Word Counter
Count words, characters, sentences and paragraphs as you type, plus reading and speaking time. Everything happens in your browser: your text is never uploaded. Free, instant, no sign-up.
🔒 100% private, counted locally in your browser. Nothing is uploaded.
Why word and character count matters
Most writing happens against a limit. Search engines truncate a page title around 60 characters and a meta description around 160. A post on X stops at 280. An essay has a target range; a talk has a time slot. A word counter turns "is this the right length?" from a guess into a number you can see while you write, and the reading-time estimate tells you whether a reader will actually finish it.
How the counts work
- Words, runs of non-space characters.
- Characters, everything including spaces and line breaks; no spaces strips whitespace.
- Sentences, counted by . ! ? endings (plus a trailing unpunctuated line).
- Paragraphs, text blocks separated by line breaks.
- Reading / speaking time, based on ~200 and ~130 words per minute.
Frequently asked questions
Is my text sent anywhere?
No. Counting happens entirely in your browser as you type. Your text is never uploaded or stored on a server, so it is safe for drafts, private notes and confidential work, and it keeps working offline.
How is reading time calculated?
Reading time assumes an average adult silent reading speed of about 200 words per minute; speaking time assumes around 130 words per minute, a typical presentation pace. They are estimates to help you size an article, speech or video script.
How are sentences and paragraphs counted?
Sentences are counted by terminal punctuation (. ! ?), with any trailing unpunctuated text counted as one more. Paragraphs are blocks of text separated by line breaks. Both are good approximations rather than grammatical analysis.
Does it count characters with and without spaces?
Yes, both are shown. "Characters" includes spaces and line breaks (useful for SEO meta limits and social posts); "no spaces" is handy for character-limited fields that ignore whitespace.
What word and character limits should I know?
Common ones: an SEO meta description is best kept under ~160 characters, a page title under ~60, and a post on X under 280. Reading-time-friendly blog posts often run 1,000–2,000 words. The live counts here make hitting any limit easy.