Controller Tester — Gamepad Buttons, Stick Drift & Vibration

An online controller tester for buttons, sticks and drift

This controller tester shows what your gamepad is really sending. Plug it in by USB or pair it by Bluetooth, press any button, and every button, trigger and stick appears live on a diagram — with the exact analog values in a raw list underneath. It works with most controllers your browser recognises, using the standard Gamepad API, with nothing to install.

Beyond button checks it measures the two things that most often go wrong with a worn controller: stick drift (a stick that does not return to the centre) and a reduced stick range. It suggests a dead zone from the measured drift, and lets you test the rumble motors.

How to test your controller

1. Connect the controller and press any button. Browsers hide controllers until a button is pressed, for privacy.
2. Press every button and pull both triggers: each lights up on the diagram, and the triggers fill with their analog value.
3. Let go of both sticks and press Check stick drift. Keep your hands off for 3 seconds and read the resting offset and suggested dead zone.
4. Rotate each stick slowly around its edge a few times. The outline traces the stick’s reach in every direction.
5. Try Both motors, Light motor and Heavy motor to test vibration.

Controller Tester features

What stick drift is and how the test measures it

An analog stick reports two numbers between −1 and 1. At rest both should be close to 0. Worn potentiometers, dust or a weak spring leave a small offset, and if it is larger than the game’s dead zone your character or camera creeps on its own — that is stick drift.

The drift check reads both sticks on every frame for 3 seconds while you do not touch them, and calculates the distance from centre, √(x² + y²), for each reading. It reports the largest and average offset and suggests a dead zone of the largest offset plus 2 percentage points. As a rule of thumb, up to about 3 % is normal sensor noise, and more than 8 % at rest is usually visible in games. Most games and Steam Input let you set a dead zone; a larger one hides drift but also makes small aiming movements less responsive.

Stick range and what the outline means

Rotating a stick against its outer gate shows how far it reaches in each direction. The tool records the largest value in 36 ten-degree directions and reports the average, minimum and maximum. Many controllers reach a little beyond 100 % on the diagonals because the gate is slightly square; a direction that clearly falls short of the others can mean a worn stick or a calibration problem.

Testing a keyboard or mouse instead? Use the keyboard tester, or measure end-to-end delay with the input lag test, which also accepts controller buttons.

Compatibility and limits

• Works in current Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari on desktop. Common Xbox, PlayStation and Switch Pro style controllers usually appear with the standard mapping; others show raw buttons and axes.
• Vibration uses the browser’s haptics API, which Chrome and Edge support for most controllers; others may not, and the tool says so.
• Gyro, touchpad gestures, adaptive triggers, headset audio and back paddles are not exposed to web pages, so they cannot be tested here.
• The browser reads the controller once per display frame, so very short taps can be missed on the diagram; the raw list still shows held values.