Readability formulas turn the feel of a text into a number. They measure sentence length and word complexity to estimate how easy your writing is to read. The Flesch Reading Ease score, the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level, the Gunning Fog Index, and SMOG each approach it differently, but all agree on the basics: short sentences and simple words read easier than long ones. Blog posts, landing pages, and product descriptions aimed at a broad audience usually score best between 60 and 80; academic writing scores lower. Our free Readability Checker computes all four scores — plus word, sentence, and syllable counts — and translates the result into a plain-English verdict.
Paste any English text — a draft post, a product description, an email — and click Check Readability. There is no signup and no word limit for normal use, and nothing is uploaded: the entire analysis runs in your browser, so unpublished drafts stay private. If your grade level runs higher than your audience, break up long sentences, swap heavy words for plain ones, and run the check again to compare.
📖 Readability Checker
Score any text with Flesch Reading Ease, grade level, Gunning Fog and SMOG.
How to use
- Paste your text into the box — a few paragraphs give the most reliable scores.
- Click Check Readability.
- Read the score table: word, sentence, and syllable counts alongside the four readability formulas.
- Check the verdict line for the reading level in plain English.
- Shorten long sentences and simplify heavy words in hard passages, then run the check again to compare.
FAQs
What is a good Flesch score for a blog?
Aim for 60–80: “Standard” to “Fairly easy”. Broad consumer audiences read most comfortably at 70 and above; technical or B2B topics can sit in the 50s without a problem. There is no penalty for scoring higher — clearer writing keeps more readers.
Does Google rank readable content higher?
Not directly — readability is not a confirmed ranking factor. But clear content keeps visitors on the page longer, reduces bounces, and earns more links and shares, and those engagement signals do correlate with better rankings. Write for readers first; the SEO benefit follows.
How accurate is the syllable counter?
It uses a vowel-group heuristic: it counts groups of vowels, discounts a silent trailing “e”, and keeps consonant-plus-“le” endings. That is correct for most common words but can miscount proper nouns, abbreviations, and unusual spellings. Treat the scores as reliable estimates, not laboratory measurements.