Free Online Gamepad & Controller Tester.
Plug in or pair any controller and see it come to life: every button, D-pad direction and bumper lights up as you press it, both analog sticks plot their real X/Y position, and the triggers show live pressure from 0 to 1. Auto-detects Xbox, PlayStation, Switch Pro and generic pads — or force a layout. Runs entirely in your browser on the Gamepad API; nothing is installed or uploaded.
Analog sticks
Triggers
Waiting for input…
Online gamepad tester.
Every control maps to the standard Gamepad API layout. Buttons glow amber while held; the stick dots and trigger bars track live values.
Test every control the right way
- Wake the controller firstA connected pad stays invisible until it sends input. Press any face button or move a stick and the panel fills in with its name, slot and button count.
- Work around the whole faceTap each button once — A/B/X/Y, both bumpers, both stick clicks, Start and Select — and watch every one light amber. A button that never lights (or lights without a press) is the fault you're hunting.
- Roll the sticks to the rimCircle each stick slowly to its full extent. The dot should reach the outer ring in every direction and snap back to dead centre when you let go — any resting offset is drift.
- Squeeze the triggers fullyL2/R2 are analog: the bar should sweep smoothly from 0.00 to 1.00 and back. A trigger that jumps, sticks partway or never reaches 1 has a worn potentiometer or Hall sensor.
How to use the gamepad tester
- 1Connect your controller. Plug in over USB or pair over Bluetooth. Xbox pads use Windows' built-in driver; DualSense and Switch Pro controllers are recognised the same way — no app to install.
- 2Press any button. Browsers reveal a gamepad only after its first input, so a single press wakes it. The connection panel then shows the detected name, slot and button/axis counts.
- 3Exercise every control. Press each button, roll both sticks to the edge, click the sticks in, and pull both triggers. Everything you touch responds live in the diagram.
- 4Force a layout if needed. Auto-detect labels the face buttons for you, but you can switch to the Xbox or PlayStation skin, or check drift in detail with the stick drift test.
How the gamepad tester reads your controller
The tool uses the browser's Gamepad API. When you press a button, the browser fires a gamepadconnected event and starts exposing a Gamepad object for that slot. A requestAnimationFrame loop then reads a fresh snapshot every frame — navigator.getGamepads() returns the live state, not a cached one — so what you see on screen is at most one frame behind your hand.
Each control is a number. Buttons report a pressed flag and a 0–1 value (so triggers are analog, not just on/off). Axes report a float from -1 to +1: axis 0/1 is the left stick's X/Y, axis 2/3 is the right stick. The "standard" mapping lines these up the same way on every controller, which is why one diagram can represent an Xbox, PlayStation or generic pad.
Because it's all standard web input, there's no driver hook and nothing leaves your device — the same data any web game reads. The flip side is that the browser, not the pad, sets the ceiling: it won't expose adaptive-trigger resistance, gyro or per-LED colour, and rumble is only available where the vibrationActuator is implemented. For pure input testing, though, the reading is faithful.
When a gamepad test helps
Buying a used controller
Before you trust a second-hand pad, prove every button registers and neither stick drifts — the two things sellers rarely mention.
Diagnosing "it won't work in-game"
If a game ignores your pad, this shows whether the browser sees it at all. A controller that lights up here but fails in the game points to the game's settings, not the hardware.
Checking after a repair
Replaced a stick module or hall sensor? Confirm the new part centres cleanly and the buttons around it still click.
Mapping button numbers
Emulators and remappers ask for raw button indices. Flip on raw values and press a button to read exactly which index it fires.
Comparing two pads
Swap controllers in the same slot and feel the difference in stick range, trigger travel and button response side by side.
Before a tournament
A 60-second sweep catches a dying bumper or a lazy trigger before it costs you a match.
Gamepad tester glossary
- Gamepad API
- The web standard that lets a browser read controllers. Exposes buttons and axes per connected pad, with no driver or plugin.
- Standard mapping
- A common button/axis order (A=0, B=1, … left stick=axes 0/1) that most modern pads report, so one layout fits many controllers.
- Axis
- A stick or trigger value. Sticks range -1 to +1 on X and Y; triggers range 0 to 1 as an analog button value.
- Deadzone
- A small radius around centre that games ignore so a slightly off-centre stick reads as neutral. Measure yours on the deadzone test.
- Stick drift
- A stick that reports movement while untouched — the resting dot sits away from centre. The classic worn-controller fault.
- XInput
- Microsoft's controller interface that Xbox pads use on Windows; browsers read XInput pads through the standard Gamepad mapping.
Frequently asked questions
Why isn't my controller detected?
Almost always because you haven't pressed anything yet. To prevent fingerprinting, browsers hide a connected gamepad until it sends its first input, so press any button or move a stick and it appears immediately. If it still doesn't show, check the cable or Bluetooth pairing, make sure another app (Steam, a game) hasn't captured it exclusively, and try a Chromium-based browser, which has the broadest gamepad support.
Does this work with Xbox, PS5 and Switch controllers?
Yes. Xbox (Series, One, 360), PlayStation DualSense and DualShock 4, the Nintendo Switch Pro Controller and most generic USB or Bluetooth pads all report through the standard Gamepad mapping, so the diagram lights up correctly. Auto-detect labels the face buttons per brand, and you can force the Xbox or PlayStation skin from the Layout control.
How do I test for stick drift here?
Let go of both sticks and watch the dots. On a healthy controller each dot rests dead centre; if a dot floats away from centre on its own, or the raw axis reads something other than roughly 0.00 at rest, that stick is drifting. For a numeric drift score and a non-zero-at-rest flag, use the dedicated stick drift test.
Can the browser read the triggers as analog?
Yes. L2/R2 (LT/RT) are exposed as analog buttons with a 0–1 value, so the trigger bars sweep smoothly rather than snapping between off and on. That lets you spot a trigger that sticks partway, jitters, or never reaches a full 1.00 — signs of a worn potentiometer or a dirty Hall sensor.
Can I test rumble or the DualSense adaptive triggers?
Rumble, yes — on Chromium browsers and supported controllers, via our vibration test. Adaptive-trigger resistance, the DualSense's fine haptics, gyro/motion and the lightbar colour are not exposed to web pages by any browser, so no online tool can read or drive them. This tester covers buttons, sticks and triggers, which is what actually breaks.
Do I need to install anything, and is it private?
No install and nothing to upload. The tester reads your controller through the browser's built-in Gamepad API and processes everything on your device — no driver, no extension, no account. Only your theme and layout choice are saved locally. It's completely free.