5 Second Spacebar Test

The default spacebar window

Five seconds is the spacebar duration people actually mean when they type “spacebar test” into a search box. It is long enough that a lucky 200 ms flutter cannot carry the average, and short enough that you will finish it. This page locks the timer to 5 seconds so the title, the test, and the percentile all describe the same thing. The clock starts on the first press, not on a go-signal, so you get the whole window to mash Space.

Average 5-second SPS on a full-size mechanical board sits around 6–7. Eight is a strong thumb. Ten usually means you are rolling the key or using two thumbs. Laptop scissors run cooler; a tired membrane spacebar will feel like it is eating presses. Live SPS during the run is a noisy sawtooth — the number that matters is the average after the bar fills. Peak SPS over a 200 ms window is reported on the result so you can see whether you had a spike you could not hold.

Thumb, not a CPS clone

Space is a larger switch than a mouse micro-switch. The travel is longer, the actuation is usually heavier, and the thumb is a worse sprinter than an index finger. That is why 5-second SPS sits a little under 5-second CPS for the same person. If your spacebar number and your click number are identical, one of the switches is not what you think — take the keyboard tester and the double click test after this. Compare 5-second spacebar scores only to other 5-second spacebar scores. Then try 10, 30, and 60 if you actually hold jump or sprint for more than a burst.

5-second SPS tiers

FAQ

Other durations

This page is locked to 5 seconds so the result and the search term match. Related tests:

• Spacebar speed test — all modes
• 5 second spacebar test
• 10 second spacebar test
• 30 second spacebar test
• 60 second spacebar test
• Click speed test — the mouse version of this clock