Free Typing Speed Test
An online typing test built for programmers and anyone who types for a living. Measure your words per minute and accuracy on plain English or real code snippets. Pick a passage set and a duration, click the text, and start typing; the timer begins on your first keystroke.
Press Tab to restart with a new passage
How to type faster
Typing speed is a trainable skill, and the biggest gains come from technique rather than effort. If you currently look at the keyboard, the single most valuable change is to stop: keep your index fingers on F and J, let each finger own its column of keys, and accept that you will be slower for a week or two while the positions become automatic. Almost everyone who sticks with it is faster than before within a month.
The second change is to prioritise accuracy over speed. Every error costs you the time to notice it, press Backspace, and retype, which is far more than the fraction of a second you saved by rushing. Aim for 97 percent or better and let speed rise on its own. On this test, the accuracy figure is the one to watch first.
Finally, practise in short sessions. Two or three rounds of 30 or 60 seconds a day, with attention on the keys you keep missing, does more than an hour once a week. Use the programming passages if you write code; the punctuation and symbols are where most developers lose time.
Frequently asked questions
How is WPM calculated?+
We use the standard definition: one word equals five characters, including spaces. WPM is the number of correctly typed characters divided by five, divided by the minutes elapsed. Raw WPM counts every character you typed, correct or not, which is why it is usually a little higher.
How is accuracy calculated?+
Accuracy is the percentage of keystrokes that were correct at the moment you pressed them. Fixing a mistake with Backspace does not remove the original error from the count, so accuracy reflects how cleanly you typed rather than how the text looked at the end.
What is a good typing speed?+
The average adult types around 40 WPM. Anything above 60 WPM is comfortably faster than most people, 80 to 100 WPM is typical of professional typists and many programmers, and sustained speeds above 120 WPM are rare. Accuracy above 95 percent matters more than any of these numbers.
Why does the test have English and programming passages?+
Prose and code exercise different habits. Programming text contains more punctuation, more unusual word combinations, and fewer common English words, so most people score lower on it. If you write code all day, the programming set is the more honest measure of your working speed.
Where is my personal best stored?+
In your browser's local storage, separately for each combination of passage set and duration. Nothing is sent to our servers. Clearing your browser data or switching devices will reset it.
Can I use this on a phone?+
Yes. Tap the text area to open the keyboard and start typing. Scores on a phone keyboard are naturally lower than on a physical keyboard, so compare phone results with phone results.
Done practising? Put it to use: open a shared workspace or browse all games.