Stick Drift Tester – Both Sticks at Rest in 2 Seconds

All 13 rows

The four stick axes 4

Left stick, sideways (axis 0) Fully left reads -1.00, fully right +1.00. Let go and it should settle near 0.00.
Left stick, up and down (axis 1) Pushed away from you reads -1.00. A rest value here walks a character forward or back.
Right stick, sideways (axis 2) The camera stick in most 3D games. A rest value here turns the view by itself.
Right stick, up and down (axis 3) A view that creeps up or down with your thumb off is this axis resting away from 0.00.

Readings 3

Axes in an odd order The browser did not know the layout, so axes may arrive out of order. Another browser may know it.
No pad on the page yet Browsers show a pad only after a button press or a stick move. Press any button.
Rest reading outside the ring The furthest rest sample passed your ring. Set the ring to your game's dead zone: outside it, the game sees movement.

Why sticks drift 6

Average and furthest at rest Measure rest samples each stick for two seconds. The average is where it sits; the furthest is the number a dead zone must cover.
Dead-zone ring Games ignore small values round the centre. The ring starts at 0.10; change it under More options.
Drift on one axis only One axis off and its partner at 0.00 points at that one direction's part of the stick.
Hall-effect sticks These sense a magnet instead of a sliding contact, and are sold as a sturdier alternative.
Stick held at power-on A pad takes its centre from where the stick sits when it switches on. Let go, restart the pad, measure again.
Worn potentiometers Most sticks read position through potentiometers. Drift that stays after a restart is not the power-on kind.

How this list was compiled

Rows written for this page. Facts checked on 2026-09-23. Axis values scaled linearly from -1 to 1, and the standard mapping's axes 0 and 1 for the left stick and 2 and 3 for the right: W3C Gamepad specification, https://w3c.github.io/gamepad/ (read 2026-09-23). Sticks measuring position with potentiometers; the neutral position taken from wherever the stick sits when the controller is switched on, so a stick held off centre at power-on makes the true centre read as movement, which the article calls drifting and which is cured by restoring the neutral position; Hall-effect sticks, which sense a magnet, returning in the 2020s as a tougher option than potentiometer sticks: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analog_stick (section Neutral position and drifting, and the history section; read 2026-09-23). Browsers hiding a controller until a button is pressed or a stick is moved: the same W3C specification. The dead-zone ring of 0.10 is this site's starting value, not a standard. Licence: own work

How it works

This stick drift tester reads where each released stick settles, from -1.00 to 1.00 on every axis. Two seconds of samples give the average distance from centre and the furthest point, set against a dead-zone ring.

Read the full guide

How to test stick drift on PC

Plug in or pair the controller and press Start the test. Press any button so the browser shows the pad. Take both thumbs off, press Measure rest and read one line per stick.

Reading the line

Average and furthest at rest: the average is where the stick sits, the furthest is what a dead zone must cover. Outside the ring means a game with that dead zone would see movement.

Restart the pad with both sticks untouched, then measure again. A stick held at power-on sets a false centre.
Set the ring under More options to your game's dead zone, if its settings show one.

Questions and answers

How do I run a controller drift test?

Wake the pad, let go of both sticks and press Measure rest. Each stick gets a rest line. Then push each stick to the rim, let it spring back and measure again, because a stick may settle somewhere new.

What rest value counts as drift?

Whatever passes your game's dead zone. Games ignore small values round the centre, so 0.05 is invisible in one game and a slow crawl in another. The ring starts at our 0.10; change it to match your game.

Can this page fix stick drift?

No. It reads what the controller sends. A restart with both sticks untouched resets the centre a pad takes at power-on. Drift that survives the restart is in the stick itself, and no web page can recalibrate it.