Word and reading time counter
Words, characters, sentences and an honest reading time.
Free, no signup, and it runs entirely in your browser.
0
Words
0
Characters
0
No spaces
0
Sentences
0
Paragraphs
0s
Reading time
Readability needs about 30 words before the grade means anything.
About this tool
Counting words is the easy part. What makes a counter useful is the two numbers next to it: how long the piece takes to read, and how hard it is to read. Both are worth knowing before you publish something, and both are usually estimated badly — reading time by assuming a speed nobody actually reads at, readability by not being measured at all.
- Reading time uses 238 words per minute, the mean silent reading rate for non-fiction prose found in Brysbaert’s 2019 meta-analysis of 190 studies. The 200-per-minute figure most tools use is a rounder number with less behind it.
- The readability grade is Flesch–Kincaid, which maps to US school grades. Aim for grade 8 to 10 for general audiences; technical writing sits higher and that is fine, as long as it is deliberate.
- Character counts are given with and without spaces, because the platforms that impose limits disagree about which they mean.
- Your text never leaves the browser, which matters more here than on most of these tools — people paste drafts they have not published.
Questions
- How is reading time calculated?
- Word count divided by 238 words per minute, the mean silent reading rate for English non-fiction established across 190 studies. Technical material with code or tables reads slower than that.
- What is a good readability score?
- Flesch–Kincaid grade 8 to 10 suits a general audience. Lower is not automatically better — writing everything at grade 5 makes complex subjects longer and vaguer, not clearer.
- Is my text uploaded anywhere?
- No. Every count runs in your browser and nothing is transmitted or stored. You can check by opening this page and then disconnecting from the network — it keeps working.