The HypestKey keyboard tester checks every key of your keyboard in the browser. Press any key to test it: green means it works, blue means it is held right now. Hold several keys at once to check for ghosting. The panel on the right counts tested and remaining keys, shows how many keys are pressed now and the most that registered at once, and names the last key with its event.code.
It works with USB, wireless and laptop keyboards on Windows, Mac, Linux and Chromebook, with no download. When every key passes, you can check how fast the keyboard reports with the keyboard polling rate test.
How to use the keyboard tester
- Click somewhere on the virtual keyboard or press Start test, so the page has focus.
- Press every key you use, one by one. Each working key turns green right away.
- Press Show Numpad if your keyboard has a number pad. It also opens by itself when you press a numpad key.
- Hold several keys at once, for example W + A + Shift + Space, and compare the Pressed now number with the keys you hold.
- Check the Remaining counter and the verdict: they list the keys you have not pressed yet.
- Press Esc to stop, then Copy result to save the list, or Reset to start over.
How do you test if your keyboard keys work?
Press each key on this page and watch the virtual keyboard: a working key turns green the moment it sends a signal. The main layout has 84 keys, plus 17 more on the numpad, and testing them all takes about 30 seconds. A key that stays dark after a few presses is probably dead or dirty.
Start with letters, then move to numbers and function keys. The stats bar shows how many keys you tested. Keep going until you hit all the keys you actually use.
Try key combos too. Hold Shift and press a letter. Try Ctrl+C. Gamers should test W+A+S+D+Space together.
Key not lighting up? Press it a few more times. Still nothing? It is probably broken or needs cleaning.
Some keys will not work in browsers. Print Screen and the Windows or Command key are usually taken by the operating system, and the Fn key is handled inside the keyboard itself, so it never reaches the PC. Grey keys on the virtual keyboard show which ones are blocked.
How this tool works: how does the keyboard tester detect keys?
The HypestKey tester listens to every keydown and keyup event on the page and matches each key by its event.code, the physical key position, so your layout or language does not matter. A key turns green after its first event and stays blue while held. Of 87 keys drawn, 84 are counted; 3 are grey.
It reads events in the capture phase, so it sees a key before anything else on the page can react.
Pressed now counts the keys held at the same moment, and Most at once keeps the highest number seen during the test. Remaining is the number of keys on the layout that have not sent anything yet, which is how you find possible dead keys. Grey keys are not counted. Numpad keys count only while the numpad is shown, so the total goes from 84 to 101.
The test starts with your first key press, a click on the keyboard or the Start test button. While it runs, every key is kept from the browser, so Space, Tab, the arrows and the F-keys do not scroll the page or move focus. Esc is tested too and stops the test. The tool can only see keys the browser receives, so it cannot tell a dead key from one your system intercepts.
What is keyboard ghosting and how do you test for it?
Ghosting is when your keyboard drops some keypresses while others are held down. To test it, hold 3 or 4 keys at once and check the Pressed now number. If you hold 4 keys but the counter shows 3, your keyboard ghosts on that combo. It matters most for gaming and fast typing.
Ghosting is a hardware limitation of how the keys are wired, not a broken key. A key that fails only in one combo usually works fine on its own.
Common ghosting scenarios
- Gaming movement: hold W + A + Shift + Space. All four should show. Budget keyboards often fail this.
- Fast typing: type fast and watch for missing letters. Ghosting causes skipped keystrokes. The typing test is a good way to type at full speed.
- Shortcuts: try Ctrl + Shift + Alt + a letter. Complex combos expose ghosting quickly.
What do 2KRO, 6KRO and NKRO mean?
Key rollover (KRO) is how many keys register at once. 2KRO keyboards handle only 2 keys at a time, 6KRO handles 6 normal keys plus modifiers like Shift and Ctrl, and NKRO means every key registers no matter how many you press. Most USB keyboards are 6KRO; many mechanical and gaming boards offer NKRO.
| Rollover | Keys at once | Typical keyboards | What to expect |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2KRO | 2 | Cheap keyboards | Gaming will suffer, combos ghost often |
| 6KRO | 6 + modifiers | Most USB keyboards | Fine for regular use; complex combos might ghost |
| NKRO | All | Many mechanical and gaming boards | Every key works no matter how many you smash, zero ghosting |
Buying a keyboard for gaming or coding? Look for NKRO, or 6KRO at minimum. It is usually in the product specs. Box says NKRO? Prove it here: hold down as many keys as you can and read Most at once.
Why won’t some keys turn green?
There are three usual reasons. The browser cannot see Print Screen and the Windows or Command key, which are shown grey. Your operating system or laptop might grab F1 to F12 before this page sees them. Or the key is actually dead. If a key is not grey and stays dark after several presses, clean it or replace it.
On laptops the function row often controls brightness and volume by default, so try each F-key both with and without Fn held. On a wireless keyboard, check the batteries and the connection, and move closer to the USB receiver if you use one.
When should you use a keyboard tester?
Use a keyboard tester whenever you need to know that every key works: before you pay for a used keyboard, when a new one arrives, after cleaning or a spill, or when a key fails in one app. A full pass takes about 30 seconds, which is far quicker than typing test text in an editor.
Buying used keyboards: test every key before you pay. Sellers skip mentioning dead keys all the time, and 30 seconds of testing saves you from a bad buy.
Office IT work: got 20 keyboards to check? Open this page, mash all keys, press Reset, move on. What used to take hours now takes minutes.
After cleaning: spilled something? Pulled keycaps off? Test everything when you put it back together. Keys sometimes do not seat right.
Hardware vs software: key works here but not in your app? It is a software problem, so check the app’s key bindings. Does not work here either? The hardware is probably dead.
New mechanical keyboards: switches can be dead on arrival. Test everything when it arrives and return it while you still can.
Verify gaming specs: some “gaming” keyboards do not live up to the hype. Check rollover here, then the report rate with the polling rate test. Testing a whole setup? The mouse polling rate test does the same job for your mouse.
Want to see how fast your hands are once the hardware checks out? Try the reaction time test.