If you learned the word watching British television, you call it an autocue. If you learned it from YouTube, you call it a teleprompter. Same machine, same job, and this one runs in a browser tab with nothing to install and no account to make.
FreeTeleprompter.io is a free browser-based autocue. You paste in a script, it scrolls beside your camera at a speed you control, and you can record the result as an MP4 without creating an account. Autocue and teleprompter are the same device: autocue is the British word, after the UK company whose machines became standard in television studios, and teleprompter is the American one. Nothing you record is uploaded, because the recording is made and saved on your own device.
Paste your script
Type it or paste it in. One sentence per line reads most naturally, because the scroll then breaks where your breath breaks.
Set the size and the speed
Bigger text means you can sit further back, which makes your eye movement less visible. Set the speed slightly slower than your natural pace. Slightly slow reads as emphasis on camera, slightly fast reads as panic.
Put it near the lens
The whole craft of using an autocue is reducing the distance your eyes travel from the camera. On a laptop the webcam is above the screen, so keep the text in the top third rather than the middle.
Read, and record if you want to
Press record and read along, then download the MP4. The camera feed and the recording never leave your machine.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. They are two words for the same device. Autocue is the British term, taken from the brand name of the company whose machines became standard in television studios, the way Hoover became the everyday word for a vacuum cleaner. Teleprompter is the American term. Software described as either one does the same job.
This one. There is no sign-up, no trial, no watermark on your recording and no upload. It is free because it runs entirely in your browser rather than on a server that costs money to run.
No. Broadcast autocues use a sheet of angled glass to put the text directly over the lens, which is why presenters can look straight down the barrel. Without that glass you get most of the benefit by keeping the text close to the camera and narrow, so your eyes barely move.
Yes. It runs in the mobile browser, and on a phone the script displays over the camera view by default so you can read and film on the same device.
Yes, and that is the part most free autocue tools leave out. You can record straight to MP4 in the browser, landscape or vertical, and download it. The file is created on your device and never uploaded.
Next
Open the autocue
The tool itself, free, no sign-up
Autocue for Zoom and video calls
Where to put the window so nobody can tell
Autocue for presentations
Presenting to a room rather than a lens
Free script templates
Speeches, intros and pitches, one click into the autocue
How to look natural on camera
Seven things that give you away
Using a teleprompter for YouTube
Step by step