Word & Character Counter
Count words, characters, and sentences in your text instantly — free, private, and works entirely in your browser.
Advanced options
Zero turns off the target.
Your result
Updates as you type- Words
- 0
- Characters
- 0
- Reading time
- 0s
Unicode word boundaries; punctuation is not a word.
Without spaces: 0.
At a 225 words-per-minute average silent reading pace.
More result details
Method, assumptions, and tips
Words use Intl.Segmenter where supported, with a Unicode regex fallback. Characters count Unicode code points, not visible graphemes. Single-word frequency filters a small English stopword list; phrase percentages use total words.
Words use browser-aware Unicode segmentation, with a Unicode regex fallback.
Sentences are counted by terminal punctuation (. ! ?).
Paragraphs are blocks separated by a blank line.
Reading time assumes 225 words/minute (silent reading); speaking time assumes 130 words/minute — both commonly-cited averages, not measurements of you.
Keyword density excludes a short list of common English stopwords (the, and, of, …) from the ranking, but they still count toward the word total the percentage is based on.
Counts are computed live in your browser as you type — your text is never sent to our servers.
Character limits on social posts and meta descriptions count spaces — use the "Characters" figure, not the no-spaces one.
Checking an essay against a word limit, or trimming copy to fit a meta description or social post.
How it works
Counting words and characters with and without spaces
A word and character counter with spaces answers a question that sounds simple and is not: which count does the thing you are writing for actually use? Every count on this page updates as you type, and the two character figures are shown separately because they are used for genuinely different purposes.
- Words use Unicode word segmentation where the browser supports it, including languages without spaces.
- Characters counts everything you typed, spaces included.
- Characters without spaces removes them.
- Sentences are counted by terminal punctuation — a full stop, question mark or exclamation mark.
Which count applies where
This is where most confusion happens. Different platforms use different counting rules. Search titles and descriptions are truncated to fit the display, rather than rejected at a fixed character count. The other examples below are simplified; the destination counter is authoritative:
| Where | Limit | Counts spaces |
|---|---|---|
| Search description | No fixed character limit | Display varies |
| Search title | No fixed character limit | Display varies |
| X / Twitter post | 280 characters | Yes |
| SMS (GSM-7 encoding) | 160 characters | Yes |
| LinkedIn headline | 220 characters | Yes |
| Academic essay | Usually words | N/A |
Character counts excluding spaces mostly appear in translation and copywriting work, where they are used for pricing. If you are trimming text to fit a platform limit, use the Characters figure.
Why two tools can disagree on the word count
Word counting has no single correct definition, so different tools legitimately return different numbers. The disagreements cluster around a few cases:
- Hyphenated words. Is state-of-the-art one word or four?
- Numbers and dates. Some tools skip standalone numerals.
- Contractions. A contraction is one word here, but not everywhere.
- URLs and email addresses. Usually one token, sometimes several.
- Em dashes without spaces. Two words joined by a dash may count as one.
This tool uses browser-aware Unicode word segmentation when available, so punctuation and text without spaces can produce different counts from whitespace-only counters. If you are writing to a hard limit set by someone else — a journal, a client, a submission system — check against their tool, not this one, and leave yourself margin.
Sentence counting is approximate too
Counting terminal punctuation is a good heuristic and an imperfect one. Abbreviations such as Dr. and e.g. contain full stops that do not end sentences, and will inflate the count slightly. Treat the sentence figure as an indicator of pacing rather than an exact number.
Using the counts to edit
- Average word length is in the sidebar. A rising average usually means the prose is getting denser and more abstract, not more precise.
- Words per sentence — divide words by sentences — is a rough readability signal. Consistently long sentences are harder to follow regardless of vocabulary.
- When cutting to a limit, cut whole clauses rather than shaving individual words. It reads better and gets you there faster.
Reading time, speaking time, and paragraphs
Reading time uses 225 words per minute, a commonly-cited average for silent reading of ordinary prose — a widely used estimate, not a measurement of your specific reading speed, which varies with familiarity and text difficulty. Speaking time uses 130 words per minute, a typical presentation pace; a fast talker or a dense, jargon-heavy script will run faster or slower than the estimate. Paragraphs are counted as blocks of text separated by at least one blank line — useful for spotting a wall of text before you publish it.
Keyword density
The top-10 table ranks your most-used words by how often they appear, as a percentage of total words — the same measure SEO tools use to flag over- or under-optimized copy. Common stopwords (the, and, of, and similar) are left out of the ranking since every text is full of them, but they still count toward the total the percentage divides by. There is no universal target percentage and this table does not predict search rankings. Repeated terms can be necessary in technical writing; read them in context rather than editing toward a score. Use the table to spot accidental repetition, not to choose a ranking target.
Everything is computed in your browser as you type. Your text is never uploaded, logged or stored, so drafts, client work and unpublished writing stay entirely on your machine.
FAQ
Can I track a target or count selected text?
Advanced options set a word or character target and one-, two- or three-word frequency. Select part of the input for its own counts. Word boundaries use browser Intl.Segmenter when available; characters are Unicode code points, which can differ from platform or grapheme counts.
Does the character count include spaces?
Both figures are shown. The Characters card counts everything including spaces; the caption beneath it and the sidebar give the count without spaces. Many text limits include spaces, but social networks and SMS can use weighting or encoding rules. Check the destination counter; search snippets have no fixed character limit.
How are words counted?
Browser Intl.Segmenter identifies word-like segments; a Unicode regex is used when it is unavailable. Punctuation and languages without spaces can behave differently from whitespace-based counters. Check the destination counter for strict limits.
Why does another tool give a different word count?
Because word counting has no single correct definition. Tools differ on hyphenated words, standalone numbers, contractions, URLs and em dashes. If you are writing to someone else's hard limit, check against their counter and leave a small margin.
How are sentences counted?
By counting terminal punctuation — full stops, question marks and exclamation marks. This is a good heuristic but not exact: abbreviations such as Dr. or e.g. contain full stops that do not end a sentence, so the count can run slightly high.
Is my text sent anywhere?
No. All counting happens in your browser as you type. Your text is never uploaded, logged or stored, so drafts, client work and unpublished writing stay on your device.
What is a good average word length?
There is no single target, but the trend is informative — a rising average usually means your prose is becoming denser and more abstract rather than more precise. Pair it with words per sentence as a rough readability check.
How is reading time calculated?
Words divided by 225, a commonly-cited average silent-reading pace for ordinary prose. It is a widely used estimate, not a measurement of how fast you personally read — dense or technical text will take longer than the estimate suggests.
What counts as a paragraph?
A block of text separated from the next by at least one blank line. A single line break within a block does not start a new paragraph — you need an empty line between them.
How is keyword density calculated, and what is a good number?
Each word’s occurrences divided by your total word count, as a percentage — common stopwords (the, and, of, and similar) are excluded from the ranked list but still count toward that total. There is no universal target percentage. This is a repetition metric, not a search-ranking score. Read recurring words in context and use the table to catch accidental repetition rather than editing toward a percentage.