Word Counter
Free word and character counter. Count words, characters (with/without spaces), sentences, paragraphs, and reading time instantly. No signup.
What the word counter tracks
Paste or type text and the tool reports words, characters with and without spaces, sentences, paragraphs, and lines, plus an estimate of how long the text takes to read or speak aloud. It is the quickest way to hit a character limit, check an essay length, or judge whether a piece of writing is as long as it feels. Nothing is uploaded — the counting happens in your browser as you type.
How each count is defined
- Words: groups of characters separated by whitespace, counted after trimming leading and trailing space.
- Characters: every character including spaces; characters (no spaces) removes all whitespace.
- Sentences: runs ending in a full stop, question mark, or exclamation mark. Text with words but no terminal punctuation counts as one sentence.
- Paragraphs: blocks separated by a blank line.
- Lines: the number of newline-separated rows.
- Reading time assumes 200 words per minute; speaking time assumes 130.
A worked example
The sentence The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
| Measure | Result |
|---|---|
| Words | 9 |
| Characters | 44 |
| Characters (no spaces) | 36 |
| Sentences | 1 |
| Paragraphs | 1 |
| Reading time | 0m 3s |
| Speaking time | 0m 4s |
Common limits worth knowing
| Where | Typical limit | Counts |
|---|---|---|
| Meta description | ~155 characters | With spaces |
| SMS message | 160 characters | With spaces |
| Short social post | 280 characters | With spaces |
| University essay | 500–2,000 words | Words |
| Blog post | 800–2,000 words | Words |
| Five-minute talk | ~650 words | Words (130 wpm) |
Character limits are almost always the with-spaces count, which is why the tool reports both figures.
Common mistakes
- Using the wrong character count. Forms and social platforms count spaces, so the no-spaces figure is misleading for limits.
- Trusting reading time to the second. The estimate is based on average pace and assumption-heavy; treat it as a guide, not a stopwatch.
- Counting hyphenated words as two. The tool counts whitespace-separated tokens, so “well-known” is one word — as it is in most word processors.
- Forgetting that headings and captions count. If a brief sets a word limit, everything pasted in counts toward it.
Reading time by length
| Word count | Reading time | Speaking time |
|---|---|---|
| 250 | 1m 15s | 1m 55s |
| 500 | 2m 30s | 3m 51s |
| 1,000 | 5m 0s | 7m 42s |
| 2,000 | 10m 0s | 15m 23s |
| 5,000 | 25m 0s | 38m 28s |
Speaking takes noticeably longer than reading, which is why a talk script needs fewer words than an article of the same target duration. For a five-minute presentation, plan on about 650 words.
Frequently asked questions
Does it count emoji and symbols?
They are counted in the character totals because they are characters in the text. Word counts depend on whether whitespace separates them, so a run of emoji with no spaces may register as a single word.
How long does it take to read a page?
At the standard 200 words per minute, a 1,000-word article is about five minutes. Faster readers may finish sooner, and dense technical material takes longer.
Why do other tools give a different word count?
Definitions differ at the edges — whether numbers, hyphens, or symbols count as words. For most purposes the difference is a handful of words and does not matter, but if a strict limit applies, match whatever counter your destination uses.
Do headings and captions count?
Yes, if they are in the box. When a brief sets a word limit, decide deliberately whether headings, captions, and references sit inside or outside it, because editors and markers usually count everything they can see. When in doubt, keep the main text slightly under the limit and let the extras fall where they may.
Once a piece is the right length, the Markdown to HTML converter turns draft formatting into clean markup, and the Pomodoro timer helps you stay on the writing block rather than watching the counter.