# Free speech review: check your pace and filler words

Press start, give your speech or talk out loud, then press stop: you see your pace in words per minute, your filler words, how many long pauses you made and a transcript of what you said. It is free, runs in your browser and needs no sign-up. It measures delivery only; it does not judge what you said.

By the Speaking Coach team at Sodhera Intelligence. Updated 2026-10-22. Source: https://www.orecci.com/speaking-coach/tools/free-speech-review/

## How to use it

1. Press **Start speaking** and allow the microphone when your browser asks.
2. Deliver your speech the way you will on the day: standing, at full volume, with the notes you'll really have. A toast, a class presentation, a pitch: anything works.
3. Press **Stop** when you finish. Results appear under the button.
4. Read the transcript first, then the numbers. Pick one thing to change and run it again.

If your browser can't turn speech into text, open **Or paste what you said**, paste a transcript and enter how many minutes it took. You'll get pace and fillers, but no pause count.

## What the review measures

| Measure | How it's worked out | What to look for |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Pace | Words heard, divided by the time from your first word to your last | Under 110 words per minute is flagged as slow, over 170 as fast |
| Filler words | Matches common English fillers: um, uh, like, you know, I mean, basically, actually and others | Clusters, especially in your first 20 seconds |
| Long pauses | Gaps of more than two seconds where nothing new was heard | Pauses in the middle of a sentence, which usually mean you lost your place |
| Words and time | Total words in the transcript and total recording time | Whether you fit your slot; the [speech length calculator](/speaking-coach/tools/speech-length-calculator/) shows what fits |
| Transcript | What your browser's speech recognition heard, with fillers highlighted | Sentences that run on, and words that came out differently from your notes |

Conversational English is commonly cited at about 120 to 160 words per minute, and presentations often land around 130 to 150. These are typical ranges, not rules: a eulogy can sit lower.

## What it can't tell you

- **It doesn't judge content.** It can't tell you whether your opening grabs attention, whether a joke lands or whether your point is clear.
- **It misses some hesitation sounds.** Speech recognition is built to produce clean text, so "um" and "uh" are often dropped. Your real filler count is usually higher.
- **A pause isn't always bad.** A two-second pause after a punchline or before your key line is deliberate. The tool counts it anyway; you decide which pauses were planned.
- **Accents and noise affect the transcript.** A misheard word is the recognizer's mistake, not yours. Nothing here rates your accent.

For feedback on what you actually said, Speaking Coach's free app in ChatGPT reviews a recording of your voice and quotes your own words back with one change to try. It works in English, with two reviews per network connection per day. The phone app does the same in 20 languages and adds a partner who plays your audience.

## A three-run routine

1. **Run 1, cold.** Don't fix anything. Just get a baseline.
2. **Run 2, one fix.** Choose the single biggest issue: your fillers before the first point, or a pace over 170. Change only that.
3. **Run 3, full delivery.** Stand where you'll stand, look up from your notes, and compare the numbers with run 1.

Three runs of a five-minute speech take about 20 minutes. More in [how to practice a speech](/speaking-coach/guides/how-to-practice-a-speech/).

## Questions people ask

### Is my speech recorded or saved?

No audio is saved, and Speaking Coach receives nothing. Your browser's own speech service turns speech into text (Google or Microsoft in Chrome and Edge, Apple in Safari), and the counting happens on your device.

### How long can I talk for?

There is no set limit, but one to ten minutes works best: browser speech recognition can stop and restart during very long sessions.

### Is this AI feedback?

No. It counts and measures; it doesn't interpret. AI feedback that quotes your words is in the ChatGPT app (free, English) and the phone app described above.

### Why is my pace different every time?

Nerves, how well you know the material and whether you're reading all change your speed. Compare runs of the same speech, not different speeches.

### Can I use it for a speech in another language?

This English page listens for English. Where the page is available in your language (see the language menu at the top), that version listens in your language and looks for its common fillers.

---
Speaking Coach on the App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/id6767124039
Speaking Coach on Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sodhera.speakingcoach