Tap Tempo – BPM Counter

This free tap tempo tool is a BPM counter you drive with your own sense of rhythm. Play a song, tap the big pad or press Space along with the beat, and the beats per minute appear from the second tap. It works with a mouse, a keyboard or a touch screen, with nothing to install.

What tap tempo measures

Tempo is the speed of the beat, counted in beats per minute (BPM). At 60 BPM there is one beat every second; at 120 BPM there are two. Tap tempo works this out from the gaps between your taps: if your taps land half a second apart, the song is at 120 BPM.

How to use it

• Tap: tap or click the pad, or press Space or any letter key, every time you hear a beat. The kick drum is usually easiest to follow; a key on a keyboard is more even than a touch screen.
• Read the BPM: the number updates on every tap. Under it is the tempo marking, such as Andante, and a light blinks at your tempo so you can check it against the music.
• Finish: stop tapping for 2 seconds. The reading stays on screen, measurements of 4 or more taps are saved to the History tab, and your next tap starts a fresh count.
• Start over: press Reset or Esc at any time.

How the BPM is calculated

The tool looks at the gaps between your last 8 taps by default. You can switch to the last 4 for a reading that reacts faster, or 16 for a smoother one. It finds the middle (median) gap in that window and ignores any gap more than 25 percent away from it, which removes a missed beat, an accidental double tap or a stumble. The BPM is 60,000 divided by the average of the gaps that are left, in milliseconds. Taps closer than 150 milliseconds apart are treated as a bounce and not counted.

If you switch songs without pausing, it notices when your last three gaps agree with each other but are all far from the earlier ones, and restarts the count from there.

Reading the stability bar

From the fourth tap, the bar shows how even your taps are. It is based on how much your gaps vary compared to their average: under 2 percent reads Very steady, under 4 percent Steady, under 8 percent A bit uneven, and more than that Uneven. Next to it, a plus or minus figure gives the likely error of the reading in BPM. It shrinks as you tap more evenly and for longer.

Rounding, half time and double time

• Round: show a whole BPM, the nearest half BPM or one decimal place.
• ×2 and ×½: people often tap every other beat on a fast song, or tap twice per beat on a slow one. Press ×2 or ×½ to correct the result. If the measurement was already saved, its history entry is updated too.

Send it to the metronome

Press Send to metronome to open our Metronome already set to the tempo you tapped,. History entries have the same link. The metronome covers 20 to 300 BPM, so readings outside that range are sent as the nearest end of it.

Audio file BPM estimate

The Audio file BPM tab can estimate the tempo of a song or loop on your device. Your browser decodes the file and the tool listens to the first 2 minutes for sudden rises in loudness, then looks for the gap that repeats most strongly between 60 and 200 BPM. Nothing is uploaded. It works best on music with a clear, steady drum beat. Results can come out at half or double the tempo you feel, so it also lists those options and says whether the beat looked clear or weak.

FAQ

How many taps do I need?

The BPM appears after 2 taps and the stability reading after 4. Around 8 to 16 even taps is reliable.

Why does my reading show double or half the tempo I expected?

You may have tapped every other beat or twice per beat. Both are common. Press ×2 or ×½ to correct it.

Is my history saved?

Yes. Your measurements and settings are stored in this browser on this device. Clearing your browser’s site data removes them. Press Clear twice to empty the list yourself.

Where do the tempo names come from?

They use the approximate BPM ranges listed in the Wikipedia article on tempo, which calls them very rough guides for 4/4 time. Some ranges overlap, so a tempo can show more than one name.

Want to play along? Try our online Piano, or test your rhythm memory with Simon.