DeviceBenchFree tally counter — no timer, no score
Click counter with no clock and no score
There is no clock on this page and no score: a press adds one, the minus takes one back, and up to six separately named counters run side by side — a tally for counting things that exist in the room, not a speed test. Each counter can step in ones, twos, fives, tens or dozens, and every change is written to this browser immediately, so a reload or a phone locking its screen mid-count comes back to the same number. It counts the presses it is given and nothing more: only you can know whether a press matched a real crate, which is exactly why there is a way to take one back.
- 100% free
- No signup
- 6 counters
- Add and subtract
- Survives a reload
Click inside this panel once and you can count without looking at the screen — the keys only work while it is focused.
Each press is written to this browser straight away, so closing the tab or letting the phone lock the screen does not lose the count. You can run up to 6 counters at once.
How to keep a tally that you can still trust an hour later
Three habits, none of which the mechanical counter this replaces could support.
Name the counter before you start counting
The label above each counter is editable, and filling it in is the difference between a number you can use in an hour and a number you have to trust your memory about. Counting stock, put the item in it. Counting a doorway, make one counter In and a second one Out — that is the pair every footfall count is actually built from, because the useful figure is the difference between them.
Set the step if you are not counting in ones
The step control under each counter changes what one press is worth: 1, 2, 5, 10 or 12. Twelve is there because half of everything counted off a pallet arrives in dozens, and pressing once per case is both faster and far less error-prone than pressing twelve times and hoping you did not lose count in the middle of a case.
Click inside the panel once to count with the keyboard
The panel border turns cyan when the keys are live: space or the up arrow adds, the down arrow or backspace takes one back, and the number keys jump between counters. That is the mode to use when you are looking at the thing you are counting rather than at the screen, and it stops working the moment you click away, so the space bar never gets stolen from the rest of the page.
Technical specifications
| Counters at once | Up to 6, each separately named, with a combined total once you have more than one |
|---|---|
| Step per press | 1, 2, 5, 10 or 12 — set per counter, so one counter can run in dozens while another runs in ones |
| Direction | Both. A press adds one step, the minus button and the down arrow subtract one, and a counter may go negative |
| Keyboard control | Space or up arrow to add, down arrow or backspace to subtract, number keys 1-6 to switch — live only while the panel has focus |
| Persistence | Written to this browser's local storage on every change, under a single key |
| Counting range | Up to 9,007,199,254,740,991 — JavaScript's exact-integer limit, against 9999 on a mechanical hand counter |
| Label length | 40 characters per counter, which is enough for a shelf reference or a species name |
| Deliberately absent | No clock, no clicks-per-second, no score and no best — a tally that scores you is a tally you rush |
Frequently asked questions
Can I take one back if I count something twice?
Yes — every counter has a minus button and the down arrow does the same thing, subtracting one step. This is the single thing a hand tally counter cannot do: the mechanical ones have a ratchet that only turns one way and a reset knob that dumps the whole count, so a miscount there means starting the shelf again. A counter here can also go below zero, which is occasionally what you want when you are counting a net change rather than a total.
Does the count survive closing the tab?
Yes. Every press is written to this browser's local storage as it happens, not on some later save, so a reload, a crashed tab or a phone that locks its screen mid-count all come back to the same number. It is per-browser and per-device, so the count does not follow you to your laptop, and a private window starts empty and forgets everything when you close it.
Why would I want more than one counter?
Because most real counts are two or more counts that get compared at the end. People through a door is entries minus exits. A stock check is usually several lines at once rather than one running total. A bird survey is one counter per species. Six counters fit here, which is as many as stay readable side by side on a phone, and the combined total appears underneath once you have more than one.
How high can it count?
To 9,007,199,254,740,991, which is the largest whole number JavaScript can hold exactly, and you will not get there. The number worth knowing is the one this replaces: a mechanical four-digit tally counter rolls over from 9999 back to 0000 with no warning and no record that it happened, which is why anyone counting a large crowd carries two of them and a notebook.
Can I count without looking at the screen?
That is what the keyboard mode is for, and it only turns on once you click inside the counter panel. While it is on, the space bar is the add key, so you can keep your eyes on the shelf, the door or the road; the active counter is outlined in amber so a glance is enough to confirm you are adding to the right one. Clicking anywhere outside the panel hands the keys back to the page.
There is no timer here — where is the clicks-per-second figure?
There is not one, on purpose. A rate on a tally counter invites you to hurry, and a hurried count is a wrong count; the number this page produces is meant to match something that exists in the room. If you came for a score rather than a count, the CPS test measures clicks per second over a fixed window and keeps your best.
Does it work on a phone?
Yes, and this is the one tool in this group that is better on a phone than on a desktop, because you can hold it in the hand you are not counting with. Each counter's number is itself the add button and covers roughly a thumb's width of screen, double-tap zoom is switched off so a fast run of taps cannot suddenly magnify the page, and no keyboard is needed for anything.
About tally counting, and what a mechanical clicker cannot do
The device this page replaces is the chrome-and-black hand counter with four digit wheels, a thumb lever and a reset knob on the side — standard kit for stewards, door staff, warehouse checkers and bird surveyors for the better part of a century. It is excellent at one thing: adding one without your eyes leaving what you are counting. It is incapable of three others. It cannot subtract, so a double-press means restarting the shelf. It rolls over silently from 9999 to 0000. And it holds exactly one count, which is why anyone counting a doorway carries two, one for each direction, and works out the occupancy afterwards by hand.
Those three limits are what this page is shaped around, and they are also why it deliberately has no clock in it. Counting accuracy falls off with pace long before it falls off with duration: the reliable errors are the double-press, the press you make while looking away and then doubt, and the lost place after an interruption. A minus button fixes the first, a named counter and a visible number fix the second, and storage that survives the tab closing fixes the third. A clicks-per-second readout would fix none of them while quietly encouraging the pace that causes all three, so it lives on the CPS test instead, where a score is the point.
One failure mode is worth knowing because it looks like human error and is not. If a counter here jumps by two on a press you are certain you made once, your mouse is closing its switch twice — a worn contact bouncing as it makes, which is the same fault that makes a file open twice when you meant to select it. A tally is unusually good at exposing it, since you know the true number and the screen does not match. The mouse test says which button is doing it. If it is a keyboard you are counting on rather than a mouse, the spacebar counter watches the same fault on the key you would be using.
Where the tally is kept
Every number on this page is worked out by JavaScript running in the tab you are reading it in. Nothing you type, paste or open is uploaded, logged or kept, which is also why the tools carry on working after you disconnect from the network.
The counter names and their numbers are written to this browser’s local storage so the tally survives a reload. They sit under one key on this device, they are never sent anywhere, and they are not readable by any other site — which is also why the count does not appear on your other machine.