Five minutes is the most-used timer length there is — the universal short break, quick task and kitchen interval. This 5 minute timer starts running the moment you arrive.
Five minutes hits a sweet spot: long enough to accomplish something, short enough that nobody feels they are committing to anything. It is the default break length in the Pomodoro Technique for exactly that reason.
Five minutes is enough to clear a kitchen counter, write a short email, complete a guided breathing session, or steam a portion of green vegetables. In reading terms it is about 1,200 words — roughly a long blog post — and in walking terms about 400 steps at an easy pace.
Useful when a recipe, workout plan or exam paper states the time differently:
| 5 minutes in… | Value |
|---|---|
| Seconds | 300 |
| Minutes | 5 |
| Hours (decimal) | 0.0833 |
| Fraction of an hour | 1/12 of an hour |
| How many fit in an hour | 12 |
| How many fit in a day | 288 |
This page starts the 5 minutes for you automatically. Leave the tab open and carry on with something else; VClock keeps counting in the background and alerts you at zero with sound, a flashing display and a changed tab title. Use Pause if you need to interrupt it.
You can change the alarm sound at any point before or during the countdown — Beep, Digital, Alarm Bell, Chime, Siren and Soft Wake are all available, and each plays a short preview when selected. To use a different length, press Reset and type any duration, or pick one from the main timer page.
Need something else? Try a little shorter with the 4 minute timer or a little longer with the 7 minute timer. For a round comparison, double it and you get the 10 minute timer.
It is long enough to stand up, move and look away from the screen, but short enough that you do not lose the thread of what you were working on. Longer breaks tend to turn into new activities.
Show them the countdown rather than just announcing it. A visible number turns 'five more minutes' from something to negotiate into something they can watch, which removes most of the argument.
Yes — the countdown begins as soon as the page loads, so there is nothing to press. If you would rather start it yourself, press Reset and then Start.
Yes. Pause holds the remaining time exactly where it is; Resume continues from that point and Reset returns the clock to the full 5 minutes.
VClock plays your selected alarm sound on a loop, flashes the display and changes the browser tab title. Press Stop Alarm to silence it.
Completely. There is no sign-up, no download, no daily limit and no watermark — set it as many times as you like.
Switch to the VClock alarm clock to ring at a specific hour instead of counting down.
Open the Alarm Clock