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Word Counter
Count words, characters and paragraphs by submitting your text to the tool.
Know exactly how long your text is before you publish it
Almost every place you publish text has a limit. Meta descriptions get truncated past roughly 155 characters, a Twitter/X post caps out at 280, university essays come with a word count you are marked against, and most editors will tell you a blog post needs a certain length before it is worth publishing. This word counter gives you your words, characters, characters with spaces, and paragraphs once you click the button.
Beyond the raw count it reports characters with and without spaces, sentences, paragraphs and an estimated reading time, so you can judge whether a piece is the right size for its audience as well as the right size for the form.
Counting your text
- Type directly into the box above, or paste text you have already written.
- Click the button to submit your text and display the counts.
- Read the character count with spaces when you are filling a field with a hard limit, such as a meta description or an ad headline.
- Use the character count without spaces when a style guide or assignment specifies it that way.
- Check the reading-time estimate to judge whether the piece suits the format you are publishing in.
What gets counted
- Words — any run of characters separated by whitespace, which matches how word processors and most style guides count.
- Characters — reported both with and without spaces, because different platforms measure differently.
- Sentences — detected from terminal punctuation, useful for spotting paragraphs that run on too long.
- Paragraphs — counted from blank-line breaks so you can see how your structure is balanced.
- Reading time — estimated at a normal adult silent reading pace of around 200–250 words per minute.
- Click to count — submit your text to calculate every figure on the server without a page reload.
Who uses a word counter
- Students checking an essay against a required word count before submission.
- SEO writers keeping titles under about 60 characters and meta descriptions under about 155.
- Copywriters fitting ad headlines and descriptions into strict platform limits.
- Editors estimating how long an article will take a reader to get through.
- Translators and freelancers quoting work that is priced per word.
Word count questions
How are words counted exactly?
A word is any sequence of characters bounded by spaces, tabs or line breaks. A hyphenated term such as “well-known” counts as one word, which is the same convention Microsoft Word and Google Docs use.
Why do I get a different number from Microsoft Word?
Small differences usually come from how each program treats numbers, hyphens, em dashes and text inside footnotes or headers. For ordinary prose the two counts normally agree.
Is my text stored anywhere?
No. Your text is sent to the server for processing, but it is not stored anywhere once your counts are returned; see our privacy policy for details.
How long should a blog post be?
There is no single right answer, but posts that rank well for competitive queries usually run 1,000 words or more, because that is roughly what it takes to answer a question thoroughly. Length matters far less than whether the piece actually resolves the reader’s question.
How is reading time calculated?
By dividing the word count by an average silent reading speed of roughly 200–250 words per minute. Technical material reads more slowly, so treat the figure as a guide rather than a guarantee.
