampling stops automatically if the tab loses focus, because background tabs are throttled to roughly one frame per second and the numbers would be meaningless.

Run it two or three times. Frame timing is noisy, and a single sample that disagrees with the other two is the sample to ignore.

If the number is lower than you expected

Check the refresh rate your operating system is set to send first — a high refresh monitor plugged in with the wrong cable, or left on the default 60 Hz display setting, is by far the most common cause. HDMI versions below 2.1 cap high resolutions at lower refresh rates, and some docks and adapters do the same. Only after ruling those out is the panel itself worth suspecting.

Refresh rate is not response time

A high refresh rate means new frames arrive often. It says nothing about how quickly a pixel can change from one shade to another — that is response time, and a slow panel at 240 Hz will still smear. Trails and smearing are something you judge with your eyes: run the ghosting test for that. And a browser genuinely cannot measure real gray-to-gray response time, which is why we do not print a number for it.

What this test checks

  • The frame cadence this browser tab actually observes
  • How consistent frame delivery is, and how many frames arrive late
  • Whether a high-refresh display is being driven at its expected rate

Related tests

Ghosting Test

Moving patterns that reveal trails, smearing and overshoot.

Dead Pixel Test

White, black, RGB and gray slides — the core check.

Screen Diagnosis

Answer a few questions to narrow down what you are seeing.

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