Word & Character Counter
Word Counter shows the word, character, sentence and paragraph count of your text as you type, along with an estimated reading time. It is useful for essays with a limit, social posts with a hard cap, and meta descriptions that need to stay under 160 characters.
Runs entirely in your browser — nothing you enter is uploaded.
TextAbout counting words
A word here is a run of characters separated by whitespace, which is the same rule word processors use and the one that matches what a marker or an editor counts. Hyphenated compounds count as one word, and a numeral counts as a word, because both are single whitespace-separated tokens. Characters are counted with and without spaces separately, since character limits disagree about whether spaces count — most social platforms include them.
Reading time is an estimate at 200 words per minute, a typical adult silent-reading speed for ordinary prose, rounded up to the next whole minute. Treat it as a comparison rather than a promise: dense technical writing reads a good deal slower, and a familiar subject a good deal faster. Your draft is kept in this browser so a reload does not lose it, and nothing you type is transmitted.
Common questions
- How is a word counted?
- As a run of characters bounded by whitespace, which is the same rule word processors apply. A hyphenated compound such as "well-known" counts as one word, a numeral counts as one word, and repeated spaces or line breaks between words do not add to the total. This matches what a person counting your essay would arrive at.
- Should I count characters with or without spaces?
- It depends on the limit you are meeting, which is why both are shown. Social platforms and SMS almost always include spaces. Some academic and publishing limits exclude them. When a specification does not say, assume spaces are included, since that is the stricter reading and the more common convention.
- How accurate is the reading time?
- It is an estimate at 200 words per minute, a typical adult silent-reading speed for ordinary prose, and it always rounds up to the next whole minute. It is most useful for comparing two drafts rather than as an absolute figure: technical material with code or formulae reads considerably slower, and light familiar text considerably faster.
- Is my text saved or sent anywhere?
- Your draft is stored in this browser so that reloading the page or following a link does not lose your work, and it stays on your device. Nothing is transmitted to us or to anyone else. You can clear what has been kept at any time from the privacy page.