Free writing tool
Paste an article, script, briefing note, or documentation page and get a real-time estimate for reading time, words, sentences, and paragraphs. Everything runs locally in your browser.
Default near Brysbaert's 2019 meta-analysis average of 238 wpm for silent reading.
Using 250 wpm
Minutes
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Words
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Sentences
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Paragraphs
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Computation is local to your browser. The pasted text is not sent to an API.
Reading time is a useful estimate, not a stopwatch. Many publishing tools default to about 200 to 250 words per minute because it lands near normal adult silent reading. Marc Brysbaert's 2019 meta-analysis, How many words do we read per minute?, reported an average silent-reading rate of about 238 words per minute for non-fiction English text. This calculator uses 250 wpm as the practical default, with presets above and below it so the estimate matches the job.
Topic familiarity, sentence length, vocabulary, formatting, screen size, and purpose all matter. A dense legal memo or academic article can fall well below the default. A familiar internal update can be read faster. Skimming for a decision is faster again, but it trades detail and recall for speed. That is why the calculator shows the raw word, sentence, and paragraph counts alongside the minutes.
Silent reading is usually faster than spoken narration. Podcasts, audiobooks, and voice overs often sit closer to 130 to 180 spoken words per minute, depending on pauses and production style. If you are estimating a script or presentation, choose the very-slow preset or enter a custom spoken pace. If you are estimating a blog post or help article, the average preset is a better starting point.