Free online tool

Word counter

Paste or type your text to see the word count update as you write, along with characters, sentences, paragraphs, reading and speaking time, unique words and your most used keywords. It handles emoji, accents and languages written without spaces, and nothing you type is uploaded.

Counted in your browser. Your text is never uploaded.

Counted in your browser. Your text isn’t uploaded or logged.

Change case:

Words
0
Characters
0
Reading time
0 sec
Characters without spaces
0
Sentences
0
Paragraphs
0
Lines
0
Average word length
0.0 characters
Unique words
0
Speaking time
0 sec

Reading time assumes 238 words per minute and speaking time 150.

Top keywords

Your most used words will appear here, with how often each is used.

Density is each word’s share of all words. Numbers and links aren’t listed. The common-word filter covers English only.

Length limits

  • X (Twitter) post0 / 280 characters

    280 characters left

    How this is counted

    Uses X’s published counting rules (twitter-text v3): most Latin, Greek, Cyrillic, Arabic, Hebrew and Indic characters count 1; Chinese, Japanese and Korean characters and each emoji count 2; every link counts 23, however long. Premium accounts can post longer.

  • SEO meta title0 / 60 characters

    60 characters left

    How this is counted

    A guide, not a hard limit: Google cuts titles by pixel width (about 600 px), not characters. Around 50–60 characters usually shows in full; wide letters like W and M fit fewer.

  • SEO meta description0 / 160 characters

    160 characters left

    How this is counted

    A guide: Google shows roughly 150–160 characters on desktop and fewer on mobile, cuts by pixel width, and sometimes writes its own snippet instead.

  • SMS text message0 / 160 characters (GSM-7)

    160 characters fit in one message

    How this is counted

    Plain GSM-7 text fits 160 characters in one message, or 153 per part once it’s split. ^ { } [ ] \ ~ | and € count as 2. Any other character, such as an emoji or a curly quote, switches the whole message to Unicode: 70 characters, or 67 per part, with emoji counting 2. Some phones replace characters or use national alphabets, so treat this as a close guide.

  • Instagram caption0 / 2,200 characters

    2,200 characters left

    How this is counted

    Instagram allows 2,200 characters but doesn’t publish exactly how it counts them, so this counts characters as you see them (each emoji is 1). Only the first line or two show before “more”.

Your own limit

How to count words

  1. 1Type in the box, or paste text from a document, email or web page.
  2. 2Read the word count and the other statistics as they update.
  3. 3Check the keywords list to spot words you’ve overused. Hide common words like “the” to see the meaningful ones.
  4. 4Copy your text when you’re done, or clear it. Nothing is kept unless you ask the page to remember it.

Features

  • Word, character, sentence, paragraph and line counts that update as you type
  • Reading time at 238 words per minute and speaking time at 150
  • Top keywords with density, with an option to hide common English words
  • Correct counts for emoji, accents, Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Arabic and Hebrew
  • Case converter, copy and clear with undo
  • Free, no sign-up, and your text never leaves your browser

How the counts work

Counting rules differ between programs, so here is exactly what this counter does. Everything is worked out in your browser.

Words
Words are found with your browser’s Unicode word segmentation (Intl.Segmenter). Apostrophes keep words together (don’t, O’Neil), hyphenated words count once (well-known, COVID-19), and numbers such as 3.14 or 1,000 are one word. A web address (https://… or www.…) or an email address is one word. Otherwise dashes, slashes, @ and # separate words, and emoji and punctuation aren’t words. Chinese, Japanese and Thai, which don’t use spaces, are split into words with the browser’s dictionary.
Characters
Characters are counted as you see them (Unicode grapheme clusters), so 👍🏽, 🇬🇧, a family emoji and é typed with a combining accent each count as 1. A Windows line break (CR LF) is 1 character. “Without spaces” leaves out spaces, tabs and line breaks.
Sentences
A sentence ends at . ! ? or … (and their Chinese and Japanese equivalents) or at a line break. A full stop followed by a lower-case letter doesn’t end a sentence, so “e.g. this” is one sentence, but “Mr. Smith” is counted as two.
Paragraphs and lines
Paragraphs are blocks of text separated by at least one blank line. Lines counts every line, blank ones included.
Reading and speaking time
Reading time assumes 238 words per minute, the average silent reading speed for English non-fiction. Speaking time assumes 150 words per minute, a comfortable pace for a talk. Average word length is characters per word, not counting hyphens.
Unique words and keywords
Words are compared without case, so The and the are the same word. Keyword density is how often a word appears as a share of all words. Numbers, links and email addresses aren’t listed as keywords, and you can hide common English words such as the, and and of. Other languages’ common words are not filtered.
Older browsers
Browsers without Intl.Segmenter use a built-in fallback that gives the same counts for most text. For Chinese, Japanese and Thai it can only estimate words, and the page says so.

Private by design

Your text stays with you

Counting happens in your browser. Nothing you type or paste is uploaded, logged or used for analytics, so it’s safe for drafts, contracts and private messages.

Counts real text correctly

Emoji, flags and accented letters count as one character each, and Chinese, Japanese and Thai are split into words with your browser’s dictionary.

Fast with long documents

Short texts update on every keystroke. Long ones, even a whole book, are counted in the background so typing never stutters.

Frequently asked questions

How does the word counter count words?

It uses your browser’s Unicode word segmentation. A word is a run of letters or numbers: apostrophes keep a word together (don’t is one word), hyphenated words count once (well-known), and numbers like 3.14 or 1,000 count once. Punctuation, emoji and symbols aren’t words. The full rules are listed on this page.

Why is my count different from Microsoft Word or Google Docs?

Every program has slightly different rules. Word counts anything between spaces, so a lone dash or an emoji counts as a word; this counter doesn’t count them. Words joined by a slash or dash (and/or, 2020–2024) count separately here, while a web or email address counts as one word, as in Word. The difference is usually less than 1% for ordinary writing.

How is reading time worked out?

The word count is divided by 238 words per minute, the average silent reading speed for English non-fiction found by a 2019 review of 190 studies. Speaking time uses 150 words per minute, a comfortable pace for a presentation. Technical text and slower speakers will take longer.

What is keyword density?

It’s how often a word appears as a percentage of all the words. If “garden” appears 5 times in 200 words, its density is 2.5%. It helps you spot repetition. For SEO, write naturally: there’s no ideal density, and stuffing a keyword can hurt.

Does it work for Chinese, Japanese or Thai?

Yes. These languages don’t put spaces between words, so the counter uses your browser’s built-in dictionary to find word boundaries, the same way it moves the cursor word by word. Very old browsers without this feature get an estimate, and the page tells you when that happens.

Is my text uploaded or stored?

No. Everything is counted by JavaScript in your browser, and your text is never sent to a server, logged or tracked. You can check by opening your browser’s network tab while you type. If you turn on “Remember my text on this device”, a copy is kept in your browser’s local storage on this device only; Clear or turning the option off deletes it.

Is it free?

Yes. There’s no sign-up, word limit or paid plan, and no adverts. The counting happens on your own device, so there are no servers to pay for. It works with very long documents too: a 1 MB paste is counted in the background in a second or two.

More free text tools

Related tools

Looking for something else? Browse all free tools.