About the Reading Time Calculator
Before you publish an article or walk on stage, it helps to know how long the words will actually take. This calculator turns a word count into a reading estimate, a spoken estimate and a rough slide count, so you can trim a script to fit a ten-minute slot or set an honest expectation at the top of a blog post.
How to use it
- 01Paste your draft, script or article into the text panel.
- 02Adjust the reading speed if your audience is faster or slower than the 220 words-per-minute default.
- 03Read the estimates as they update with every keystroke.
Features
- Adjustable reading speed between 50 and 1000 words per minute
- Separate speaking estimate based on a measured 130 words-per-minute presentation pace
- Approximate slide count at roughly 120 words per slide
- Live updates with no button to press
Practical examples
Fitting a conference talk
Paste a 1,400 word script and you will see about eleven minutes of speaking time — enough to know a fifteen-minute slot leaves room for questions.
Adding a reading-time badge
Paste a finished blog post to get the figure you display as '6 min read' above the article.
Limitations
- Estimates are averages. Dense technical prose reads slower and dialogue reads faster.
- Code blocks, tables and image captions are counted as ordinary words, which can inflate a technical article's estimate.
- Slide count is a rule of thumb, not a design recommendation.
Privacy
Your draft stays in the page. The calculation is a word count performed in JavaScript; no text is transmitted to a server or saved between visits.
Read the full privacy policy for how the site as a whole handles data.
Frequently asked questions
What reading speed should I use?
Around 200-250 words per minute suits general adult reading. Use 150 for dense technical documentation and 300 for skim-reading.
Why is speaking time longer than reading time?
People read silently far faster than they speak. A comfortable presentation pace is roughly 130 words per minute, which is deliberately slower than a news reader.
Does it count words the same way as a word processor?
It splits on whitespace, which matches most word processors for normal prose. Hyphenated compounds count as one word.