How to use it
- Tap or click the big + button, or press Space, Enter, + or the up arrow. −, the minus key, the down arrow or Backspace takes one away.
- Give the counter a name, and set a Step if each press should add more than one (5 for a hand of five, 2 for pairs). A Target adds a progress bar and shows how many are left.
- + Add counter runs several counts side by side, for example adults and children at a door, or each product on a shelf. The one highlighted in the list is the one the big buttons and keys change; the list shows the total of all of them.
- Full screen hides everything but the number and the buttons, for counting at a door or on a stage. Escape or the Exit button brings the page back.
- Download log (CSV) saves every counter and every press with its time. Reset has a ten-second Undo.
What counts as one press
The button counts on the moment your finger or mouse button goes down, not when it comes back up, so fast tapping is not slowed by the release. The page also tells phones not to wait to see whether a tap is the start of a double-tap zoom, which on its own can swallow quick taps or zoom the page instead of counting.
Holding a key down makes the keyboard repeat it many times a second. That is rarely what you want from a counter, so by default a held key counts once; tick Count held keys if you do want the repeats. Never go below zero stops the minus button at 0; turn it off for counts that can go negative, such as a running difference.
The log, and why some cells start with an apostrophe
The CSV file lists each counter’s name and total, then one row per press: the time in ISO 8601 (UTC), the counter, the change and the count after it. It follows RFC 4180, so names with commas, quotation marks or line breaks open correctly in Excel, Google Sheets or Numbers. A counter name that starts with =, +, - or @ is written with an apostrophe in front, because spreadsheet programs otherwise treat such text as a formula, a known way to slip commands into exported files (OWASP calls it CSV injection). Ordinary negative numbers are left alone. The log keeps the most recent 5,000 presses.
What we tested
On October 15, 2026, in Chromium 141.0.7390.37:
| Check | What we did | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Fast clicking | 200 clicks sent with no delay | 200 |
| Keyboard | Space pressed 30 times | 30 added |
| Held key | Up arrow held through 5 auto-repeats | 1 added by default; 6 with Count held keys on |
| Phone taps | 60 finger taps on the + button at 390 px | 60 counted; page zoom stayed at 1 |
| Step and target | Step 5; target 300 at 242 | +5 per press; “58 to go” |
| Below zero | Minus at 0 with the floor on, then off | Stayed 0; then −1 |
| Several counters | Second counter, total, reset and Undo, full screen, reload | Total right; Undo restored; everything back after reload |
| CSV file | 300 rows of awkward text written and read back with Python’s csv module | Every cell identical; formula-like text prefixed; log of 243 presses in time order |
Tips
- Counting people in and out of a room? Use two counters named In and Out; the difference is how many are inside. Or turn off the zero floor and use plus for in and minus for out.
- For knitting or crochet, name the counter after the pattern section and set the step to the repeat.
- For exercise sets, set a target and the bar turns green when you reach it.
- Counts are saved in this browser. If you count on a shared or public computer, download the log and press Reset all when you finish.
Sources
Checked on .
Frequently Asked Questions
Built by Derek Giordano · Part of Ultimate Design Tools