Free Online Metronome
Adjust the tempo, beats, and accents.
How to use this online metronome
Press Start and the metronome begins clicking at the tempo shown in beats per minute (BPM). Drag the tempo slider or use the arrow buttons to change speed: the single arrows move by 1 BPM and the double arrows by 10 BPM, anywhere from 10 to 360 BPM. The Beats Per Cycle slider sets how many beats are in each measure, from 1 to 99. The large display counts the beats so you can see the pulse as well as hear it, and the completed cycles counter tells you how many measures have gone by, which is handy for timed drills.
Accents and time signatures
Tap any beat in the row under the controls to accent it. Accented beats play a higher click and the display flashes orange. Set 4 beats and accent the first for 4/4 time, 3 beats with the first accented for a waltz in 3/4, or 6 beats with accents on 1 and 4 for a 6/8 feel. You can accent as many beats as you like, so odd meters such as 5/4 (accent 1 and 4) and 7/8 (accent 1, 3 and 5) work too. Setting 1 beat per cycle gives a plain click with no accent.
Tempo markings
The italic label under the BPM shows the traditional Italian tempo marking for the current speed. Roughly:
| Largo | 40 to 60 BPM, very slow and broad |
| Adagio | 66 to 76 BPM, slow and stately |
| Andante | 76 to 108 BPM, a walking pace |
| Moderato | 108 to 120 BPM, moderate |
| Allegro | 120 to 168 BPM, fast and bright |
| Presto | 168 to 200 BPM, very fast |
| Prestissimo | 200 BPM and up, as fast as possible |
Practicing with a metronome
Start slower than you think you need to, often 50 to 70 percent of the target tempo, so that every note lands cleanly on the click. Once you can play a passage several times in a row without a mistake, raise the tempo by 2 to 5 BPM and repeat. For a bigger challenge, put the click on beats 2 and 4 only, or halve the tempo and feel the click as every other beat, which forces you to keep time on your own between clicks. The completed cycles counter makes it easy to commit to, say, twenty clean repetitions before speeding up.
Share a tempo with your band or students
The Share box above holds a link that encodes the current tempo, beats per cycle, and accent pattern. Send it to a bandmate or paste it into a lesson plan and whoever opens it gets exactly the same settings, so everyone rehearses at the same speed.
Accurate timing that keeps your screen on
Clicks are scheduled ahead of time on the Web Audio API's high-resolution clock instead of ordinary JavaScript timers, so the beat does not drift or stutter when the browser gets busy. While the metronome is running the page also asks your device to keep the display awake, so the screensaver or phone auto-lock will not interrupt a practice session. Nothing to install, and it works on desktop, tablet and phone. Need to time a session as well? Try the fullscreen stopwatch.