Word Counter
Count words, characters, sentences, paragraphs, and estimate reading & speaking time in real-time.
Runs in your browser. Nothing you add is uploaded.
What the Word Counter does
Word and character limits are enforced almost everywhere — meta descriptions at 160 characters, tweets at 280, university essays at 2,000 words, SMS at 160 per segment. This counter updates as you type and separates the counts that people conflate: characters with and without spaces, words, sentences, paragraphs, and estimated reading time. Your text stays in the browser, so it is safe for unpublished drafts and confidential documents.
How to count words and characters
- Type directly into the text area, or paste an existing draft.
- Watch the counts update live — there is no button to press.
- Check the specific metric your limit is measured in. Character limits usually include spaces; word limits usually do not count numbers separately.
- Use the reading time estimate to sanity-check length for a talk or a blog post.
The Word Counter runs entirely in your browser — nothing you enter is uploaded, stored, or logged.
When to use it
Writing to a strict academic limit
Most institutions count every word in the body text but exclude the bibliography and footnotes. Paste only the section that counts toward the limit rather than the whole document.
Fitting SEO meta descriptions
Google truncates meta descriptions around 155–160 characters on desktop and less on mobile. Counting characters including spaces before you publish avoids a description that ends mid-sentence in search results.
Estimating speaking time
Conference talks are usually planned at 130–150 words per minute of speech. A 20-minute slot is roughly 2,600–3,000 words of script.
Good to know
- Reading time here assumes about 225 words per minute, which is average for adult silent reading of general prose. Technical material runs slower.
- Hyphenated compounds like 'state-of-the-art' count as one word in most style guides but as four in some word processors — check which convention your institution uses.
- SMS messages switch from 160 characters to 70 per segment the moment you include a single emoji or non-Latin character.
Frequently asked questions
What is average reading speed?
How many pages is 1,000 words?
Does the counter include spaces in the character count?
How is reading time calculated?
Is my text sent anywhere?
How does it count sentences and paragraphs?
Related tools
Password Generator
Create strong random passwords with your choice of length and symbols.
Online Notepad
A quick notepad that saves to your browser as you type.
Text to Speech
Hear any text read aloud with your device's voices.