Count words and characters as you type
Paste or type your text and get an instant breakdown: how many words, characters, sentences and paragraphs it has, along with a rough reading time. It's handy for essays with a word limit, social posts with a character cap, meta descriptions, or just seeing how long a piece of writing is. Everything is counted on your own device, so your text is never uploaded.
How to count your text
- Add your text. Type directly in the box, or paste text from anywhere.
- Watch the counts update. Words, characters, sentences, lines, paragraphs and reading time refresh with every keystroke.
- Clear and reuse. Use the clear button to start again with a fresh piece of text.
How the counts are worked out
Words are groups of characters separated by spaces or line breaks. Characters counts everything, and the second figure leaves out spaces and line breaks. Sentences are counted by their endings (. ! ?), and paragraphs by the blocks you separate with a line break. Lines counts every line the way a text editor does, blank lines included. Reading time assumes an average pace of about 200 words per minute.
Frequently asked questions
Does "characters" include spaces?
The Characters figure includes spaces and line breaks. The "Characters (no spaces)" figure leaves them out, which is useful when a limit counts only visible characters.
How is reading time calculated?
It's based on an average reading speed of about 200 words per minute. It's an estimate — actual reading time varies from person to person and with how difficult the text is.
Is my text sent anywhere?
No. Everything is counted in your browser with plain JavaScript. Your text is never uploaded or stored on a server.
What is the difference between lines and paragraphs?
Lines counts every line break, the way a text editor numbers lines, so blank lines are included. Paragraphs counts only the blocks that actually contain text, with blank lines ignored. A ten-line list might therefore be ten lines but a single paragraph.
Why might the sentence count look off?
Sentences are counted from full stops, question marks and exclamation marks, so abbreviations like "Dr." or "e.g." can be mistaken for sentence endings. It's a close estimate rather than a perfect grammatical count.
Is it really free?
Yes — it's free with no signup, no watermark, and no limits.