Word counter.
Count words, characters, sentences, and reading time as you type, free and private. Nothing is uploaded; it all runs in your browser.
Runs entirely in your browser — nothing is uploaded.
Count the words and characters in any text instantly, with sentence, paragraph, and reading-time stats updating live as you type. Everything runs in your browser, so your writing is never uploaded, there's no account, and there's no limit on how much you paste.
What each count means
Words are runs of characters separated by spaces or line breaks, the number most essays, articles, and assignments are measured in. Characters are counted two ways: with spaces (what Twitter/X and most limits use) and without spaces (what some academic counts prefer). Sentences are split on full stops, question marks, and exclamation marks; paragraphs on blank lines. If a count looks off, it's usually punctuation or stray line breaks, the stats recount the instant you fix the text.
Hitting a word-count target
Many pieces have a hard target: a 500-word essay, a 150-word abstract, a 50–60 character SEO title, a 155-character meta description. Keep the counter open beside your draft and watch the number as you cut or expand. For essays, aim a little over your minimum so trimming for clarity doesn't drop you under. For social and SEO fields, treat the character limit as a ceiling and leave a few characters of headroom so nothing gets truncated.
Reading and speaking time
Reading time is estimated at about 200–230 words per minute, the average adult silent reading pace, which is handy for blog posts and newsletters where readers decide by the little "3 min read" label. Speaking time uses a slower ~130 words per minute, the typical presentation pace, so you can size a script to a 2-minute video or a 5-minute talk before you record. Both are estimates, dense or technical text reads slower than the average.
Tips
- Writing an SEO title? Keep it under ~60 characters so Google doesn't cut it off in results.
- For a meta description, aim for ~150–155 characters including spaces.
- Essay a little short? Expanding examples adds words faster than padding sentences.
- Odd sentence count usually means abbreviations (e.g. "U.S.") or missing end punctuation.
How it works
- 01
Paste or type your text
Drop in an essay, article, caption, or any text. It stays in your browser.
- 02
Read the live counts
Words, characters, sentences, paragraphs, and reading time update instantly as you edit.
- 03
Hit your target
Trim or expand until you land on the exact count your assignment or platform wants.
Questions
- How does the word counter count words?
- It counts runs of characters separated by spaces or line breaks, the same way word processors and assignment counts do. Numbers, hyphenated words, and contractions each count as one word.
- Does it count characters with or without spaces?
- Both. It shows characters including spaces (what Twitter/X and most character limits use) and characters excluding spaces (preferred by some academic counts) at the same time.
- Is there a limit on how much text I can paste?
- No practical limit. Because everything runs in your browser, you can paste a whole chapter and the counts still update instantly.
- Is my text uploaded or stored anywhere?
- No. The text never leaves your device, there's no server, no account, and nothing is saved. Close the tab and it's gone.