Free online teleprompter: speak on camera without losing your place

What a teleprompter is really for

The problem is rarely knowing what to say. It is saying it in one go, looking at the lens, without filler words or a blank moment. Memorising a script takes time and often sounds recited. Improvising gives long videos full of hesitation that you then have to cut.

A teleprompter solves both: you write your script once, it scrolls at your pace, and you read it while keeping your eyes on the camera. TV presenters have used one for exactly this reason for decades.

Where to place the text so your eye line stays natural

Reading is not what gives you away. Eyes drifting to the side are. The closer the text is to the lens, the less it shows.

• On a phone: the text should scroll just below the front camera, at the top of the screen. Not in the middle, not at the bottom.
• On a computer: put the text window right under the webcam, and keep it narrow so your eyes do not sweep from left to right.
• Step back a little: at about one metre from the lens, small eye movements become invisible.

Setting the speed and the size

The right speed is the one you use when you tell a friend a story, not the one you use to read a document. Start slowly, do a test take, then go one step faster. If you are chasing the text, it is too fast; if you are waiting for it, it is too slow.

For size, aim for four to six words per line. Short lines can be read at a glance, without moving your head. Text that is too small makes you squint, which shows immediately on camera.

Write a script that is meant to be spoken

A script written to be read aloud does not look like a text written to be read silently.

• Short sentences: one idea per sentence.
• Words you actually use when you speak. If you would never say “nevertheless”, do not write it.
• A hook in the first three seconds: the question, the problem or the promise of the video.
• One thing to remember per video, and a clear ending (what the viewer should do next).
• Read it aloud before filming: every place you stumble is a sentence to simplify.

Mistakes that show on screen

• A flat, monotone voice: stress the important words, and allow yourself to smile where you would in real life.
• Following the text with your head: only your eyes should move, as little as possible.
• Never pausing: a breath between two ideas sounds more natural and gives the viewer time to follow.
• Keeping the dead air: the seconds before you start and after you finish can be cut. A shorter video is almost always better.

What Prompto does

Prompto is a teleprompter that runs in your browser, on phone and computer, with nothing to install. The text scrolls over the camera image while you film, and it is never recorded in the video: your audience only sees you.

You set the speed, size, line spacing and width of the text. Bionic reading (the start of each word is emphasised) helps your eye catch the words faster, and the OpenDyslexic font is available. The Free plan lets you film up to 2 minutes per video, 10 videos a month, with a watermark.