Home Pricing Blog Tools Contact

Word counter and speaking-time estimator

Paste any text and instantly get words, characters, sentences and paragraphs, plus estimated silent-reading time and speaking time at three paces (slow, normal, fast). Useful for podcast scripts, talks, videos and posts.

Count and time your text

Templates:
Words0
Characters0
Characters (no spaces)0
Sentences0
Paragraphs0

Estimated time

Silent reading (250 wpm)
Slow speaking (130 wpm)
Normal speaking (150 wpm)
Fast speaking (180 wpm)

English averages ~150 wpm spoken naturally; faster than romance languages.

Transcribe audio to text and reuse it →

If what you have is an audio or video and you need the text to count or repurpose, VOCAP transcribes it in minutes. 30 minutes free on signup.

What this counter is for

If you write podcast scripts, talks, YouTube videos, social posts or emails you will read aloud, what you really care about is not just how many words you have, but how long it will take to say them. Silent reading averages 250 words per minute; natural speaking in presentations sits around 150 wpm (English/Spanish), slightly slower for paced talks and slightly faster for radio or commercial podcasts. This counter gives you all four times at once so you fit the script to the real slot (a 5-minute slot = ~750 words at normal pace). Everything runs as you type, with nothing sent to a server.

Price comparison (for 1 hour of audio)

If your next step is generating the text from an audio or video (not counting one you already have), here are market prices:

Service Price per hour
VOCAP (pack 30h) 1.00 EUR
VOCAP (pack 1h) 1.99 EUR
Otter.ai Pro (1200 min/mo) ~0.85 EUR*
Descript Creator (10h/mo) ~2.40 EUR*
Rev.com AI 15.00 EUR
Human transcription (budget) 15.00 EUR
Human transcription (pro) 90.00 EUR

* Effective price if you use the entire monthly quota. If not, it goes up. VOCAP is pay-per-use with no monthly fee.

Frequently asked questions

How many words per minute do people speak in a presentation?

Between 130 and 180 wpm depending on pace. 130 wpm is paced speaking (TED talks, academic lectures). 150 wpm is the natural average in English and Spanish (company presentations, explainer videos). 180 wpm is fast speaking (commercial podcasts, radio). For a first estimate, use 150.

How many words do I need for a 5-minute talk?

At 150 wpm, about 750 words. At 130 wpm, about 650. At 180 wpm, about 900. Quick rule: divide minutes available by 0.4 to get the approximate word count at normal pace.

How does it count sentences and paragraphs?

Sentences: blocks separated by period (.), exclamation (!), question mark (?) or their Spanish counterparts (¿ ¡). Paragraphs: blocks separated by a blank line. If your text has no clear punctuation, the sentence count may come out low.

Does it work for other languages?

Yes for word, character and paragraph counts (any language that uses spaces between words). The speaking-time estimate is calibrated for English and Spanish (both ~150 wpm); German tends to be 10-15% slower, Italian and Portuguese similar, French similar to Spanish.

Difference between silent reading and speaking?

Silent reading runs at roughly twice the speed of speaking: ~250 wpm vs ~150 wpm. That is why a 1000-word article takes 4 minutes to read silently but almost 7 to read aloud. Matters if you record audiobooks or narrate a video.

Does it upload my text to a server?

No. All the counting happens in your browser with JavaScript. We do not upload anything, we do not store anything, you do not need to sign up.

What if I need the text from an audio file?

That is automatic transcription. VOCAP transcribes audio and video to text and lets you copy or export it. Then you can paste it here to measure it. 30 minutes free on signup.

Got the audio but not the text?

VOCAP transcribes your audio or video with AI in minutes. Then you can count it, time it or reuse it anywhere. 30 minutes free on signup.

Try VOCAP →

You may also like

Related blog articles

About the author

Manuel Gregorio — Founder of VOCAP

Founder of VOCAP. Since 2024 I help professionals — lawyers, doctors, journalists, podcasters and business teams — turn their recordings into searchable text with AI, GDPR-compliant and from EUR 1/hour.

About this page. VOCAP prices and comparison data may change. Check current prices on the main page. Page last updated on 2026-06-01.

About the author

Manuel Gregorio — Founder of VOCAP

Founder of VOCAP. Since 2024 I help professionals — lawyers, doctors, journalists, podcasters and business teams — turn their recordings into searchable text with AI, GDPR-compliant and from EUR 1/hour.

Try VOCAP free 15 min transcription
Start Free →