Word Counter
Count words, characters, sentences, paragraphs, and reading time — all updating in real time as you type.
About This Word Counter
Our free word counter gives you a complete analysis of any text instantly. Paste an essay, article, social media post, email draft, or code comment and get all the key statistics you need — with no signup, no ads, and no data leaving your browser.
What This Tool Counts
- Words: Total number of words (split on whitespace)
- Characters: Total character count including spaces and punctuation
- Characters (no spaces): Count of non-whitespace characters only
- Sentences: Count of sentence-ending punctuation (
. ! ?) - Paragraphs: Blocks of text separated by blank lines
- Lines: Total number of lines (including empty lines)
- Reading time: Estimated at 200 words per minute (wpm)
- Bytes (UTF-8): Actual byte size of the text in UTF-8 encoding
Character Limits for Popular Platforms
- Twitter / X: 280 characters per tweet
- SMS (GSM-7): 160 characters; 70 for Unicode/emoji messages
- LinkedIn post: 3,000 characters
- Instagram caption: 2,200 characters (300 shown before "more")
- Google meta title: 50–60 characters for full display
- Google meta description: 150–160 characters
- Reddit post title: 300 characters
Common Use Cases
- Writers: Track essay length, article word count, or chapter progress
- Students: Verify assignment minimum/maximum word counts
- SEO professionals: Check meta title and description lengths before publishing
- Developers: Verify text fits within API field limits or database column sizes
- Social media managers: Draft posts within platform character limits
Frequently Asked Questions
How does the word counter count words?
Words are counted by splitting the text on whitespace (spaces, tabs, newlines). Any sequence of non-whitespace characters surrounded by whitespace is counted as one word. This matches the behavior of most text editors and word processors.
What is the difference between characters and characters without spaces?
Characters includes every character in the text including spaces, punctuation, and newlines. Characters without spaces counts only non-whitespace characters — useful when platforms count this way (like some SMS systems or code editors).
How is reading time calculated?
Reading time is estimated based on an average adult reading speed of 200 words per minute (wpm). The estimate rounds up to the nearest minute. Actual reading time varies by individual and text complexity.
What does the byte count mean?
The byte count shows the UTF-8 encoded size of the text in bytes. ASCII characters (English letters, digits, punctuation) use 1 byte each. Non-ASCII characters like accented letters or emoji use 2-4 bytes. Byte count matters when you have a byte-limit in a database column, API field, or file.
Is my text safe? Is it sent anywhere?
No. All analysis happens instantly in your browser using JavaScript. Your text is never sent to any server, stored, or logged.
What is the word count limit for popular platforms?
Twitter/X: 280 characters per tweet. SMS: 160 characters (GSM-7) or 70 characters (Unicode). LinkedIn post: 3,000 characters. Instagram caption: 2,200 characters. Reddit title: 300 characters. Google meta title: 50-60 characters. Google meta description: 150-160 characters.