About This Word Counter

This free online word and character counter gives you an instant breakdown of any text. Paste an essay, email, article, tweet, social media post, or any other content and immediately see six key metrics: word count, total characters, characters excluding spaces, sentences, paragraphs, and estimated reading time.

Everything runs in your browser. Nothing is sent to a server. Your text stays private.

Why Count Words?

Word count matters in dozens of everyday situations. Academic assignments often have minimum or maximum word limits. Many social media platforms have strict character limits — Twitter/X allows 280 characters per post, LinkedIn status updates cap at 3,000 characters, and SMS messages split after 160 characters. SEO best practices recommend blog posts over 1,000 words for content depth. Cover letters often cap at 400 words. Knowing your count helps you stay within the target range.

Understanding Reading Time

Reading time is calculated at 200 words per minute (wpm), which is the approximate average adult reading speed for online content. A 1,000-word article takes about 5 minutes to read. This estimate is useful for blog posts (readers scan for reading time before committing), presentations, and emails where brevity matters.

Character Count vs. Word Count

Character count counts every single character including spaces and punctuation. Characters without spaces ignores whitespace. This is the number Twitter, Instagram, and SMS platforms typically use. Word count splits text on whitespace and counts the resulting tokens — so “hello world” is 2 words but 11 characters (or 10 without the space).

Common Use Cases

Check essay or assignment word count against requirements
Verify a tweet, caption, or bio fits within platform character limits
Estimate reading time for blog posts and articles
Track writing progress toward daily word count goals
Check meta description length for SEO (aim for 150–160 characters)
Count resume content — most resumes should stay under 700 words

Frequently Asked Questions

Does this tool store my text?: No. All analysis happens in your browser. Your text is never sent to any server.
How are sentences counted?: Sentences are counted by the number of sentence-ending punctuation marks (periods, exclamation points, question marks).
What reading speed is used?: 200 words per minute, which is the average adult reading speed for online text. The result is rounded up to the nearest whole minute.