With so much of our time spent tapping away at a keyboard, a boost in typing speed can make you more productive in almost any line of work—whether it’s powering through your inbox, writing up reports, or staying in touch with team members on messaging apps, many of us could make our days easier by typing a little faster.
What’s more, you don’t have to enroll in a course to get your fingers flying, because there are plenty of free typing apps that you can use right at your desk—you could even set aside 10 minutes each day and then see how far you’ve progressed at the end of the month. We’re sure you’ll find one typing trainer that fits your style among the seven listed below.
Keybr
Keybr starts with a quick, friendly introduction to itself before launching you into some touch typing tasks. On-screen diagrams show you where your fingers should rest on the keyboard, and the online app starts with a small subset of letters before expanding as your confidence grows. It’s also really easy to keep track of your progress.
What we like about Keybr, in particular, is the variety in the exercises, and the way it adapts to meet your skills—the developers say underlying algorithms match the tests to your typing speed, and it works well as far as we can tell. It also benefits from a slick and simple online interface, which always lets you know where you are and what to do next.
Keybr is available online for free with ads (registration optional).
Ratatype
If you still have to look at the keys on you keyboard, Ratatype is the typing app for you: It eases you in with an introduction to touch typing, showing you where to put your fingers on the keyboard, and even giving you some advice on sitting posture. With all that digested, you can get started on the first of 15 lessons, each made up of multiple typing exercises.
Ratatype is meant for students, and it shows—the interface is colorful and friendly, and the typing exercises are basic, focusing on getting you to hit the right keys rather than typing anything that makes any sense, at least to begin with. Your profile page makes it easy to see how far you’ve progressed and jump in and out of the exercises as you need to.
Ratatype is available online for free (registration required).
The Typing Cat
Few web apps can match the visual charm and exercise variety of The Typing Cat, which throws in a few games alongside the standard exercises to keep you interested. A keyboard stays on screen at all times, so you’ll know where your fingers should be, and the tests are fun and intuitive. Try the Typing Test first, to see how fast you already are.
From there you can jump into a tiered series of courses and lessons that manage to be comprehensive without being daunting—you can see where you are at every stage. You can just launch in and start typing, but you can save your progress if you register for a free account, and if you pay a few dollars a month, you’ll have access to the advanced lessons too.
The Typing Cat is available online for free, $4.50 a month, or $32 a year (registration optional).
TypingClub
If you just want to jump in and get going, we’d recommend TypingClub, which is just about as simple an app as you can get. It’s still polished and professional though, and smartly leads you through a host of exercises—they can get a bit repetitive, but they’re certainly effective. The site lets you go at your own pace and take a break at any time.
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You get several exercises to try out for free, but there is a premium subscription option available that opens up access to plenty more. Subscribing also removes the ads on the site, lets you save your progress, and gives you more detailed reports. Overall, it’s a nice balance between free lessons for casual users and a paid option for the more dedicated.
TypingClub is available online for free with ads, $8.50 a month, or $78 a year (registration optional).
Typing.com
The web app with the most apt URL on this list sticks to the basics but does them well, in addition to being well-designed and speedy to navigate. Just click once to get started—you don’t have to register for a (free) account, but if you do, it will let you save your progress and carry on later. An optional one-off payment of at least $8 (depending on your account type) removes all the ads.
We like the pictures that illustrate where to put your fingers, and the progress reports that pop up at the end of each exercise. The finger workouts are varied too, with letters sometimes scrolling down from the top of the screen as well as staying static. If you want to get up and running quickly, and start from the very start with touch typing, this app is a great option.
Typing.com is available online for free with ads, or with a one-time payment starting at $8 (registration optional).
TypingAcademy
What’s most impressive about TypingAcademy is its lightweight and uncluttered interface: It’s all beautifully laid out and a breeze to use. You can dive into a variety of lessons or speed tests, as well as read up on the basics of touch typing or review your statistics. The app doesn’t pressure you to sign up or bombarded with ads—it’s just a fun, fast experience.
There are a wealth of exercises and lessons to work through, and if you register an account (which doesn’t cost anything) you can even create your own exercises. Even if you’re not registered, your performance and stats are saved to the web browser you’re using, so you can chart your progress. You can also pay for it’s premium version, TypeLift Pro, starting at $2 a month, to remove ads and get access to more visual assistance, an exercise plan, and more settings, among other extras. It’s not the flashiest of apps, but it’ll still get the job done.
TypingAcademy is available online for free or starting at $2 a month (registration optional).
TypingMagic 11 and TypingTrainer
TypingMagic 11 and TypingTrainer are two apps under the Typing Master umbrella. Typing Magic 11 is the Windows version, while TypingTrainer works in a web browser and is the company’s only macOS option. The two offerings cover a host of web apps, exercises, and games, and you can launch into speed tests, fun and flashy typing games, or a more serious typing trainer course right from the opening screen. Whatever you’re after, you’re likely to find it here.
All the tests and games we’ve tried are intuitive and responsive, with more visual flourishes than any of the other apps here. All of the these apps (including the downloads) give you varying levels of practice for free, with full packages costing anywhere from $20 to $30.
Typing Magic 11 is free for Windows or up to $30 (registration optional), and TypingTrainer is available online for free.
This story has been updated. It was originally published on May 1, 2018.
