Betaflight PID and filter tuning: the 2026 guide
Tune a Betaflight quad in this order: make sure the hardware is sound, set up blackbox logging, tune the filters, then balance P and D, then set feedforward, I-term and TPA, and finish with small corrections. Change one area per flight, measure each flight from a blackbox log, and move in small steps. Most quads need four rounds of this: four short test flights, one per step.
The order matters because each step depends on the one before. D can only do its job once the noise is under control. Feedforward and I-term only make sense once P and D are balanced. Tuning out of order means chasing the same problem from both ends.
Before you touch the PIDs
No tune fixes a mechanical problem. Before you start:
- Props and motors. Fit fresh, straight props. Spin each motor by hand and feel for rough bearings. A bent prop or a dry bearing shows up as noise that filters can only hide.
- Frame and stack. Tighten the frame screws and check that the flight controller’s soft mounts aren’t crushed. A loose arm makes a frame resonance that moves around between flights.
- RPM filter. Turn on bidirectional DShot and set the correct motor pole count. The RPM filter removes most motor noise with very little delay, which is what lets you filter less elsewhere. See how to set up RPM filtering.
- Firmware. Use Betaflight 4.3 or newer. If you upgrade between 4.5 and 2025.12 or later, read what changed for tuning first, because the D-term setting names swap meaning.
- Logging. Set up blackbox logging at about 2 kHz (1.6 kHz on BMI270 gyros), with unfiltered gyro recorded. See blackbox logging for tuning.
What P, I, D, D max and feedforward do
- P pushes the quad toward the rotation rate you ask for. Too little feels soft and slow to follow the sticks. Too much overshoots and oscillates.
- D resists fast changes. It damps overshoot and propwash, but it also amplifies high-frequency noise into the motors, which is why D and filtering are tuned together.
- D max lets D rise above its base value during fast moves and in disturbed air, so you get damping when you need it without running high D all the time.
- I corrects slow, steady errors: drift in wind, an off-centre battery, holding a line through a turn.
- Feedforward reacts to how fast you move the sticks, before any error builds up. It sharpens stick response, and too much of it shows as overshoot on quick inputs.
Defaults on roll and pitch, the same from 4.3 to 2026.6:
| Term | Roll | Pitch | 4.3–4.5 name | 2025.12+ name |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | 45 | 47 | p_roll |
p_roll |
| I | 80 | 84 | i_roll |
i_roll |
| D (base) | 30 | 34 | d_min_roll |
d_roll |
| D max (peak) | 40 | 46 | d_roll |
d_max_roll |
| Feedforward | 120 | 125 | f_roll |
f_roll |
The D row is the trap. Up to 4.5, d_roll is the peak D. From 2025.12, d_roll is the base D and the peak moved to d_max_roll. Pasting an old diff into new firmware swaps the two. The free setting-name converter translates a diff with the values, not just the names.
Step 1: fly a test pack and log it
Every step starts with the same short flight, about 2 minutes on one battery, in any order, with a short hover between sets:
- A slow throttle sweep, about 10 seconds from low to full and back down.
- About 10 snap rolls: full stick, held until the quad has rolled all the way round.
- About 10 snap flips: the same on pitch.
- About 10 yaw spins at full stick.
- A few split-S and two punch-outs. They show propwash and how the quad holds full throttle.
Fly on a calm day. Wind adds noise that no setting can remove. After landing, touch the motors: cool, warm or hot is part of the data.
Step 2: filters
Filters remove noise from the gyro signal before the PID controller sees it. Every filter adds delay, and delay makes the quad slower to react and harder to damp. The goal is the least filtering that keeps the noise, and the motors, under control.
Read the throttle sweep as a spectrum, frequency against throttle:
- Motor noise rises in frequency with throttle. The RPM filter should remove most of it.
- Frame resonance sits at a fixed frequency whatever the throttle. The dynamic notch tracks it.
- Propwash and slow oscillation, below about 100 Hz, is a PID matter. Filtering it only adds delay.
If the gyro and D-term traces are clean above about 100 Hz and the motors come back cool, you can filter a little less. If the D-term is noisy or the motors are hot, add D-term filtering first, before you touch the gyro filters. The filter tuning guide covers each filter and its defaults, and hot motors after tuning covers what to do when they come back hot.
Leave the PIDs alone in this step, apart from lowering D if the motors run hot. Changing filters and PIDs together makes it impossible to tell which change did what.
Step 3: P and D
This step sets the damping, the balance between P and D. Read it from the step response: how the measured rotation follows a sharp stick input, normalised so that 1.0 is exactly what you asked for. See how to read a step response.
What to aim for on roll and pitch, for a balanced feel:
- Overshoot of about 5–10%, a peak of about 1.0–1.1.
- Short settling: the trace reaches 1.0 and stays there, with no ringing.
- No undershoot: a peak below 1.0 means too much D for the P.
How to read it:
| What you see | Likely cause | What to change |
|---|---|---|
| Overshoot above about 15% with slow settling | Too little D for the P | More D, or a little less P |
| Ringing after the peak | Too little damping | More D, if the motors stay cool |
| Peak below 1.0, slow to reach target | Too much D for the P | Less D, or more P |
| Slow rise, soft stick feel | Not enough P overall | More P and D together (master multiplier) |
With the simplified tuning sliders, this is the damping slider for the P:D balance and the master multiplier for overall gain. Pitch usually wants a little more D than roll, which is what the pitch damping slider is for. See Betaflight’s tuning sliders explained.
Overshoot from full-stick snaps reads higher than from normal inputs, because feedforward drives part of it. Don’t add D just to bring a full-stick overshoot down. Add damping when settling is slow or the trace keeps ringing.
Step 4: feedforward, I-term and TPA
With P and D balanced, this step shapes how the quad feels on the sticks and how it holds through throttle changes:
- Feedforward for stick response. Too much shows as overshoot on quick inputs with a short rise time. Smoothing and jitter reduction keep radio noise from reaching the motors.
- I-term relax for overshoot at the end of flips and rolls: the I-term winds up during the move and pushes back after it. A lower relax cutoff reduces that.
- Anti-gravity for punch-outs and throttle chops, where the nose dips or rises as throttle changes.
- TPA lowers D (or P and D) at high throttle, where the motors respond faster and the quad can oscillate on full-throttle punches.
The feedforward, I-term relax, anti-gravity and TPA guide covers each setting with its defaults.
Step 5: fine-tune, and know when to stop
The last round makes small corrections to anything above, and revisits D-term filtering now that the gains are settled. Then stop. A tune is done when:
- overshoot, settling and noise are inside the targets for the feel you want, or
- the next change would be smaller than one slider step, which you would not feel in the air.
More rounds after that trade one small number for another. If the quad flew better two rounds ago, go back to that round rather than tuning forward from a worse one.
Yaw
Yaw tolerates more overshoot than roll and pitch, and 10–30% is normal. D on yaw is 0 by default, and it should stay there. Touch yaw only when it is clearly off: high overshoot with a very fast rise usually means too much yaw feedforward, and slow settling with a sluggish response means too little yaw P. If your sliders are in RPY mode, they set yaw for you.
Propwash
Propwash is the oscillation when the quad drops through its own disturbed air, on dives, split-S and hard turns. It sits below about 100 Hz, so filters can’t remove it. It gets better with a lower noise floor (so D can work), a good P:D balance, D max and I-term relax. It never goes away completely. See how to fix propwash.
Common mistakes
- Changing several areas in one flight. You can’t tell which change helped or hurt.
- Tuning around a mechanical fault. Bent props and loose stacks look like noise problems.
- Chasing full-stick overshoot with D. Part of it is feedforward and stick speed.
- Filtering propwash. It adds delay and makes propwash worse.
- Copying a diff across versions. The D-term names changed meaning in 2025.12.
- Big jumps. Change gains by 10–15% at a time. After every change, arm on the ground, hover for about 20 seconds, land and touch the motors.
How FPV PID Tune handles it
FPV PID Tune follows this order as four rounds, one battery each: filters, then P and D, then feedforward, I-term and TPA, then fine-tuning. It reads the log in your browser and an AI chooses the values. A validator keeps every value inside fixed safety limits, and every value is read back from the quad after Apply. Your original settings are backed up first and can always be restored for free.