Mouse DPI & Polling Rate Test.
Measure two things at once: how many times per second your mouse reports movement (polling rate, in Hz) and roughly how sensitive it is (DPI/CPI), using a simple on-screen calibration.
Move your mouse over the box on the left to sample its polling rate, then use the calibration box below to estimate its DPI against a real-world distance you measure yourself.
1. Mouse Polling Rate
Move your mouse around inside this box, in fast, small circles or zig-zags.
Tip: faster, longer movement = more sampled events = a tighter estimate.
Movement Interval Distribution
gap between consecutive reports (ms)Timing Stats
Standard Mouse Report Rates
2. Mouse DPI Calibration
Measure a real-world distance you can recreate with your mouse — a ruler, a sheet of paper, a section of your desk — enter it below, then drag across exactly that distance inside the box.
Tip: disable mouse acceleration / "enhance pointer precision" in your OS settings and drag in one smooth, straight line for the most reliable reading.
Estimated DPI
Common Mouse DPI Settings
Before you start
- Use a mouse, not a touchpadBoth tests read real mousemove/pointer events — a laptop touchpad has its own (usually much lower and inconsistent) reporting behaviour and will not reflect your external mouse's real numbers.
- Turn off pointer acceleration firstFor the DPI calibration especially, go to your OS mouse settings and disable "enhance pointer precision" (Windows) or any acceleration curve — with it on, the same physical drag reports a different "DPI" every time.
- Measure your target distance accuratelyUse a ruler, a sheet of printer paper (21 cm / 8.27 in edge), or a tape measure for the DPI step — a sloppy guess at distance is the single biggest source of error in the result.
- Expect a browser cap on HzBrowsers coarsen event timestamps, so very high polling rates (4000Hz+) may still read close to 1000–2000Hz here — see the accuracy note below.
How to measure your mouse's Hz and DPI
- 1Move your mouse in the Hz boxCircle or zig-zag your mouse inside the polling-rate box on the left to sample its report timing.
- 2Read the estimated HzThe estimated polling rate and the standard-rate ladder update live as you keep moving.
- 3Enter your target distanceIn the DPI section below, type the real-world distance you'll drag across, in cm or inches.
- 4Click, drag, releasePress and hold inside the calibration box, physically move your mouse that exact distance, then release.
- 5Read your estimated DPIThe tool divides the pixels it saw by your entered distance to estimate dots (counts) per inch.
- 6Repeat for a steadier numberReset either measurement and try again — a longer mouse-box session and a longer, straighter drag both sharpen the estimate.
DPI vs CPI vs polling rate — what's the difference?
DPI (dots per inch) — more precisely CPI, counts per inch — describes your mouse sensor's sensitivity: how many counts it reports to the computer for every inch it physically travels. A higher DPI means the cursor covers more screen distance for the same hand movement. It's a property of the sensor and its current setting, adjustable in most gaming mice via software or an onboard button.
Polling rate (report rate), measured in Hz, is completely different: it's how often the mouse tells the computer its current position, regardless of DPI. A 1000Hz mouse reports every 1 millisecond; a 125Hz mouse reports every 8 milliseconds. A mouse can be low-DPI and high-polling-rate, or the reverse — the two specs are independent and both feed into how responsive a mouse feels.
This tool estimates each separately because they need different tests: polling rate comes from timing the gaps between movement reports, while DPI comes from comparing pixels moved on screen to a real-world distance you supply. Neither reading replaces your mouse manufacturer's own configuration software, which reads the true values directly from the hardware.
Your browser timestamps every pointer-movement report while your cursor is inside the box. Where supported, this tool also reads the Pointer Events "coalesced events" list, which can recover several real hardware reports that the browser would otherwise merge into a single on-screen update — important for high-Hz mice whose movement updates get batched to your display's refresh rate. The gaps between consecutive reports are then bucketed to find the smallest interval that recurs often enough to trust, and converted to Hz. Timestamps are still coarsened for security, so treat this as an estimate (see the accuracy note below).
While you hold the button down inside the calibration box, the tool adds up every pixel of on-screen cursor movement (again preferring coalesced sub-events when the browser exposes them). When you release, it divides that pixel total by the physical distance you told it you moved, converted to inches, to estimate counts (DPI/CPI) per inch. This only reflects your mouse's real sensor DPI if the OS reports movement 1:1 — meaning pointer acceleration and "enhanced pointer precision" are off and your display is at 100% scaling (see the accuracy note below).
When this test helps
Verifying advertised specs
Check whether a "1000Hz" or "26000 DPI" mouse you just bought actually behaves the way the box claims, at least as a sanity check.
After a driver or setting change
Confirm that switching polling rate or DPI stage in your mouse's software actually took effect before a match or session.
Comparing mice or surfaces
Run the same drag distance on two mice, or two mousepads, to feel how much either one changes your effective sensitivity.
Mouse DPI & polling rate terms
- DPI
- Dots Per Inch — marketing shorthand for how many sensor counts a mouse reports per inch of physical movement. Higher DPI means the cursor moves farther for the same hand movement.
- CPI
- Counts Per Inch — the technically correct term for what most brands market as "DPI." The two terms are used interchangeably in practice.
- Polling rate / report rate
- How many times per second the mouse sends its position to the computer, in Hz. Unrelated to DPI — a low-DPI mouse can have a high polling rate and vice versa.
- Pointer acceleration
- An OS setting that scales cursor movement non-linearly with hand speed, breaking the simple pixels-per-inch relationship this DPI test relies on.
- eDPI
- Effective DPI — your mouse's DPI multiplied by your in-game sensitivity multiplier. Many players match eDPI when switching games or mice.
- Lift-off distance (LOD)
- The height above a mousepad at which a mouse's sensor stops tracking — unrelated to DPI or polling rate, but another commonly confused sensor spec.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a good mouse polling rate?
For most people, 500–1000Hz is already smooth and responsive — the jump from 125Hz to 1000Hz cuts worst-case input delay from 8ms to 1ms. Competitive gamers sometimes chase 2000–8000Hz mice for another fraction of a millisecond, but the gain above 1000Hz is small and limited by your monitor's refresh rate and the game's own tick rate.
How do I test my mouse's polling rate (Hz) online?
Move your mouse continuously inside the capture box above — small circles or zig-zags work well. The tool times the gaps between movement reports and estimates the closest standard rate (125/500/1000/2000/4000/8000Hz). Keep moving for a few seconds; a longer sample gives a steadier reading than a quick flick.
Why does my 8000Hz mouse only show 1000–2000Hz here?
Browsers deliberately coarsen event timestamps to prevent timing-based fingerprinting, and the OS/browser can batch several raw hardware reports into one delivered event before your page ever sees it. This tool tries to recover the real per-report timestamps using the Pointer Events "coalesced events" API where the browser supports it, but it still can't fully bypass timestamp rounding — a native configurator from your mouse's manufacturer is the only way to see the true number.
What is a good DPI for gaming or office use?
There's no universal "best" DPI — what matters is your effective sensitivity (DPI × in-game multiplier). Office and design work often suits 800–1600 DPI for precise cursor control; many gamers land between 400–1600 DPI at a higher in-game sensitivity, since very high DPI (6400+) mostly adds jitter on fine movements rather than usable speed.
How accurate is this online mouse DPI test?
It's a rough estimate, not a lab measurement. It converts on-screen cursor pixels into a DPI figure using the real-world distance you enter, but that only works cleanly if OS pointer acceleration is off, "enhance pointer precision" is disabled, and your display is at 100% scaling — any of those left on will skew the result. Measure your distance carefully and drag in one smooth, straight motion for the best reading.
Does a higher DPI mean a better or faster mouse?
Not directly. DPI only controls how far the cursor moves per inch of hand movement — it says nothing about tracking accuracy, polling rate, or build quality. A well-tuned 800 DPI sensor with a stable 1000Hz connection will usually feel better than a 26000 DPI sensor with a jittery connection; DPI is a sensitivity dial, not a quality score.
A note on accuracy — both readings are estimates
Two independent limits apply here. For the Hz reading: browsers coarsen and jitter event timestamps as a defence against timing attacks, and can batch several real hardware reports into one delivered event, so the estimate can read lower — or occasionally higher — than your mouse's true report rate; it is a rough indicator, not a lab measurement. For the DPI reading: this tool has no access to your mouse's raw sensor counts, only the cursor's on-screen pixel movement, so the result is only accurate if OS-level pointer acceleration and "enhanced pointer precision" are switched off and your display is running at 100% scaling — with acceleration on, the same physical drag can report wildly different "DPI" figures. For an authoritative reading of either number, use your mouse manufacturer's own configuration software.