Free Readability Checker

What is the Readability Checker?

The Readability Checker scores a piece of writing with the standard formulas: Flesch Reading Ease, Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level, Gunning Fog, SMOG and Coleman-Liau, along with the underlying numbers that drive them: average sentence length, average syllables per word, and the share of long words. It then highlights the sentences over 25 words and the words with four or more syllables, so you can see exactly what to shorten. Everything runs in your browser and nothing is stored.

How to use it

1. Paste your text.
2. Read the scores. The Flesch Reading Ease gauge and grade level are the two most people use.
3. Open the highlights to see long sentences and complex words in context.
4. Edit, paste again, and watch the score move.

What the scores mean

• Flesch Reading Ease runs 0 to 100; higher is easier. 60 to 70 is plain English for a general audience; 30 to 50 is college-level; most newspapers score around 60.
• Flesch-Kincaid Grade is the US school grade needed to follow the text. Aim for 8 or lower for the public, 10 to 12 for professional readers.
• Gunning Fog and SMOG also produce a grade level, weighting long words more heavily.
• Coleman-Liau uses letters per word rather than syllables, which makes it more stable across languages.

Targets by audience, what the formulas miss (jargon your readers already know, layout, headings), and how to hit a target without dumbing down are in readability scores explained: Flesch, grade level, and how to hit your target.

How to improve a score without losing meaning

• Split any sentence with more than one idea. Most 40-word sentences are two 20-word sentences with a comma in the middle.
• Replace a long word with a shorter one only when the meaning survives; “use” for “utilise” always, “help” for “facilitate” usually, but keep the technical term your readers search for.
• Cut the throat-clearing: “It is important to note that” adds six words and nothing else.
• Prefer active voice; passive constructions add words and hide the actor.

Related tools

Count words and characters with the Character Counter, check for repeated phrases with the Keyword Density Checker, and preview the snippet with the SERP Snippet Preview.

Frequently asked questions

Does readability affect SEO?

Not directly as a ranking factor, but easier text keeps people on the page longer and gets shared more, which does affect rankings.

Why do different tools give different scores?

Syllable counting is approximate and tools handle abbreviations and numbers differently. Compare drafts within one tool rather than across tools.

Does it work in other languages?

The formulas are calibrated for English. Scores for other languages are indicative only.

Is my text stored?

No. It stays in your browser.