Word & Character Counter
Count words, characters, sentences, and paragraphs in real-time. Perfect for writers, students, and SEO - completely free.
Instantly count words, characters (with and without spaces), sentences, paragraphs, and estimate reading time. Perfect for writers meeting word limits, students writing essays, or SEO professionals optimizing content length.
Word and character limits run through nearly every piece of writing: Twitter posts cap at 280 characters, meta descriptions ideally stay under 160, college essays demand exact word counts, and SEO guidance often targets a 1,500–2,500 word range for long-form articles. Eyeballing it doesn't work — spaces, punctuation, and line breaks all distort your sense of length.
This counter tracks six metrics simultaneously as you type: words, characters with spaces, characters without spaces, sentences, paragraphs, and an estimated reading time based on an average 200–250 words per minute. Word detection splits on whitespace rather than assuming single spaces, so tabs, newlines, and double-spaces are handled correctly. Sentences are counted by terminal punctuation (. ! ?) with rules to skip abbreviations like "e.g." or "Mr.".
Everything happens locally in the browser, so pasting a draft manuscript, a client NDA, or an unpublished blog post carries no network risk. The live update is fast enough that you can see the count shift as you trim filler words during editing.
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Paste or type your text
Drop content into the input box — a paragraph, an essay, or an entire document. Counts update on every keystroke with no button to press.
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Review the statistics
See words, characters, sentences, paragraphs, and reading time at a glance. Characters are shown both with and without spaces, which matters for Twitter and SMS limits.
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Edit against a target
Use the live counters to trim or expand toward a specific limit. Delete filler words and watch the count drop in real time.
Essay word limits
Hit exact word targets for college applications, academic papers, and assignments where graders enforce strict caps.
SEO content length
Check whether a blog post meets your editorial target — 1,500+ words for pillar pages, 600–800 for shorter guides.
Social media character caps
Trim tweets to 280 characters, LinkedIn posts to 3,000, or ad copy to platform limits before you publish.
Meta description tuning
Write meta descriptions that land in the 150–160 character sweet spot so Google doesn't truncate them in search results.
Is my text sent to a server?
No. Counting runs entirely in your browser using JavaScript. Nothing is uploaded, logged, or stored.
How is reading time calculated?
Reading time assumes an average adult reading speed of around 225 words per minute for prose. Technical content reads slower, narrative faster, so treat the number as a reasonable default rather than an exact measurement.
Does it count characters with or without spaces?
Both. Twitter and SMS count every character including spaces, while some publications (especially print) exclude spaces. You'll see both numbers so you can use whichever applies.
How are sentences detected?
A sentence ends at a period, exclamation mark, or question mark followed by whitespace or end-of-text. Common abbreviations like Mr., Dr., and e.g. are handled to avoid false sentence breaks.
Can it handle very long documents?
Yes. The counter handles book-length manuscripts without lag. For multi-megabyte text files, paste in chunks if your browser slows down.