Free online tool

Tap Tempo and BPM Counter

Tap tempo and BPM counter: tap the pad or press any key in time with a song and read the BPM, half and double time, and how steady your taps were.

-- BPM Tap to start

Tap the pad, or press Space or any key, in time with the beat. It starts over after a 2 second pause.

Exact: --
Half time: --
Double time: --
Gap between taps: --
Steadiness (std. dev.): --

Average the last Open in metronome See it in milliseconds

About the Tap Tempo

Tap Tempo is a free online tempo finder and BPM counter. You tap the pad, or press Space or any key, in time with a song, and it reads the BPM for you. It runs in your web browser with no sign-up, and nothing you enter is uploaded. Along with the BPM, it shows half time and double time values and how steady your taps were. Use it to find the tempo of a song you want to play along with, practise to, or match in a beat. This guide explains how to get a steady reading and how the numbers are worked out.

How to use the tap tempo tool

Listen to the music for a few beats before you start tapping, so your first taps are not a guess.
Tap the pad, or press Space or any key, on every beat. Tap the beat you would count along to, not every note.
After the second tap the BPM appears. It is the average of your taps. Use the menu to choose how many taps to average: Average the last 4 taps, 8 taps, 16 taps, or all taps.
Check the steadiness reading. The smaller the standard deviation, the more even your taps. A pause longer than 2 seconds, or the Reset button, starts a new count.
Press Open in metronome to hear that tempo, or See it in milliseconds to get delay times for it.

Keyboard taps and taps on a mouse or touch pad differ by a few milliseconds. Try both and use whichever gives you the steadier reading.

The main tips are to tap the beat rather than every note, and to choose a tap window that suits the music. Tap the beat you would tap your foot to. In 4/4 that is usually the quarter note, and in a fast 6/8 it is the dotted quarter. Start after a few beats of music so your first gaps are not a guess.

Pick the window that fits the song. Use 16 taps for a long, steady piece, and 4 taps for music that speeds up or slows down.

How does a tap tempo tool work out the BPM?#

The tool measures the time between successive taps and averages those gaps. BPM is 60000 divided by the average gap in milliseconds, so taps 500 ms apart give 120 BPM and taps 400 ms apart give 150 BPM.

For taps at times t₁, t₂, … tₙ there are n − 1 gaps, and their average is (tₙ − t₁) ÷ (n − 1). For example, five taps at 0, 500, 1000, 1500 and 2000 ms give four gaps with an average of 2000 ÷ 4 = 500 ms, which is 120 BPM. Because the middle taps cancel out, the average depends only on the first and last tap in the window, divided by the number of gaps. That is why a longer window is steadier and a shorter one reacts faster.

How many taps do I need?#

Two taps give one gap, so the first reading is only an estimate. Eight or more taps give a steadier answer, because the random error in single taps evens out over more gaps. Use the 16-tap setting for a long, stable piece. Use the 4-tap setting for music that speeds up or slows down, so the reading follows the change instead of lagging behind it.

What does the steadiness number mean?#

It is the population standard deviation of the gaps between your taps, shown in milliseconds and as a percentage of the average gap. It measures your tapping, not the music. A few milliseconds is very even, while tens of milliseconds means your taps wandered. To lower the number, keep your tapping hand still and tap the same way each time.

Should I tap the beat or twice as fast?#

Tap the beat you would count along to or foot-tap. In 4/4 that is usually the quarter note, and in a fast 6/8 it is the dotted quarter. Tempo is ambiguous by a factor of two for many songs, which can be counted either way, such as 70 BPM or 140 BPM. If your result is half or double what you expected, compare the Half time and Double time readouts with the music and choose the one that matches the beat you feel.

Frequently asked questions

Why does the result change slightly each time?

Human taps are never perfectly even, and browsers read input a few milliseconds late. A recording with a click track gives a steadier reading than a live performance, so expect small changes when you tap along to a band.

Is anything recorded or sent anywhere?

No. The taps are only used in your browser to compute the number, and they are forgotten when you leave the page.

What does BPM mean?

BPM stands for beats per minute, the number of beats in one minute. A tempo of 120 BPM means two beats every second.

Are the Italian names under the number exact speeds?

No. The italic name is the Italian term that conventionally covers that BPM, such as Andante for 76-107 BPM and Allegro for 120-155 BPM. Composers did not use these words as exact speeds, so compare them with the Tempo markings with real BPM page and the Italian music terms chart.

What do the Half time and Double time values show?

They show the tempo at half and at twice the BPM you tapped. If a song reads 70 BPM, its double time is 140 BPM, and both can be correct depending on how you count the beat.

What happens if the song has no steady beat?

The BPM becomes an average of uneven taps, and the steadiness reading will be large. Music with loose or free timing gives a less useful tempo, so use the reading as a rough guide.

Is it free and does it need an account?

Yes. Tap Tempo is free and needs no sign-up. It runs in your web browser, so there is nothing to install. Start tapping as soon as the page loads.

Can I use it on a phone?

Yes. Open the page in the phone’s browser and tap the pad with your finger, or use a keyboard if one is connected. Because taps on different devices can differ by a few milliseconds, compare readings from the same device when you want to check that your result is steady.