Word & Character Counter
Free Online Word Counter
Count words, characters, sentences, and paragraphs instantly. This word counter tool updates in real time as you type or paste text — no buttons to click, no waiting. Whether you're writing a blog post, academic essay, social media update, or SEO content, this tool gives you all the metrics you need at a glance.
What This Tool Counts
- Words — Total number of words, split by whitespace. Hyphenated words count as one word.
- Characters — Total characters including spaces, punctuation, and special characters.
- Characters (no spaces) — Characters excluding all whitespace — useful for SMS and character-limited fields.
- Sentences — Detected by sentence-ending punctuation (. ! ?). Abbreviations like "Dr." may affect the count slightly.
- Paragraphs — Blocks of text separated by blank lines or line breaks.
- Reading Time — Estimated at 238 words per minute, based on the average adult reading speed from Brysbaert (2019) research.
Common Character & Word Limits
- Twitter/X post — 280 characters
- Instagram caption — 2,200 characters
- Facebook post — 63,206 characters
- LinkedIn post — 3,000 characters
- Meta title (SEO) — 50–60 characters for optimal display in search results
- Meta description (SEO) — 150–160 characters for optimal display in search results
- Google Ads headline — 30 characters per headline
- Blog post (SEO) — 1,500–2,500 words for comprehensive coverage of a topic
- College essay (Common App) — 250–650 words
Real-World Use Cases
- SEO Content Writing — Search engines tend to favor comprehensive content. Track your word count to meet target lengths for blog posts, landing pages, and product descriptions.
- Academic Writing — Stay within essay, thesis, or assignment word limits. Many institutions require exact word counts.
- Social Media — Craft posts that fit within platform character limits without truncation.
- Copywriting — Ad copy, email subject lines, and CTAs often have strict character limits. Check your copy fits before publishing.
- Translation & Localization — Word count directly affects translation costs and scheduling. Get accurate counts before requesting quotes.
Tips for Content Length
- Blog posts targeting competitive keywords should aim for 1,500+ words with thorough coverage of the topic.
- Product descriptions perform best at 150–300 words — long enough for SEO, short enough for readability.
- Break long content into sections with headers every 200–300 words to improve readability and SEO.
- Reading time under 7 minutes (about 1,600 words) tends to get the highest engagement on most platforms.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is my text stored anywhere?
No. Everything runs in your browser. Your text is never sent to any server or stored in any database.
How is reading time calculated?
We use an average reading speed of 238 words per minute, based on research by Brysbaert (2019) analyzing data from 190 studies. Actual reading time varies by content complexity, reader proficiency, and whether the content includes code or technical material.
How accurate is the word count?
The word counter splits text by whitespace, which matches how most word processors (Microsoft Word, Google Docs) count words. Minor differences may occur with hyphenated words, URLs, or special formatting.
Can I count words in a specific language?
Yes. The counter works with any language that uses spaces between words, including English, German, French, Spanish, and most European languages. For languages without word spaces (Chinese, Japanese, Thai), character count is more meaningful.
How does this compare to Microsoft Word's word count?
Results are typically within 1-2% of Word's count. Small differences can occur because word processors may handle hyphenated words, contractions, and special characters slightly differently.