WhatPulse

---

title: "WhatPulse" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["freeware", "utility-software-for-linux", "utility-software-for-macos", "utility-software-for-windows"] description: "Key-counting computer program" topic_path: "technology/operating-systems" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WhatPulse" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Key-counting computer program ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox software"]

Field	Value
name	WhatPulse
logo	Whatpulselogo.JPG
screenshot	Screenshot from WhatPulse 2.3.1.png
caption	Screenshot from WhatPulse 2.3.1
developer	Martijn Smit
released
latest release version	5.11.2
latest release date
frequently updated
programming language	C++
operating system
platform	Qt
genre	Usage statistics (Key & mouse click counting, bandwidth and uptime measuring)
license	Freeware
website
::

| name = WhatPulse | title = | logo = Whatpulselogo.JPG | logo caption = | screenshot = Screenshot from WhatPulse 2.3.1.png | caption = Screenshot from WhatPulse 2.3.1 | collapsible = | author = | developer = Martijn Smit | released = | discontinued = | latest release version = 5.11.2 | latest release date = | latest preview version = | latest preview date = | frequently updated = | programming language = C++ | operating system = | platform = Qt | language = | status = | genre = Usage statistics (Key & mouse click counting, bandwidth and uptime measuring) | license = Freeware | alexa = | website = WhatPulse is a key-counting program that monitors computer uptime, bandwidth usage and the number of keystrokes and mouse clicks made by a user over a period of time. Unlike keyloggers, the authors claim WhatPulse does not record the order in which keys are pressed but instead counts the number of times keys are pressed. As of June 24, 2025, over 418,000+ users are active on WhatPulse.

Features

The software tracks a user's pressed keys, mouse clicks and used bandwidth and the uptime of the system. Periodically, the user can upload to the server the number of keystrokes made; this is called "pulsing". Users can see where they are in a leaderboard of people who have joined the program and compare themselves against people from their own countries. Users can also join teams, which enables them to compare themselves against people with similar interests.

The program also has anti-cheat measures in place. Automated measures against cheating include a 50 keys per second maximum.

Platform compatibility

WhatPulse is a freeware cross-platform application, running on Windows, macOS, and Linux. However, the Mac and Linux clients were not always updated as often as the Windows client. This changed in version 2.0, which became available for all platforms at the same time and aims at letting the client act the same across all platforms.

References

References

1. (November 19, 2025). "Release Notes for WhatPulse".
2. "Does WhatPulse contain any spyware?".
3. "Overall Statistics".
4. "What does "Activity Breached" mean?".
5. "Downloads".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::