Free Online Countdown Timer
Set a countdown for cooking, workouts, presentations, or focus sessions. Choose a preset or enter your own duration, then start — the timer shows a live progress bar and plays a beep when it reaches zero.
To measure elapsed time instead, use the Stopwatch; to total a working day, the Timecard Calculator.
How to use the Countdown Timer
- 1 Enter the duration in hours, minutes and seconds, or pick a preset.
- 2 Start the countdown when you are ready.
- 3 Pause and resume as needed, or reset to the original duration.
- 4 Watch for the alert when the time reaches zero.
How to Use
Enter hours, minutes, and seconds (or click a preset), then press Start. You can pause and resume at any time, or reset to the full duration. When time runs out, an alarm sounds and the display flashes.
- Presets from 1 minute to 1 hour, plus custom durations
- Pause, resume, and reset at any point
- Audible alarm generated in-browser (no audio file needed)
- Accurate timing based on the system clock, not tick counting
Why the timing stays accurate
The timer recalculates the remaining time from the actual system clock on every animation frame, rather than subtracting a fixed amount per tick. That means it will not drift even if the browser briefly lags or the tab is switched away. Keep the tab audible for the alarm to play reliably.
Frequently asked questions
Will the alert still fire if the tab is in the background?
The countdown itself stays accurate because it is driven by timestamps, but browsers throttle background tabs, so the display may lag and the sound can be delayed. Keep the tab visible or in its own window when the timing matters.
Why does my timer drift over long periods?
Timers that count ticks accumulate small errors, because each tick can run slightly late and the delays add up. This one recalculates from the start time on every update, so a ten-minute countdown ends ten minutes later rather than ten minutes plus however many ticks were missed.
Can I use it for cooking or workouts?
Yes, and presets cover the common intervals. For anything you will walk away from, set a phone alarm as well — a browser tab can be closed, put to sleep or throttled, and no in-page timer can survive that.
Related Generators & Misc
You might also need
Tools from other categories that people pair with the Countdown Timer: