Online stopwatch

Press start and time anything — workouts, laps, speeches, code builds. This stopwatch measures from real timestamps instead of counting screen ticks, so the reading stays true even if you switch tabs and come back minutes later.

How it works

Most simple stopwatch widgets add a small step to a counter every time a timer fires — and browsers delay those timers whenever the tab is busy or in the background, so the clock quietly falls behind. This one never counts steps. It records the moment you press start and, on every screen refresh, computes the elapsed time as now minus start. A delayed refresh can make the display jump, but it can never make the time wrong. The same approach drives the countdown timer, the Pomodoro timer and the interval timer on this site. We explain the details — including the honest limits of browser timing — in how accurate are online stopwatches?

Laps and splits

Press Lap (or the L key) while the clock runs to record a split without stopping. Each lap row shows the split — the time since the previous lap — and the running total. With two or more laps, your fastest split is highlighted green and the slowest red, so interval sessions read at a glance. When you are done, Export CSV downloads the whole table for a spreadsheet.

Need a beat instead of a clock?

Timing tells you how long; tempo tells you how fast. If you are practising an instrument, drilling footwork or holding a cadence on the rowing machine, a steady pulse helps more than a stopwatch. Need a beat instead? Try the free Metronome → from MetronomeHQ — it holds any tempo from 30 to 300 BPM without drifting either.

Frequently asked questions

Does the stopwatch keep time if I switch to another tab?

Yes. Because the elapsed time is always computed from timestamps, a background tab changes nothing — come back and the display shows the true elapsed time, including everything that passed while you were away.

How precise is it?

The display shows hundredths of a second, and the underlying clock (performance.now) is finer than that. What limits you in practice is the screen refresh and your own reaction time on the buttons — fine for training, cooking and presentations, not a substitute for certified race timing.

Can I use it on a big screen in a classroom or gym?

Yes — hit Fullscreen and the digits scale up to fill the display. Keyboard shortcuts still work while fullscreen.

Where do my laps go?

Nowhere. Laps live in this page only; export the CSV if you want to keep them. Nothing is uploaded or stored on a server.