Word Counter
Count words, characters and reading time in real time.
Live stats
Characters
0
Characters (no spaces)
0
Words
0
Sentences
0
Paragraphs
0
Reading time
1 sec
~238 wpm
Speaking time
1 sec
~130 wpm
About Word Counter
A no-nonsense word counter. Everything runs in your browser — your text never leaves your device. Useful any time a character limit, word target, or reading-time estimate matters.
Why we built it
Most word counters online are slow, ad-stuffed or send your text to a server. We wanted one that just works, instantly, in the browser.
How to use
- 1Paste or type your text into the editor.
- 2Watch the live stats update as you write.
- 3Use the reading-time estimate to size up blog posts and emails.
Sometimes you need to know exactly how many words a piece of text contains. Tweets are character-limited (280). SEO meta descriptions die past 160 characters. A blog post that hits 1500 words ranks differently than one at 400. This counter gives you live character, word, sentence, paragraph, and reading-time numbers as you type — useful for any context with a word budget.
How it counts
Characters: every Unicode code point, including spaces and newlines (toggle to exclude spaces if you need a strict character cap). Words: whitespace-separated tokens, which matches what Google Docs and Microsoft Word do — close enough for any practical limit. Sentences: split on `.!?` plus following whitespace. Paragraphs: split on blank lines. Reading time: 250 words per minute, the average for adult silent reading of standard prose. Reading time will overestimate for dense technical content and underestimate for skimmable lists.
Frequently asked questions
Quick answers to the questions people actually ask about Word Counter.
How are words counted?
How are words counted?
Whitespace-separated tokens — the same method Google Docs, Microsoft Word, and most editors use. Punctuation attached to words counts as part of the word. Hyphenated words count as one. Apostrophes don't split words. Numbers count as words. The exact algorithm: split on Unicode whitespace, filter empty strings.
Where does the reading time estimate come from?
Where does the reading time estimate come from?
250 words per minute, the median for adult silent reading of standard prose. Reading speed varies widely (150–400 WPM is typical), and dense technical material reads slower while skimmable lists read faster — treat the estimate as a useful order-of-magnitude, not a precise timer.
Does it count Markdown syntax?
Does it count Markdown syntax?
Yes — `**bold**` counts as one word, `[link text](url)` counts the visible text plus the URL. If you want word count of just the readable prose, render the Markdown first (use our Markdown to HTML tool) and paste the visible text into the counter.
Is my text private?
Is my text private?
Yes — counting runs in your browser. Nothing is logged, stored, or transmitted.