Free writing tool
Reading time calculator
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
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Words
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Computation is local to your browser. The pasted text is not sent to an API.
Why 250 words per minute is the default
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.
What changes reading speed
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 versus audio
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.
What counts as a word here
Every run of letters or digits is one word, and contractions and hyphenated compounds stay together: "don't" is one word, "well-known" is one word, and a year like 2026 counts as a word too. Sentences are detected from terminal punctuation, the full stops, question marks, and exclamation marks that close them, and paragraphs are whatever your text separates with a blank line. The minutes figure is then plain division: word count divided by your words-per-minute setting. There is no hidden adjustment for images, headings, tables, or code blocks, so if a draft leans on those, treat the estimate as the floor rather than the ceiling.
The five presets, side by side
| Preset | Pace | Suits |
|---|---|---|
| Very slow | 150 wpm | Careful reading, dense prose, second-language material |
| Average | 250 wpm | Typical adult silent reading of non-fiction |
| Fast | 350 wpm | Comfortable readers on familiar material |
| Executive skim | 500 wpm | Scanning for gist, headings, and decisions |
| Speed reading | 700 wpm | Aggressive pace where recall depends on difficulty |
Run the numbers on a real draft
Take a 1,200-word blog post. At the 250 wpm default it is a 4.8-minute read. A careful reader at 150 wpm needs a full 8 minutes, and an executive skimming at 500 wpm is through in 2.4. That spread, more than a factor of three on identical text, is the reason a bare "5 min read" badge says as much about the assumed reader as about the article. When the audience is mixed, quoting the default figure and keeping paragraphs short does more for actual reading time than tuning the label.
Questions about reading time estimates
Is my pasted text sent to a server?
No. Counting and the time estimate run entirely in your browser. Nothing you paste is uploaded or stored.
Why does my publishing platform show a different reading time?
Tools disagree on two inputs: the assumed words per minute and the word-counting rules. Some count hyphenated compounds as two words or assume 200 wpm instead of 250, and small differences in both multiply into different minute figures.
Should a reading time label round up or down?
Rounding to the nearest whole minute is common, and rounding up is the safer choice for a public label because it avoids promising a shorter read than the text delivers.
What pace should I use for a talk or a voice over?
Spoken delivery is slower than silent reading, often in the 130 to 180 words per minute range. Start from the very slow preset at 150 wpm, or time yourself reading one paragraph aloud and enter that pace as a custom value.
Does a faster pace always mean worse comprehension?
Not always. A practiced reader moving quickly through familiar material can retain plenty. The trade-off becomes real at skimming and speed-reading paces, where recall of detail depends heavily on how difficult the text is.