What does Word Counter do?
Free word counter: words, characters with and without spaces, sentences, paragraphs, reading and speaking time, top keywords and limits for titles and posts.
- Price
- Free
- Account
- Not required
- Processing
- Entirely in your browser; your data and files are not uploaded
- Works on
- Any modern browser on desktop, tablet or phone
- Category
- SEO Tools
How to use the word counter
- Type or paste your text into the box. The counts update as you type.
- Read the word, character, sentence and paragraph counts and the estimated reading and speaking time.
- Check the character limits list to see whether the text fits a title tag, meta description, X post, SMS and other common fields.
- Look at the top keywords and the longest sentence warning to tighten the text.
- Optionally change the reading and speaking speeds, then copy or download the counts.
Worked example
Three-sentence roof repair paragraph (sample text)
A 3-sentence, 2-paragraph sample about roof repair has 40 words, 237 characters and 197 characters without spaces. At 238 words per minute it takes about 10 seconds to read, and at 140 words per minute about 17 seconds to say aloud. The top repeated keyword is “roof” (3 times, 7.5% of words), and the longest sentence has 17 words.
How it works
Words and sentences are found with the browser’s Intl.Segmenter, which follows the Unicode text segmentation rules (UAX #29) and also splits languages written without spaces, such as Chinese, Japanese and Thai. Hyphenated compounds count as one word. Characters are counted as user-perceived characters, so an emoji or an accented letter counts once. Paragraphs are blocks separated by a blank line. Reading time is words ÷ 238, the average silent reading rate for English non-fiction in Brysbaert’s 2019 meta-analysis of 190 studies; speaking time is words ÷ 140, an assumed unhurried presentation pace. Top keywords are single words repeated at least twice, excluding a list of common English stopwords. Sentences over 25 words are flagged, following GOV.UK content design guidance.
Assumptions
- Reading speed of 238 words per minute and speaking speed of 140 words per minute, both adjustable.
- Character limits for titles and meta descriptions are display guidelines, because Google truncates by pixel width rather than by a fixed number of characters.
- The stopword list used for keywords is English.
Frequently asked questions
Do spaces count as characters?
Yes, in the main character count, as they do on most platforms. The count without spaces removes spaces, tabs and line breaks.
Why does my count differ from Microsoft Word or Google Docs?
Tools treat hyphens, dashes, numbers, URLs and symbols differently. This counter follows the Unicode word rules and counts hyphenated words once, so small differences on the same text are normal.
Why might X count my post differently?
X counts every link as 23 characters and most emoji and Chinese, Japanese and Korean characters as 2. This tool counts each visible character once, so treat the X check as a guide for posts with links or emoji.
Is my text saved or uploaded?
No. Everything is counted in your browser. The text is not sent to our server and is not included in share links.
Limitations
- Sentence detection can split or merge around abbreviations such as “e.g.” or decimal numbers.
- Reading and speaking times are averages; technical text, other languages and individual readers vary.
- Keyword and stopword handling is designed for English.