Estimate silent and read-aloud reading time for any text, live as you type — right in your browser.
How long will someone take to read your article? How many minutes of speech is this script? This calculator answers both questions live: paste or type your text and it shows the estimated silent reading time, the time to read the same text aloud, and the word and character counts — updating on every keystroke.
The math is simple and transparent: time equals words divided by reading speed. The default silent speed is 238 words per minute, the average for adults reading non-fiction in the largest meta-analysis of reading rates (Brysbaert, 2019, covering over 18,000 participants). Reading aloud is much slower — around 150 wpm at a comfortable presentation pace, which is the baseline this tool uses. The speed selector lets you switch the silent pace to slow (150 wpm, careful or technical reading) or fast (300 wpm, skimming-adjacent), and the read-aloud estimate scales proportionally so the two numbers stay consistent.
Writers use the estimate to display a "X min read" badge on blog posts — a small element shown to reduce bounce by setting expectations. Podcasters and video creators use the read-aloud number to size a script before recording: a 5-minute slot fits roughly 750 spoken words. Speechwriters, teachers timing dictations and students rehearsing presentations do the same. Everything is computed 100% in your browser as you type; the text is never uploaded, so drafts and unpublished work stay private.
Reading time = words ÷ reading speed (words per minute). Silent: 150 (slow), 238 (average) or 300 (fast) wpm. Read-aloud: 150 wpm at the average setting, scaled proportionally at the other speeds.
From the largest published meta-analysis of reading rates (Brysbaert, 2019), which found adults read non-fiction silently at about 238 words per minute on average. It is the most defensible default available.
It is a solid average, not a stopwatch. Real time varies with text difficulty, reader skill and language — dense technical prose reads slower, light news faster. Use the slow/fast settings to bracket the range.
Speaking is roughly 40% slower: about 150 wpm versus 238 wpm silently. That is why a 1,500-word article is a 6-minute read but a 10-minute speech.
About 750 words at the 150 wpm read-aloud pace. Paste your script here and the "Reading aloud" card gives you the exact estimate for your text.
No. All counting and math run 100% in JavaScript on your device. Nothing you type or paste is transmitted or stored.
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