Free tool · no sign-up

Speaking time calculator

How long will your speech take? Paste it in, or enter a word count, and see the speaking time at your pace. Or work backwards: find how many words fit in a 3-, 5- or 10-minute slot.

Paste your script or speech

…or number of words

Speaking pace

Add a 2-second pause between paragraphs

Speaking time

—

Paste your text or enter a word count.

Need it transcribed properly?

A first-pass draft, a professional editor and a separate quality check.
Speaker labels, accurate names and terms, timestamps on request.
Your USD price the moment the upload finishes, from $0.80 per minute.
NDA on request.

Get an instant quote

How the speaking time calculator works

Choose what you want to work out: how long your text takes to say, or how many words fit in a time slot.
Paste your speech or script (or type a word count), or enter the minutes you have.
Pick a speaking pace — 130 words per minute suits most speeches — or set your own.
Read the speaking time or word budget. Optionally add pauses between paragraphs.

How many words per minute? Speech lengths at a glance

Word counts for common speech lengths at slow (110), average (130) and conversational (150) speaking rates.

Speech length	Slow	Average	Conversational
1 minute	110 words	130 words	150 words
2 minutes	220 words	260 words	300 words
3 minutes	330 words	390 words	450 words
5 minutes	550 words	650 words	750 words
7 minutes	770 words	910 words	1,050 words
10 minutes	1,100 words	1,300 words	1,500 words
15 minutes	1,650 words	1,950 words	2,250 words
20 minutes	2,200 words	2,600 words	3,000 words
30 minutes	3,300 words	3,900 words	4,500 words
45 minutes	4,950 words	5,850 words	6,750 words
1 hour	6,600 words	7,800 words	9,000 words

Choosing the right pace

Slow (110 words per minute) — careful presentations, non-native audiences, complex material.
Average (130 words per minute) — most speeches, talks and presentations.
Conversational (150 words per minute) — podcasts, interviews, audiobooks.
Fast (170 words per minute) — energetic delivery, adverts and promos.

Tips for timing a speech

Write to about 90% of your slot: applause, laughter, slide changes and a sip of water all take time. Rehearse aloud with a timer at least twice, mark the halfway point in your notes, and know which paragraph you can drop if you run long.

For wedding toasts, best-man speeches and award thank-yous, two to five minutes is the sweet spot. Conference talks usually run 15 to 30 minutes, and a TED-style talk is at most 18.

Speaking time calculator — questions

How many words is a 5-minute speech?

About 650 words at an average pace of 130 words per minute: 550 if you speak slowly and 750 at a conversational pace.

How long does it take to say 1,000 words?

About 7 min 42 s at 130 words per minute, 9 min 5 s at a slow pace and 6 min 40 s at a conversational pace.

What is a normal speaking rate?

Most people give speeches and presentations at around 120 to 140 words per minute and talk conversationally at around 150. Nerves usually push people faster, so rehearse with a timer.

How is this different from reading time?

People read silently far faster than they speak — around 240 words per minute — so a page that takes one minute to read can take nearly two to say aloud. The calculator shows both.

How are words counted?

Like a word processor: contractions such as "don't", hyphenated words and numbers such as 1,000 each count as one word; punctuation and symbols don't count.

Can I get my talk transcribed afterwards?

Yes. Record the talk and upload it: every transcript is drafted, edited by a professional and quality-checked, with your price shown as soon as the upload finishes.

Transcripts checked by people, quoted in minutes

Upload your recordings and see the confirmed USD price as soon as the upload finishes. Every transcript is drafted, edited by a professional and quality-checked before delivery.

Send your files See sample transcripts