Word Counter
This free word counter counts every word, character, sentence, and paragraph in your text the moment you start typing. Paste a blog post, essay, email, social media caption, or any piece of writing to instantly see how long it is, how long it takes to read, and how readable it is for your audience. Nothing is uploaded or stored - all analysis runs in your browser.
How to use this tool
- 1Type or paste your text directly into the box. Word count and all statistics update instantly as you type - no button to press.
- 2Check the word count and character counts at the top of the results. Characters are shown both with spaces and without spaces.
- 3Use the reading time estimate to see how long your content takes to read at an average pace (200 words per minute) and a faster pace (250 words per minute).
- 4Review the readability score - a score of 60-70 is considered standard for most general audiences; lower scores suit academic or technical readers.
- 5Scroll to the top keywords list to see which words appear most often, with common filler words like 'the' and 'and' automatically excluded.
- 6Click 'Clear text' to reset and start counting a new piece of writing.
Formula used
Example
A 1,200-word article might score 65 (Standard) on readability, show a 6-minute reading time, span 8 paragraphs, and use around 6,800 characters with spaces. The top keywords list reveals whether the target topic appears often enough - a quick way to spot thin content or keyword gaps before publishing.
Paste a draft tweet to check it stays within platform limits. A 280-character message typically contains 40-50 words and reads in under 15 seconds. The character count with spaces is the number Twitter/X enforces, so that is the figure to watch. Paste it here first rather than writing directly in the Twitter composer to count more accurately.
Common use cases
- Bloggers checking whether an article meets the 1,000-word or 1,500-word minimum before publishing
- Students verifying an essay hits the required word count before submitting
- Copywriters counting characters for Google Ads headlines (30 chars) and descriptions (90 chars)
- Content marketers calculating reading time to include a '5 min read' label on a post
- Freelance writers who bill by the word and need an accurate count before invoicing
- Social media managers checking caption length before posting across Instagram, LinkedIn, and X
Common mistakes
- Trusting a document editor's built-in word count without double-checking - different tools disagree on whether hyphenated words, URLs, and numbers count as one or multiple words.
- Ignoring the character count when writing for platforms with character limits - Facebook, Instagram, and Google Ads enforce character limits, not word limits, so check the character count first.
- Using the readability score as a quality measure - it measures text complexity, not correctness. Match the score to your intended audience rather than chasing a single ideal number.
- Forgetting that some platforms count characters without spaces - SMS messages and certain ad platforms use the 'without spaces' count, so check the right figure for your context.
- Pasting formatted documents with headers and footers included - paste only the body text you want to count, not the full exported file.
Frequently asked questions
What counts as a word?
Any sequence of characters surrounded by spaces or punctuation boundaries counts as one word. This includes numbers, hyphenated words (counted as one), URLs, and abbreviations. The method matches how most word processors count, though results can differ slightly for edge cases like contractions, dashes used as word separators, and special characters.
How is reading time calculated?
Reading time is estimated at 200 words per minute, the widely accepted average adult reading speed for online content. A faster estimate at 250 words per minute is also shown. For technical, legal, or academic content actual reading time is often longer; for a quick social media scan it may be shorter.
What is the readability score and what does it mean?
The readability score uses the Flesch-Kincaid Reading Ease formula, which measures how easy text is to read based on sentence length and syllables per word. Scores range from 0 to 100. A score of 60-70 suits general audiences; 70-80 is easy; 50-60 is fairly difficult and suits specialist readers; below 30 is typically academic or legal text.
Is my text saved, uploaded, or shared?
No. Your text is processed entirely in your browser. Nothing is sent to a server, stored, or shared in any way. You can safely paste confidential drafts, client content, legal documents, or any private writing.
Does punctuation count as a character?
Yes. The character count includes every character: letters, numbers, spaces, commas, full stops, apostrophes, and any other character. The 'without spaces' count removes space characters but keeps all other punctuation and symbols.
How do I check my character count for Twitter/X?
Twitter/X counts characters including spaces and most punctuation, so use the 'with spaces' character count as your guide. Note that Twitter counts URLs as 23 characters regardless of their actual length - if your tweet contains a URL, subtract its true length and add 23 to your total.
What word count should a blog post be?
There is no single correct answer. Research consistently shows that longer posts (1,500-2,500 words) tend to rank higher in search results for competitive topics. A common guide for SEO content is at least 1,000 words, with 1,500-2,000 words for pillar posts. Always prioritise being genuinely useful over hitting a word count target.
How does this compare to Microsoft Word's word count?
Results will usually be very close, but can differ slightly for edge cases like hyphenated words, URLs, email addresses, and numbers with special characters. If an exact match is critical for a submission, use the same tool consistently throughout your project.
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