Refresh Rate Test – What Is My Monitor's Refresh Rate?
Measure the refresh rate your screen is actually running at, not the one on the box. If you bought a 144Hz monitor, this is how you find out whether anyone ever switched it on. Open it on the monitor you want to check and it works as a quick Hz test for any screen.
Refresh rate test
Runs in your browser. Nothing is recorded or uploaded.
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How to check your monitor's refresh rate
- Close other heavy tabs and applications. A busy machine reads low because the browser cannot deliver frames on time.
- On a laptop, plug in the power. Battery saver modes on both Windows and macOS deliberately cap the refresh rate.
- Press Measure refresh rate and wait five seconds.
- Keep this tab in front. Switching away throttles frames to about one a second and the test will cancel itself.
- Run it two or three times. Consistent numbers mean the reading is real.
What the results mean
- 60Hz. Standard for most laptops, office monitors and older screens. Correct unless you paid for more.
- 120Hz or 144Hz. A gaming or high-end display working as intended. Motion should look clearly smoother than a 60Hz screen.
- 60Hz on a monitor sold as 144Hz. The most common result on this page, and almost always a setting rather than a fault. Windows does not switch to the higher rate on its own.
- A number that is not a standard rate. Usually throttling rather than an unusual panel. Close things and retry.
- The right rate, but with dropped frames reported. Your panel is fine and something else is competing for the graphics card. That is stutter, and it is a separate problem.
- 90Hz or 120Hz on a phone. Correct for most recent mid-range and flagship handsets. Many drop to 60Hz in battery saver.
Not getting the rate you paid for? Fix it
Windows 11 and Windows 10
- Open Settings → System → Display → Advanced display and set Choose a refresh rate to the highest value offered. This one step solves the majority of cases.
- If the rate you want is not listed, the cable is usually the limit. 144Hz at 1440p needs DisplayPort or HDMI 2.0 or better — an older HDMI cable will happily run the panel at 60Hz and never mention it.
- Plug into the graphics card's own ports, not the motherboard's. On a desktop with a dedicated card, the motherboard outputs are often disabled or limited.
- Check the monitor's own on-screen menu. Many panels ship with DisplayPort 1.2 or "overclock" mode switched off, which caps the rate regardless of what Windows offers.
- In the NVIDIA Control Panel or AMD Adrenalin, confirm the display is set to its maximum rate there too — these can override Windows.
macOS
- Open System Settings → Displays and check the Refresh Rate dropdown. Hold Option while clicking Scaled to reveal additional modes on some displays.
- On a MacBook Pro with ProMotion, the default "Adaptive" varies the rate from 24Hz to 120Hz to save power, so a measurement below 120 is expected rather than wrong. Set a fixed rate if you want a stable reading.
- Check Battery → Low Power Mode is off. It caps the refresh rate deliberately.
- For external monitors, use a cable rated for the bandwidth you need. Many USB-C to HDMI adapters silently cap at 60Hz.
Phones and tablets
- Android: Settings → Display and look for Smooth Display, Motion Smoothness or Refresh Rate, depending on the manufacturer.
- Battery saver caps the refresh rate on essentially every phone that offers a high one. Switch it off before testing.
- iPhone Pro models with ProMotion vary between 10Hz and 120Hz automatically. A varying reading is the feature working.
- Check Accessibility → Motion → Limit Frame Rate on iPhone, which pins the display to 60Hz if it has been switched on.
Dropped frames and stutter
- Close other tabs, especially ones playing video or running animations. Each one competes for the same graphics pipeline.
- Check whether hardware acceleration is enabled in your browser's settings. With it off, every frame is drawn by the processor and stutter is guaranteed.
- Update the graphics driver. Stutter that appeared after an update is usually fixed by the next one, or by rolling back.
- On a laptop, check the machine is not thermally throttling. Sustained load with blocked vents produces exactly this pattern.
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Frequently asked questions
How do I check my monitor's refresh rate?
Open this page on the monitor you want to check and let the test run for a few seconds. It reports the refresh rate that screen is actually running at, in Hz.
What is my refresh rate right now?
The result on this page is the rate your screen is running at this moment. If it says 60 Hz and your monitor is sold as higher, the higher rate probably has not been switched on in your Windows or Mac display settings. See the first question below.
I bought a 144Hz monitor but this says 60Hz. What is wrong?
Almost certainly that nobody told Windows to use it. A high refresh rate monitor defaults to 60Hz on first connection and stays there until you change it by hand — this is the single most common cause, and a great many people game for months on a 144Hz panel running at 60. Open Settings, Display, Advanced display and change the refresh rate dropdown. If 144 is not offered, the cable or the port is the limit rather than the monitor.
How does a web page measure refresh rate without an API?
There is no browser API that reports it, so this measures it indirectly: the browser delivers animation frames in step with the display's vertical sync, so timing the gaps between frames gives the rate. The first ten frames are discarded because they are polluted by the work of starting the test, and the median gap is used rather than the average so that a single stutter cannot distort the answer. The result is then snapped to the nearest standard panel rate.
Why does the number move around while it measures?
Because it is a live median over recent frames and it settles as more arrive. Small movement is normal. Large swings mean something else on your machine is competing for the graphics card, which is worth knowing in itself — the dropped-frame figure in the result reports exactly that.
Does my browser limit the refresh rate?
It can. A browser throttles animation frames in a background tab to roughly one a second, which is why this test abandons the measurement if you switch away rather than reporting nonsense. Battery saver modes on both Windows and macOS also cap the refresh rate to save power, so run the test plugged in if the number looks low.
My two monitors show different numbers.
That is normal and correct — the test measures whichever screen the browser window is on, so drag the window to the other monitor and run it again. Note that on some setups a mismatched pair can drag the faster panel down to match the slower one, which is worth checking if your high refresh monitor only reaches 60 when the second screen is connected.
Is a higher refresh rate actually worth it?
For fast games, noticeably. The jump from 60Hz to 120Hz or 144Hz is obvious to almost everyone — motion is clearer and aiming feels more direct. Beyond about 240Hz the returns diminish sharply and matter mainly to competitive players. For reading, writing and video it makes very little difference, though scrolling does look smoother.
What is the difference between refresh rate and frame rate?
Refresh rate is how many times per second your monitor redraws, and it is fixed by the hardware and its settings. Frame rate is how many frames your graphics card produces, and it varies with what is being rendered. A 144Hz monitor fed 60 frames a second shows you 60 distinct images. This test measures the monitor, not the graphics card.
The result is not a standard number like 60 or 144.
Then the measurement was most likely throttled rather than your panel being unusual. Close other tabs and heavy applications, plug the laptop in, make sure the tab stays in front, and run it again. Variable refresh rate technologies such as G-Sync and FreeSync can also produce a non-standard reading, since the panel genuinely is varying its rate.
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