What is a good CPS?

What is a good CPS?

CPS means clicks per second. These are the rough bands people commonly use for a 10-second test:

Typical normal clicking

6–7 CPS

Fast normal clicking

8+ CPS

Common with jitter clicking

10–14 CPS

Scores depend on the test length, your mouse and your technique, so compare yourself with your own past results first. Take the CPS test to find your baseline.

How CPS is measured

A click speed test counts every click within a set time and divides by the length of the test. 70 clicks in 10 seconds is 7 CPS.

Test length changes the result. A 1-second or 5-second test measures burst speed, which is always higher. A 30-second or 60-second test measures stamina: your hand tires and the average falls. When you compare scores with friends, make sure you used the same length. The 10-second test is the one most people quote.

Try a 5-second burst here. Your CPS is your clicks divided by 5.

How to take the CPS test

1. Open the CPS test and choose a length: 1, 5, 10, 30 or 60 seconds. Start with 10.
2. Click inside the click area. Your first click starts the timer.
3. Keep clicking as fast as you can until the timer reaches zero.
4. Read your CPS. Your best score for each length is kept for the session.
5. Press Restart and run it three times. Use your average as your baseline.

It works with taps on a touch screen too, though tapping and clicking speeds aren't really comparable.

Normal, jitter and butterfly clicking

• Normal clicking: one finger presses the button using the finger's own muscles. It's the most controlled and the easiest on your hand and your mouse.
• Jitter clicking: you tense your forearm and wrist so your hand vibrates, and the vibration drives fast clicks. It's quicker but tiring, and hard to aim while doing it.
• Butterfly clicking: two fingers, usually the index and middle, alternate on the same button. Each finger only has to click half as often, so the total can be higher than jitter clicking.

Some mice have a debounce setting that ignores clicks arriving too close together. It can stop butterfly clicks from counting, so if two fingers score no better than one, check your mouse software. To compare techniques, run a normal test first, then use the jitter click test with the same length.

How to click faster

• Click with your fingertip near the front of the button, where the switch needs the least force.
• Keep your wrist and arm relaxed between attempts. Tension only helps for jitter clicking, and only during the burst.
• Use a claw or fingertip grip so your finger is arched and can move quickly.
• A light mouse with crisp switches helps. A heavy button or a mushy switch slows everyone down, and a mouse that slides around the pad while you click wastes effort, so a little grip on the sides or a firmer hold helps too.
• Practise in short 5-second or 10-second runs with rests between them. Long sessions build fatigue, not speed.

Stop if your wrist, forearm or fingers start to hurt. Jitter clicking in particular puts a lot of strain on the arm, so keep those sessions brief.

Does clicking fast damage your mouse?

It can. Mouse switches are rated for a certain number of clicks, and fast clicking spends them quickly. Jitter and butterfly clicking also hit the switch harder and more often than normal use.

The usual sign of a worn switch is double-click chatter: the contacts bounce, so one click reaches the computer as two. It can inflate your CPS score while making the mouse annoying for everything else. Check for it in the double click test by clicking slowly, about once a second. If it reports a double click when you only clicked once, read our guide to fixing a mouse that double clicks.

A switch can also start missing clicks. If your CPS drops suddenly with no change in technique, test the button before blaming your hand.

Spacebar counter records

The same idea works on a keyboard. The spacebar counter counts how many times you press space in 5, 10, 30 or 60 seconds and gives your presses per second. Holding the key down only counts once, because the repeat presses your system sends are ignored, so the score reflects real presses.

There's no official body that keeps spacebar or CPS records, and scores posted online use different test lengths and rules, so treat them as bragging rights rather than benchmarks. Beat your own best at a fixed length instead.

Does a high CPS help in games?

In games that reward spam clicking, such as some Minecraft PvP modes, yes. In most shooters, no: what matters is how quickly and accurately you land on a target. The aim trainer measures that, giving your time per target and accuracy. Fast clicking with poor aim mostly produces fast misses.

Next, check…

Check your mouse is healthy with the double click test, then move on to aim: our guide on how to improve your aim has a practice plan. When you come back to the CPS test, use the same test length so your scores stay comparable.