Paste any text and instantly get a readability score, grade level, and plain-English analysis. Free, no signup, no word limits.
Getting a full readability analysis takes seconds — no account, no file upload, no waiting.
Copy and paste any text into the box above — a blog post, email, essay, landing page, or anything you want to analyze. There's no word limit.
The tool instantly calculates multiple readability scores using industry-standard formulas including Flesch Reading Ease, Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level, and Gunning Fog Index.
Get a plain-English breakdown of your scores — what they mean, who can read your text comfortably, and whether it matches your target audience.
Review the personalized suggestions, edit your text, and re-check instantly. Aim for the grade level that best fits your audience and purpose.
The Flesch Reading Ease formula scores text from 0 to 100. Higher scores mean easier to read.
Easily understood by an average 11-year-old. Conversational English, simple instructions.
Easily understood by 13 to 15-year-olds. Good for consumer-facing marketing copy.
Understood by 15 to 17-year-olds. The target range for most web content and blogs.
Best understood by high school and college students. Suitable for professional articles.
Best understood by college graduates. Typical of academic papers and legal documents.
Best understood by university graduates. Typical of professional and technical literature.
Anyone who writes for an audience benefits from checking readability — from bloggers to academics.
Check that your posts are readable for your target audience. Most blog content should score 60–70 on the Flesch scale for maximum engagement and low bounce rates.
Landing pages and emails convert better when written at a 5th–6th grade level. Use the readability checker to simplify copy before publishing.
Check that learning materials match the reading level of your students. Grade-level scores help ensure content is appropriately challenging without being inaccessible.
Google favors readable content. Check readability scores as part of your on-page SEO audit to ensure your content matches your audience's reading level.
Check essays and papers to ensure they meet academic writing standards. Academic writing typically targets a Flesch score of 30–50.
UI copy, tooltips, and onboarding text should be as simple as possible. Check readability to make sure your interface speaks clearly to all users.
Everything you need to know about readability scores and how to use them.
A readability score measures how easy a piece of text is to read and understand. Common readability formulas like Flesch Reading Ease and Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level calculate scores based on sentence length and word complexity (syllable count). Higher Flesch Reading Ease scores mean easier text; higher Grade Level scores mean the text requires more education to understand.
A Flesch Reading Ease score between 60 and 70 is considered standard and suitable for most general audiences. Scores of 70–80 are easy to read (around 8th grade level). Scores above 80 are very easy, like conversational English. Most online content should aim for 60–70. Academic or technical writing typically scores 30–50.
For general web content and blog posts, aim for a 6th to 8th grade reading level. Major newspapers write at roughly an 8th grade level. For marketing copy and landing pages, aim even lower — 5th to 6th grade — to maximize comprehension and conversions. Academic papers and technical documentation can legitimately target higher grade levels.
The Gunning Fog Index estimates the years of formal education needed to understand a piece of text on first reading. It's based on average sentence length and the percentage of complex words (words with 3 or more syllables). A score of 12 means a high school senior could understand it. Most business writing should target a Fog Index below 12.
To improve your readability score: shorten your sentences (aim for 15–20 words on average), use simpler words with fewer syllables, break up long paragraphs, use active voice instead of passive, and avoid unnecessary jargon. Even replacing a few long words per paragraph with shorter alternatives can meaningfully improve your score.
Yes — Grade My Text is completely free with no signup required, no word limits, and no watermarks. All analysis runs instantly in your browser. Your text is never sent to any server.
The Flesch Reading Ease and Flesch-Kincaid formulas are among the most widely validated readability formulas in existence, used by the US Department of Defense, academic researchers, and major publishers. They are not perfect — they don't account for vocabulary difficulty or conceptual complexity — but they are reliable proxies for reading difficulty when used as a guide rather than an absolute rule.