What this word counter does
This tool counts the words, characters, sentences, paragraphs and lines in any text as you type. It also estimates how long the text takes to read out loud or silently, and shows which words you use most often. Everything happens instantly, right in your browser — there is no upload, no waiting and no limit on length.
When you need a word count
A reliable word count matters more often than people expect:
- Students and academics working to an essay or assignment limit.
- Writers and journalists hitting a target length for an article or pitch.
- Marketers trimming meta descriptions, ad copy or social posts to fit hard limits.
- Translators and editors billing or scoping work by word count.
- Speakers checking that a script fits a time slot before a talk.
Because the counter updates live, you can paste a draft, watch the numbers, and edit until you land exactly where you need to be.
How the counts are calculated
Words are detected with Unicode-aware rules rather than a naive space split, so accented words like café or Straße are handled correctly. Hyphenated compounds such as state-of-the-art and contractions like don't count as a single word — the same convention used by Microsoft Word and Google Docs.
Characters are counted as graphemes, which means an emoji like 👍 counts as one character even though it is stored as several bytes. You get both a total character count and a count that excludes spaces, which is the figure most platforms use for their limits.
Reading time assumes an average silent reading speed of 200 words per minute, and speaking time assumes 130 words per minute — a comfortable presentation pace. These are estimates to help you plan, not exact measurements.
A quick reference for common limits
| Where | Typical limit |
|---|---|
| SEO meta description | ~155 characters |
| X / Twitter post | 280 characters |
| Google ad headline | 30 characters |
| Standard double-spaced page | ~250 words |
Your text stays private
The word counter runs entirely on your device. Your text is never sent to a server, and it is only stored in your own browser so it is still there when you return. That makes it safe to use for drafts, confidential documents or anything you would rather not upload to a cloud service.