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Paste any text to get Flesch-Kincaid, Gunning Fog, reading time, and a plain-English grade level summary. Free Hemingway alternative.
Wondering if your writing is too complex for your audience? This free readability scorer runs Flesch-Kincaid, Gunning Fog, and reading time calculations instantly in your browser. No signup, no data stored, no word limits. Paste any text and get a clear grade level, plain-English summary, and highlighted long sentences that might need simplifying.
Readability scores estimate how difficult a text is to read. The Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level tells you the U.S. school grade needed to understand the text. The Flesch Reading Ease score runs from 0 (extremely difficult) to 100 (very easy). The Gunning Fog Index estimates the years of formal education needed. All three use sentence length and word complexity (syllable count) as inputs, but weight them differently — so you get a well-rounded picture of your text's accessibility.
For most web content, marketing copy, and blog posts, aim for a 6th to 8th grade reading level. That is not dumbing it down — it is writing clearly. The average American adult reads at an 8th grade level. Newspapers target 6th grade. Even academic journals are moving toward plainer language. If your score is above 10th grade, try shorter sentences and simpler word choices.
Both measure readability, but they define "hard words" differently. Flesch-Kincaid counts syllables per word — more syllables means harder. Gunning Fog counts "complex words" — words with 3 or more syllables. Fog tends to score slightly higher because multi-syllable words that are common (like "important" or "everything") still count as complex. Use both together: if they agree your text is hard, it definitely is. If they disagree, trust Flesch-Kincaid for general audiences.