Word Counter
Paste or type your text to see live counts of words, characters, sentences and paragraphs, plus how long it takes to read or say aloud.
Runs in your browser. Your files are never uploaded.
Loading Word Counter…
How to use Word Counter
- Type or paste your text into the box.
- Read the live counts for words, characters, sentences, paragraphs and lines.
- Check reading and speaking time and the keyword list to tune your writing.
Why word and character limits matter
Almost everything we write has a limit. University essays specify word counts, tweets and meta descriptions have character caps, SMS messages split after 160 characters, and job application forms often cut off at a fixed length. Checking your count before you submit saves rework.
Search optimisation is a common use too: page titles around 50–60 characters and meta descriptions around 150–160 characters display fully in Google results, and longer text gets truncated.
Typical targets
- Blog post: 1,000–2,000 words for in-depth topics.
- Product description: 150–300 words.
- Email subject line: under 60 characters.
- LinkedIn post: up to 3,000 characters, but the first 210 show before “see more”.
- Meta description: about 155 characters.
How reading time is estimated
Most adults read silently at about 200–250 words per minute, so this tool uses 225. Reading aloud, such as in a speech or video script, is slower at roughly 130 words per minute. These are averages; technical or dense text takes longer.
Why use this word counter tool
- Live results. Counts update as you type, with no button to press.
- Characters with and without spaces. Both totals are shown, which matters for forms and SMS limits.
- Reading and speaking time. Based on 225 words per minute reading and 130 speaking.
- Top keywords. Spot overused words, ignoring common stop words.
Frequently asked questions
How are words counted?
A word is any run of letters, numbers, apostrophes or hyphens separated by spaces or punctuation. “well-known” counts as one word.
Does it work for other languages?
Yes for scripts that separate words with spaces. Character counts work for every language; languages such as Chinese or Japanese do not use spaces, so rely on the character count there.
Is my text saved?
No. Counting happens in your browser and nothing is stored or sent anywhere.
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