Word Counter
Paste or type your text below for instant analysis. 100% private — runs in your browser.
Top Keywords
Top keywords will appear here once you start typing.
Writing Goals
About the Word Counter
This word counter counts words, characters with and without spaces, sentences and paragraphs as you type, and estimates both reading and speaking time from standard words-per-minute rates. Everything is calculated in your browser, so unpublished drafts are never uploaded anywhere.
A word counter is the quickest way to check work against a limit — a 500-word article brief, a 150-character meta description, a 2,000-word essay, or a conference talk that has to fit twenty minutes.
Counts update as you type rather than on a button press, and characters are reported both with and without spaces because different platforms count differently. Twitter and most SEO fields count every character including spaces; some academic limits exclude them.
Reading time assumes roughly 200 to 250 words per minute for silent reading and speaking time around 130 to 150, which is the standard basis for those estimates. Useful for judging whether a page is a two-minute read or a ten-minute commitment.
How to use the Word Counter
- Paste your text. Type or paste into the input box.
- Read the live counts. Words, characters, sentences and paragraphs update as you type.
- Check the time estimates. See the estimated reading and speaking time.
- Edit against your limit. Trim or expand until the count matches your target.
Word Counter features
- Words, characters with and without spaces, sentences and paragraphs
- Unique word count
- Reading and speaking time estimates
- Top keywords by frequency
- Progress against common targets: tweet, abstract, blog post, article
- Counts as you type
- Runs in your browser; drafts are not uploaded
Frequently asked questions
What exactly is counted as a word?
Any run of characters separated by whitespace, which is how word processors count and what editors and clients mean by a word count. Hyphenated compounds count as one.
How is reading time worked out?
From the word count at a typical silent reading rate of roughly 200 to 250 words per minute. Speaking time uses about 130 to 150, which is the more dependable of the two for timing a talk.
What are the target counts for?
Quick reference points — a tweet at 280 characters, an abstract around 300 words, a blog post around 1,000, a long article around 2,000 — so you can see how far through a target you are without doing the arithmetic.
Does it work for other languages?
For languages that separate words with spaces, yes. Chinese, Japanese and Thai do not, so the word count for those will be unreliable while character counts stay correct.