Set Duration
Quick Events
Click anywhere to exit full screen
Named for the tomato-shaped kitchen timer used by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s.
Enter hours, minutes, and seconds — or click a preset (5 min, 10 min, 25 min Pomodoro, etc.).
Click the Start button. The large countdown display ticks down second by second.
Click Pause to freeze the timer at any moment. Click Resume to continue from exactly where you paused.
When the countdown reaches 00:00, an alarm sounds. Click Reset to return to your original duration and set it again.
A countdown timer subtracts elapsed time from the set duration each second. For date countdowns, the difference between the target datetime and the current datetime is calculated and broken down into days, hours, minutes, and seconds.
Remaining = Target Time − Current Time
Use the Pomodoro preset (25 min) for focused work sessions — research shows 25-minute focused intervals boost productivity
Full-screen mode is ideal for classrooms and presentations — large digits visible from across the room
The alarm plays automatically at 00:00 — keep your browser tab unmuted to hear it
Date Countdown auto-updates every second to show real-time days, hours, minutes, seconds
Pause the timer at any point and resume exactly where you left off
Use the custom message field to label your timer (e.g., 'Exam Time', 'Meeting Ends', 'Cookies Done')
Countdown timers are essential productivity tools used across virtually every domain — from Pomodoro technique work sessions and classroom exam periods to cooking intervals and athletic training drills. Research on time management consistently shows that working within defined time blocks improves focus and reduces procrastination. The Pomodoro Technique, one of the most popular productivity methods, uses 25-minute countdown timers followed by 5-minute breaks to maintain sustained concentration. Beyond productivity, countdown timers serve practical purposes in the kitchen (timing oven roasts, bread proofing, pasta cooking), fitness (interval training, rest periods, plank holds), and event planning (tracking days until a wedding, product launch, or vacation). This online countdown timer provides two complementary modes: a duration timer where you set hours, minutes, and seconds and count down to zero with an alarm notification, and an event countdown that calculates the exact days, hours, minutes, and seconds remaining until any future date. Features include full-screen display mode for classroom or presentation use, audible alarm alerts, and quick-start presets for common durations.
Our countdown timer is a free, no-download tool that works in any browser. Set any duration from 1 second to 99 hours. Features include start/pause/reset controls, an alarm sound at 00:00, full-screen mode for presentations and classrooms, and quick presets for common intervals like 5 minutes, 25 minutes (Pomodoro), and 1 hour.
Switch to Date Countdown mode to see a live countdown to any future date and time. Enter your target date — a birthday, holiday, exam, launch date, or deadline — and see days, hours, minutes, and seconds ticking down in real time. Perfect for building anticipation for events or tracking project deadlines.
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All formulas verified against official standards.