This delightful old-school keyboard has a built-in word counter and timer

If you type a lot, it’s pretty handy to be able to keep track of how many words you’ve typed, whether you’re filing a paper or any other document with a word count requirement, or even writing a novel.

Most word processors today can count how many words and characters exist in a document, but you usually have to dig around in menus or keep track of key combinations to get that counter up.

Wouldn’t it be easier to just take a quick glance at your keyboard to see how many words you’ve typed?

Astrohaus

With the new Freewrite Wordrunner keyboard by Astrohaus, which was shown off at CES 2025, you can do just that. This compact mechanical keyboard has a built-in mechanical word counter that automatically keeps track of how many words you type.

The counter goes up to 8 digits, but you can reset it long before you hit 99,999,999 typed words. Next to the word counter is a timer that lets you time how fast you can type a paragraph or page.

Astrohaus

In addition to the counter and timer, this keyboard also has unique keys on the function row. The usual F-keys have been replaced with dedicated keys for finding text, replacing text, jumping between paragraphs and pages, and undoing and redoing actions.

The Freewrite Wordrunner clearly seems to be designed for those who write a lot, either for work or as a hobby. What’s unclear is how much the Freewrite Wordrunner will cost, or if the keyboard will even reach customers. You can currently reserve the keyboard for a refundable $1 to lock in special early-bird pricing when Astrohaus launches the Kickstarter campaign in February.