People counter · Free · No sign-up
People Counter
A people counter records entries and exits and shows how many people are inside now. Press In as someone enters and Out as they leave; the difference is live occupancy, shown against a capacity you set. A correction rebases the figure when taps are missed.
It is a counting aid, not a compliance system. Everything stays in this browser.
This is a counting aid, not a life-safety or compliance system. The legal occupant load for a room comes from the occupancy certificate posted in it, set by your local fire code and building authority. Nothing on this page determines, verifies or certifies that figure, and a number shown here is only ever as good as the taps behind it.
Two keys, one number that matters, and the one thing every other people counter leaves out: a way to correct the drift that a missed tap causes.
A people counter is a device that counts people as they pass a point, used at a door or gate to record entries and exits and to derive the number of people currently inside, known as occupancy.
- No sign-up
- No ads
- Counts never leave your browser
- Works offline
- Unlimited counters
Key facts
| Detail | Answer |
|---|---|
| Price | Free, no sign-up, no ads |
| Counts | Entries and exits separately, with live occupancy from the difference |
| Capacity | Optional. Warns at 90% and flags at and over the figure |
| Drift correction | Yes. Rebase occupancy to a real count without altering the totals |
| Negative occupancy | Shown, not hidden. It is proof a tap was missed |
| Peak occupancy | Recorded for the session |
| Keys | I for in, O for out, or the arrow keys. Ctrl+Z undoes |
| Where counts are stored | This browser only, never a server |
| Works offline | Yes, once the page has loaded |
| Sets the legal limit | No. That comes from your posted occupancy certificate |
How to run a door count
The counting is easy. Staying accurate over four hours is the part that needs a method.
Set the capacity first
Type in the figure from the occupancy certificate posted in the room, not an estimate. The counter then tells you where you are against it rather than making you do the subtraction at a door in the dark.
One person on the door, one direction each hand
I for in, O for out, or the two large keys. Splitting in and out across two people is where most miscounts start, because neither can see what the other missed.
Tap as it happens, never from memory
A group of six is six taps, not one tap and a mental note. The moment you are holding a number in your head, it is already at risk.
Recount and correct at every lull
Count the room properly when it is quiet, type that figure into Correct to, and the live number is rebased. Do it often; small corrections are cheap and large ones mean you were wrong for a long time.
Treat a negative as a stop signal
If occupancy goes below zero, taps were missed and the figure is no longer meaningful. Recount the room and correct, rather than carrying on and hoping it evens out.
Where a people counter gets used
Anywhere the question is how many are inside right now, rather than how many came in total.
Bars, clubs and restaurants
Live occupancy against the posted limit, with a warning as it approaches, so the door decision is made on a number rather than a feeling.
Events and festival gates
In and out at each gate, with corrections at the lulls, giving a figure the control room can actually use.
Swimming pools and leisure centres
Bather load is limited for safety reasons and changes throughout a session, which is exactly the case a total attendance figure cannot answer.
Retail footfall
Entries as a measure of traffic, kept separately from occupancy, so conversion can be worked out afterwards.
Museums, galleries and places of worship
Timed-entry rooms where the count in a single space matters more than the count in the building.
Classrooms, trips and headcounts
A fast recount against an expected number, where the guide to headcounts covers the method in more detail.
Why a door count drifts, and how to correct it
Occupancy is not a total, and that difference is the one thing every people counter in this space leaves out. A total headcount is forgiving: miss three people in five hundred and you are 0.6% out, and the next recount starts clean. Occupancy is a difference, and the error in a difference never washes out. Miss one person coming in at 21:00 and the live figure is wrong by one for the rest of the night — through the busy hour, and on whichever side of the capacity line it happens to land.
That is drift, and it is why a door count that was never corrected should not be the number anyone makes a decision on at midnight.
| Total attendance | Live occupancy | |
|---|---|---|
| Effect of one missed entry | Out by 1, once | Out by 1, permanently |
| Does the error grow? | No, each is independent | Yes, misses accumulate |
| Does it self-correct? | At the next recount | Never, without a rebase |
| Can it be checked? | Count the room again | Count the room and rebase |
| Consequence of being wrong | A reporting error | A capacity decision made on a false figure |
Correcting without destroying the record
The Correct to box is the fix. At a quiet moment, count the room properly, type that number in, and the live occupancy is rebased to it. What it does not do is rewrite the in and out totals: those stay exactly as tapped, because they are a true record of what happened at the door and overwriting them would erase the evidence that a correction was ever needed. The difference is recorded separately and shown as corrections applied, so the session can be read honestly afterwards.
On a long night, rebase at every natural lull. Two corrections of three beat one correction of eleven, because by the time the error is eleven you have already spent an hour not knowing.
Why the number is allowed to go below zero
Most counters clamp occupancy at zero, on the reasonable-sounding grounds that a room cannot contain minus four people. It cannot — which is exactly why the minus four is worth seeing. A negative occupancy is impossible in reality, so it is proof that taps were missed, and it is the only self-check the method has. Clamping it to zero does not fix the count; it hides the one signal that the count is broken. So it is shown, and labelled.
What the legal number actually is
The occupant load that matters legally is the one on the certificate posted in the room, set under your local fire code by the authority having jurisdiction. It is calculated from floor area, use and egress capacity, not from a counter. This page will happily hold a capacity figure you type in and tell you when the running count approaches it, and that is useful at a door — but it is a counting aid. It does not determine the limit, does not verify it, and is not a substitute for a fire marshal, a certified occupancy system or a trained door team.
Online counter vs a clicker, an app, paper and a spreadsheet
Every counting method trades something away. This is what each one actually costs you.
| Feature | This online counter | Handheld clicker | Counter phone app | Pen and paper | Spreadsheet |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free | $5–$15 | Free with ads, or paid | Cost of paper | Subscription |
| Anything to install | No | Buy the device | App store download | No | Yes, or a web login |
| Several counts at once | Unlimited | One per device | Usually limited | Yes, messy | Yes |
| Fix a miscount | Undo and redo | Start over | Sometimes | Cross it out | Edit the cell |
| Counts by more than one | Any step size | One at a time | Sometimes | Manual maths | Yes |
| Below zero | Yes | No | Rarely | Yes | Yes |
| Keeps the count if you close it | Saves automatically | Until you reset the dial | Yes | If you keep the paper | Yes |
| Works with no signal | Yes, after first load | Yes | Yes | Yes | Often not |
| Keyboard and shortcuts | Full | None | None | None | Partial |
| Sends your data anywhere | Never | Never | Often, for accounts and ads | Never | Yes, to the cloud |
Other counter types
The same counter, set up and explained for a specific job. Your counters are shared across all of them.
Online counter
The all-purpose counter. Any step size, any number of counters, negative values allowed.
Open online counter →Tally counter
Tally marks in groups of five for surveys, stock takes and wildlife counts.
Open tally counter →Click counter
A browser clicker that replaces the handheld thumb counter for door headcounts.
Open click counter →Lap counter
Count pool lengths, track laps and treadmill intervals without losing your place.
Open lap counter →Rep counter
Track reps and sets during a lifting session, with a step size for supersets.
Open rep counter →Score counter
A scoreboard for cards, darts and board games. One counter per player, negatives allowed.
Open score counter →Tasbeeh counter
A digital dhikr counter that stops at 33, 99 or 100 and keeps each dhikr separate.
Open tasbeeh counter →Differential counter
Six keys for a manual white cell differential, with an auto-stop and live percentages.
Open differential counter →Multi counter
Run as many counters as you like at once, side by side in a grid.
Open multi counter →Pitch counter
Count pitches, then get the rest days owed and the next eligible date.
Open pitch counter →Auto counter
Counts on its own from every 0.1 seconds to once an hour, and stops at your limit.
Open auto counter →Click speed test
Measure your clicks per second over 1 to 60 seconds, with your personal best kept on-device.
Open click speed test →Habit counter
Count toward a daily target and keep the streak, with a day boundary you choose.
Open habit counter →
Frequently asked questions
What is a people counter?
A device or tool that counts people as they pass a point. A manual one has a key for entries and a key for exits, and the difference between them is the number of people currently inside. That difference is called occupancy, and it is usually the figure a door team actually needs.
How do I count people entering and leaving to get occupancy?
Press In as each person enters and Out as each leaves, one tap per person rather than one per group. Occupancy is entries minus exits, shown live here. Because it is a difference rather than a total, any missed tap stays in the figure until it is corrected.
How accurate is manual people counting?
Accurate enough for a door if it is tapped as it happens and corrected periodically. The risk is not the individual tap, it is drift: a total headcount error is a one-off, whereas a missed entry offsets live occupancy permanently. Recount and rebase at quiet moments.
Can I set a capacity limit and be warned?
Yes. Enter a capacity and the counter shows how many places are free, warns at 90 per cent, and flags when the figure reaches and then passes the limit. The capacity is only the number you typed in, so take it from the occupancy certificate rather than estimating it.
Why does the occupancy show a negative number?
Because more exits than entries have been recorded, which cannot be true of a real room. It is shown rather than hidden at zero because it is the only self-check the method has: a negative figure is proof that taps were missed, and the right response is to recount the room and correct.
Can I correct the count without starting again?
Yes, and that is the point of Correct to. Count the room, enter that figure, and the live occupancy is rebased to it while the in and out totals stay exactly as tapped. The difference is recorded as a correction so the session can still be read honestly afterwards.
Is this good enough for fire code or legal occupancy?
No. It is a counting aid. The legal occupant load is set by your local fire code and building authority and is stated on the certificate posted in the room; nothing here determines, verifies or certifies it. Use this to know roughly where you are, not to prove where you were.
How is this different from the click counter?
The click counter is a general clicker that counts anything upward. This page is about the difference between two counts rather than either total, which brings a capacity, a peak, and a correction for drift. If you only want a running total, the click counter is the simpler tool.
Does it work on a phone at a door, offline?
Yes. It runs entirely in the browser and keeps working after the first load without a connection, which matters at a gate with no signal. The session stays in that browser on that device and is never sent anywhere.
Counting guides
Longer answers to the questions behind the counting.
- Swimming
How to count laps while swimming
Why swimmers lose count at length 14, and five methods that actually hold up.
- Tallying
Tally marks explained
Groups of five, the five-bar gate, and why the convention has survived for centuries.
- Events
How to do an accurate headcount
Counting people is easy. Counting them accurately, twice, is not.
- Habits
Track a daily habit streak
Why streak apps fail, and what a plain daily counter does better.
- Click speed
How to click faster
Hardware and grip account for most of the gap. Practice accounts for less than people think.
- Inventory
How to do a stock take
Counting is the easy part. Preparing, and knowing your count is right, is the job.
- Training
Reps and sets explained
How to read a programme, and why the rep range matters more than the total.
- Reference
Types of counters explained
Synchronous vs asynchronous, mod-N, ring and Johnson, plus mechanical and software counters.
- Build it
How to make a counter
Twenty lines gets you counting. Here is what to add after that, and why.
- Baseball
How to keep an official pitch count
Little League requires an official recorder at every game. Almost nobody explains the job.