Free Readability & Content Score Checker
This free readability checker scores your content's reading ease, word and sentence counts, keyword density, and passive-voice usage instantly. No signup, nothing leaves your browser.
What Is a Readability Score?
A readability score estimates how easy a piece of text is to read, based on measurable factors like sentence length and word complexity. This tool uses the Flesch Reading Ease formula, one of the most widely used readability metrics, scored from 0 (very difficult, academic/legal text) to 100 (very easy, plain conversational text).
How to Read Your Score
| Score | Reading level | Typical audience |
|---|---|---|
| 90–100 | Very easy | 11-year-old student |
| 60–70 | Plain English | 13–15-year-old student, general public |
| 30–50 | Fairly difficult | College-level reader |
| 0–30 | Very difficult | College graduate, specialist reader |
Most blog content aims for the 60–70 range — easy enough to skim on a phone, without sounding dumbed down. See our guide to SEO content writing for how readability fits into a broader content strategy.
Why Readability Affects SEO
Readability isn't a direct Google ranking factor, but it drives the metrics that are: time on page, scroll depth, and whether a reader finishes the article instead of bouncing back to the search results. Content that's needlessly dense for its topic loses readers before they reach the answer they came for — and a high bounce-back rate is a signal search engines do pick up on over time.
What This Tool Checks
- Flesch Reading Ease score — based on average sentence length and syllables per word
- Word and sentence counts — plus average words per sentence, a quick signal for overly long, run-on writing
- Estimated reading time — based on a 200 words-per-minute average adult reading speed
- Keyword density — how often your target keyword appears relative to total word count, if you provide one
- Possible passive-voice sentences — flagged using common passive-construction patterns (a heuristic, not a grammar-perfect check)
How to Improve a Low Readability Score
- Break long sentences into two shorter ones wherever a natural pause exists
- Replace multi-syllable words with simpler alternatives where meaning doesn't suffer
- Cut filler phrases that add length without adding information
- Read a paragraph out loud — if you run out of breath before the period, the sentence is too long
Free Readability Checker FAQs
What is a good Flesch Reading Ease score for a blog post?
Most successful blog content scores between 60 and 70 — easy enough for a broad general audience without feeling oversimplified. Technical or academic content can reasonably score lower.
Is a lower readability score always bad?
No. Legal, medical, and academic writing often needs precision that naturally lowers the score. Match the score to your actual audience and subject matter rather than chasing 100 for its own sake.
How accurate is the passive-voice detection?
It's a pattern-matching heuristic (common "to be" + past-participle constructions), not a full grammatical parse, so treat flagged sentences as worth a second look rather than a definitive verdict.
Does keyword density affect my search ranking?
Not as a direct ranking formula — modern search engines use semantic understanding, not keyword counting. Density here is a sanity check against accidental keyword stuffing, not a target to hit.
Does this tool store or send my content anywhere?
No. Everything is calculated in your browser with JavaScript — nothing is uploaded, logged, or stored on any server, including ours.
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Contomatix writes and optimizes content for both readers and search engines.