This mouse latency test times the part of click delay that a web page can actually see: from the moment your system stamps a click to the frame that shows the response on your screen. Click the box and it lights on the next frame, and the page records how long that took, how long the browser held the click before handing it over, and how the result compares with your screen's refresh rate. A second mode times how long mouse movement waits before it reaches the page. It works with wired, wireless and Bluetooth mice on Windows, Mac, Linux and ChromeOS. Most online mouse latency testers only show timing numbers. This one also tells you which links in the chain they cover and which they cannot.
How to run the mouse latency test
- Close other tabs and heavy programs, so the result reflects your setup rather than a busy computer.
- Click the box 20 times at a calm, uneven pace. A steady rhythm can line up with the screen and skew the average.
- Read Click to screen, the average, and compare it with Expected average under the readouts, worked out from your refresh rate.
- Check Browser delay. On a computer that is not busy it stays under 2 ms.
- Switch to Movement delivery and move the mouse around the box for a few seconds to time movement events.
- Press Copy results to compare setups later, for example wired against wireless, or 60 Hz against 144 Hz.
What the results mean
| Readout | What it measures | Normal result |
|---|---|---|
| Click to screen | System click time to the start of the frame after the one that draws the response | An average of 1 to 2 frames: 17 to 33 ms at 60 Hz, 7 to 14 ms at 144 Hz, 4 to 8 ms at 240 Hz |
| Best and worst | The fastest and slowest single clicks | Within about two frames of each other |
| Browser delay | From the system's click time to the moment the page's code ran | Usually under 2 ms |
| Raw update delay | How long raw movement waits before the page sees it | Under 2 ms |
| Move event delay | How long ordinary move events wait | Up to one frame, because browsers group them per frame |
Single clicks spread across one to two frames because each click lands at a random point between two screen refreshes, and a click that arrives just as a frame starts can make it into that frame. That spread is normal and is why the test averages 20 clicks.
Where mouse latency comes from
End to end latency, from your finger pressing the button to light changing on the screen, adds up from several stages:
- The switch. The mouse waits for the button contact to settle before it reports a click. This debounce takes a few milliseconds on most gaming mice and can be longer on office mice.
- Polling. The click waits for the next report: up to 1 ms at 1000 Hz, up to 8 ms at 125 Hz.
- The system and the app. Windows or macOS passes the click on, then the game or browser handles it and draws a new frame. Games with a deep render queue add the most here.
- The screen. The frame waits for the next refresh, scans out from top to bottom, and the pixels take time to change.
This test covers stage 3 for the browser and the wait for the next frame. Stages 1, 2 and the panel's own response happen outside the browser.
What an LDAT or a high speed camera measures
Reviewers measure the whole chain with hardware. NVIDIA's LDAT, short for Latency Display Analysis Tool, puts a light sensor on the screen and triggers the click itself, then times click to light change. Monitors with NVIDIA Reflex Analyzer do the same inside the monitor: plug the mouse into the monitor's USB port and supported games show the system latency. A high speed camera works too: film the button and the screen at 1000 frames a second or more and count frames between press and change. All of these include the mouse, the computer, the game and the panel, so their numbers are higher than this test's.
Clicks feel slow: how to cut latency
- Use a cable or the 2.4 GHz receiver, not Bluetooth, and keep the receiver close to the mouse.
- Set the polling rate to 1000 Hz in the mouse software, then confirm it with the polling rate test.
- Use the screen's full refresh rate. Check it with the refresh rate test, and on a TV turn on game mode.
- In games, turn on NVIDIA Reflex or AMD Anti-Lag where the game offers it, and avoid V-Sync without a frame cap.
- Lower the debounce time in the mouse software if it has the setting, then run the double click test, because too little debounce can cause double clicks.
To measure a monitor's own delay, use the input lag test.
Your result is higher than expected
If Click to screen sits above three frames, or Browser delay stays above a few milliseconds, the delay comes from the computer, not the mouse. Close other tabs and apps, turn off battery saver, and in Chrome make sure Use graphics acceleration when available is on under Settings, then System. Screen sharing, remote desktop and virtual machines add whole frames. If the cursor itself stutters or hangs in every app, follow the guide for mouse lagging.
Mouse latency, polling rate and reaction time
These three are easy to mix up. Polling rate is how often the mouse reports. Latency is how long a click takes to reach the screen. Reaction time is how long you take to respond to what you see, typically 200 ms or more in online tests, which dwarfs the few milliseconds between good and great hardware. Measure yours with the reaction time test, and compare key timing with the keyboard latency test.
Mouse latency questions
What is a good mouse latency?
For the whole chain, from button to screen, fast esports setups on high refresh screens reach the low tens of milliseconds, while a typical 60 Hz setup takes several times as long. In this test, which times the browser and screen part only, one to two frames is normal: 17 to 33 ms at 60 Hz, 7 to 14 ms at 144 Hz.
Do wireless mice have more latency?
Modern 2.4 GHz gaming mice with their own USB receiver are about as quick as wired ones in independent tests. Bluetooth is slower, because it reports less often, about 125 times a second or fewer, and adds its own delay. Use the receiver, not Bluetooth, for games.
How can I test mouse latency without an LDAT?
Film the mouse and the screen together with a phone's slow motion mode, at 240 frames a second or more, and count the frames between the button going down and the screen changing. Each frame of a 240 fps video is about 4.2 ms. This page times the browser and screen share of that delay without any equipment.
Does a higher polling rate lower latency?
Yes, a little. The wait for the next report averages half the polling interval: about 4 ms at 125 Hz, 0.5 ms at 1000 Hz and 0.06 ms at 8000 Hz. Past 1000 Hz the gain is a fraction of a millisecond. Check your rate with the polling rate test.
Why is my result higher on a 60 Hz screen?
Because the screen only draws a new picture every 16.7 ms. A click has to wait for the next frame, then that frame has to be drawn, so one to two frames pass before anything changes. A 144 Hz or faster screen shortens both waits.