Online counter

A tally counter in your browser

This online counter does the job of the hand-held clicker used by door staff and bird surveyors: one press and the number, shown in very large digits, goes up by 1. It works as a tally counter, a click counter, a score counter and a simple scoreboard, on a phone or a computer.

People use it to count guests at the door of a village hall and keep within the venue's capacity, rows of knitting or crochet, reps and sets at the gym, lengths in the pool, laps of the track, boxes during a stock take, birds in a garden survey, cars in a traffic count or glasses of water through the day. Several counters side by side keep score for darts or a pub quiz.

How to use the counter

1. Tap or click anywhere in the large box: the counter adds 1. On a keyboard, the space bar, the up arrow and the + key do the same.
2. The “−1” button, the down arrow or the − key subtract 1. “Undo last action” steps back one click at a time, up to 50 times.
3. “Reset” asks you to confirm: “Yes, reset” or “No, keep it”.
4. Set the “Start value” (the value a counter returns to on reset), the “Step (added on each click)” and the “Limit or target (optional)” if you need them. The step accepts decimals: with a step of 0.5, three clicks give 1.5.
5. Tick “Do not go below zero” to stop the counter at 0, even when the step is larger than what is left.
6. “Click sound” and “Vibration” (on phones) confirm each press. Both are off by default.

With a limit, a progress bar fills up under the counter. At 20 of 20 it turns green and “Limit reached” appears. The counter is not locked, though.

Several counters: a scoreboard

“Add a counter” creates up to 12 counters, each with its own name, colour and + and − buttons. Click the round swatch to change the shade. Below the grid the tool shows the total, and each card shows its share. Example: “Team A” on 9 and “Team B” on 6 give “Total: 15”, which is 60% and 40%.

The “Presets” set everything up in one click: “One counter”, “Two-team score”, “Four-player score” and “Entries and exits”. For table tennis, pick two teams and a limit of 11. For a bird count, add one counter per species.

The in and out trick

One counter cannot tell you how many people are inside a room, because people leave. The “Entries and exits” preset creates two counters: press + on “In” for each arrival and + on “Out” for each departure. The tool shows “Present”, which is in minus out: 48 in and 13 out means 35 people present. In this mode the limit applies to the number present, for example a capacity of 60.

History, full screen and saving

The “History of the last 200 clicks” lists the time and value of each press on the active counter, with the time elapsed since the first click and the average rate. Thirty clicks in 10 minutes is 3 per minute. The rate falls if you stop counting.

“Full screen” enlarges the digits so they can be read from across a room; with several counters, the score cards fill the screen instead. “Keep the screen on” stops the phone from going to sleep while the page is visible.

“Export” copies or downloads the state of the counters as text or as CSV (columns separated by commas).

Frequently asked questions

Are my counters kept if I close the page?

Yes. Values, names, settings and history are saved on the device and come back when you reload. They are lost if you clear the site's data or use a private window.

Can I pick up my count on another device?

No. Nothing is sent over the internet, so there is no sync between a phone and a computer. To pass a result on, use “Copy as text” or “Download as CSV”.

Can I count in fives, or count down?

Put 5 in the step and each click adds 5. To count down, enter a start value, 20 for example, then use the − button.

What is the start value for?

A counter returns to it on reset, and new counters begin from it. If you change it, counters that have not been clicked yet take it straight away.