Guide

WebGL GPU Test in Your Browser

Test your GPU through pure WebGL 2.0 in Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari. Verify hardware acceleration and know when WebGL stops.

🚀 volumeshadertest
Jun 24
3 min read

Volume Shader BM is a pure WebGL 2.0 benchmark. Open it in Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari and you get a real GPU stress test — no native app, no driver, no sign-up. Below: which browser to pick, what to verify, and where WebGL stops.

Quick answer

  • Use any browser that supports WebGL 2.0 (Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari ≥ 15).
  • Verify GPU acceleration is active before you trust the score.
  • Chrome / Edge: chrome://gpu. Firefox: about:support. Safari: check Activity Monitor.
  • WebGL 2 is the right test for "everyday GPU compute" — WebGPU is newer but not yet universally supported.

Why WebGL 2.0?

WebGL 2.0 is supported across all major browsers and exposes enough of the GPU pipeline to run heavy fragment-shader workloads like raymarching. WebGPU offers more low-level control and could in theory be faster, but as of today browser support and driver maturity are still uneven. WebGL 2 hits the sweet spot of "always works, still stresses the GPU".

Chrome & Edge

  • Open chrome://gpu. "WebGL2: Hardware accelerated" must be green.
  • Under "Graphics Feature Status" everything important should be hardware accelerated.
  • If you see "Software only" anywhere, see why the test is lagging.

Firefox

  • Open about:support → Graphics. "Compositing" should be WebRender (not Basic).
  • If "WebGL 2 Driver Renderer" shows your GPU model — you're good.

Safari

  • Safari 15+ enables WebGL 2 by default.
  • Open Activity Monitor → GPU History during the test to confirm the GPU is doing work.
  • On Mac, the Energy preference can park the dGPU. Plug in and switch off "Automatic graphics switching" for testing.

Where WebGL stops

This benchmark measures one WebGL fragment-shader raymarching workload. It does not measure WebGPU compute, AI inference, scientific computing or game performance, and it is not a substitute for a native or application-specific benchmark.

Start the WebGL GPU test

Run WebGL GPU Test →

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