Teleprompter FAQ

A teleprompter is a display that shows a script as scrolling text so a speaker can read their lines while looking toward the camera or audience.

Text scrolls upward (or is flipped in a mirror) at a steady pace. The speaker reads against a focus guide line while their eyes stay near the lens.

No. A free online teleprompter in your browser handles the same scrolling cue on a laptop, tablet, or phone. No hardware required.

Yes. A free online teleprompter in the browser gives you full control: WPM pacing, mirror mode, countdown, and fullscreen.

Mirror mode flips the on-screen text (horizontally for beam-splitter glass, vertically for an overhead rig) so the reflection reads forward on the lens.

A camera shoots through or past a reflective surface. The prompter displays mirrored text, and the reflection reads normally to the speaker while the lens sees clean footage.

Teleprompter glass is a beam-splitter that reflects the display in front of the lens. The speaker reads the reflection while the camera films straight through it.

Yes. Turn on mirror H or mirror V in any online teleprompter. The mirrored read still works on a laptop, tablet, or phone screen.

Two ways. The classic setup is the prompter on a laptop, tablet, or second screen while your camera app or screen recorder records — the scrolling prompt stays out of that footage, and you can add the prompter window as a screen or window source in your recording software if you want the prompt in the shot. Or switch the built-in camera on in fullscreen: your own camera sits behind the script, either full-bleed with a dimming scrim or shrunk to a corner picture-in-picture, so you can check your framing while you read. The feed is never uploaded, and voice follow can hold the script while you are silent.

You can prompt inside or beside a video-call window: share your screen with a scrolling prompt, or run the prompter on a second screen and keep your primary camera on the audience.

Position the prompt just below the lens, keep your eyes near the camera, skim ahead a beat, and let a focus guide drift beneath the line you are reading.

Most speakers read naturally at 130–160 words per minute. Start around 140 WPM and tune with the speed control until it feels conversational.

Yes. Everything is free, in your browser or installed to your device.

No. The teleprompter app online runs from a URL, but you can install it to your Home Screen or taskbar so it opens instantly, even offline.

Yes. It works as a teleprompter web app on Windows, Mac, and Chromebook desktops, and installs like a desktop app from your browser's install icon.

Once loaded, the app caches its shell and your scripts live in local storage, so saved scripts can be read back without a connection.

Teleprompter costs range from $0 for free online software, through $20–$60 a year for mobile apps, roughly $60–$1,500 for glass rigs, up to $5,000–$50,000 for studio units.

Phone teleprompter apps usually cost $20–$60 a year or charge a one-off $10–$40 premium unlock. Free browser apps like this one remove the cost entirely.

Nothing, in practice. Autocue is the original broadcast term for a reading prompt, and teleprompter is the generic word. A free online autocue and an online teleprompter are the same tool.

Your script text stays in your browser's local storage and is not intentionally uploaded by the prompter. If you use Remote Control, the paired devices exchange limited playback state and script-derived cues; Signalling and a possible TURN relay may process connection metadata. Sharing a script as a link is a deliberate exception.

Yes. Click Import in the editor and choose a .txt or .md file, or drag one onto the script box. The file is read directly in your browser — it is never uploaded — and its line breaks and your formatting markers are kept. Importing replaces the script you currently have open, so it asks first if there is one.