Check Readability

Check Readability is a free web analyzer and Chrome extension for assessing the complexity of English text. It suits writers and editors who want several formula-based estimates without creating an account. Its breadth of scores and privacy-conscious analysis make it a useful check, but those scores cannot assess the quality or soundness of the writing.

Overview

Paste text into the web analyzer for immediate feedback on sentence length, word choice, and readability. The results include nine formula scores and a consensus grade level, giving you several ways to gauge how demanding a passage may be. That range is useful when one score would be too narrow, but formulas remain statistical estimates: they cannot tell whether a text is accurate, logical, appropriate, or well argued.

Key features

Nine formulas, one assessment

The analyzer supports Automated Readability Index, Flesch Reading Ease, Gunning Fog, Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level, Coleman-Liau, SMOG, LINSEAR Write, FORCAST, and New Dale-Chall. A consensus grade level helps summarize the results, while the individual scores let writers compare different measures rather than treating one number as definitive.

Web and Chrome workflows

The website analyzes pasted text. The Chrome extension adds a native Side Panel, full-page or selected-text extraction, interactive formula breakdowns, and the same nine formulas. System, Light, and Dark interface modes are supported. This makes the extension a better fit for checking material in a browser; the web analyzer is the more direct option for text you are ready to paste.

Privacy and interpretation

Website text travels over an encrypted connection and stays in memory only while scores are computed; it is not written to a database, logged, or used for training. The extension scores text locally and transmits no page content or selected text. The website does use Google Analytics for visits and broad referral and browser information, but not analyzed text. Readability scores can flag complexity, not establish that a passage is clear in context or that its argument works.

Pricing

Free: free. The plan requires no account, has no usage fees, and permits personal and commercial use. It includes nine formulas, sentence analysis, clarity recommendations, and a browser extension. That is a substantial toolkit at no cost; there is no paid tier to unlock for the stated core features. The analysis is English-only, so it is not suited to assessing text in other languages.

Platforms

Check Readability is available on the web and as a Chrome extension. The extension is free; its Chrome Web Store listing reports version 1.2.0, updated September 4, 2026.

Who it's for

The extension is designed for copywriters, SEO specialists, editors, researchers, and educators. Its quick scores and sentence-level feedback can help these readers spot text that may be demanding. The product also presents readability as a way to support accessibility for people with reading difficulties and to make content easier to understand for search. Those are reasons to consider readability, not guarantees that scores will improve accessibility or search rankings.

Pros and cons

• Pros: Nine formulas and a consensus grade give writers multiple perspectives on complexity.
• Pros: Free personal and commercial use, with no account or usage fees, lowers the barrier to repeated checks.
• Pros: Local extension scoring avoids transmitting page content or selected text.
• Cons: English support only rules it out for analyzing other languages.
• Cons: Formula scores cannot judge accuracy, logic, appropriateness, or argument quality, so they should not stand in for editorial judgment.

Alternatives

For a broader comparison, see Readability Checkers. Choose ProWritingAid instead if you want a freemium writing extension with a free tier capped at 500 words per report run, two report runs per day, and limited daily rephrases and Sparks.

Readability Formulas is another freemium option, with free online calculators and its Readability Scoring System, across web, extension, macOS, and Windows. Consider Hemingway Editor if you want a web or desktop editor rather than a Chrome extension.

Text Inspector may suit readers who need web or API access; its free plan allows 250 words and automatically deletes data after six hours. Readable is a paid web and API option with a free trial, rather than a free plan.

TextGears offers web and API access with a free tier and a PRO plan for unlimited checks, translations, and paraphrases of long texts. Eclipse Readability Studio is a free alternative for Windows, macOS, and Linux. Slick Write is a free web option with a 200,000-character submission limit.

Verdict

Choose Check Readability if you want a free, English-language way to compare nine readability measures, especially through a Chrome side panel that keeps analyzed text local. Look elsewhere if you need support for another language or expect a score to evaluate the accuracy, reasoning, or overall quality of your writing.