Word & Character Counter
Paste or type your text to instantly see the word count, character count (with and without spaces), sentence count, paragraph count, and estimated reading time.
How to Use This Tool
Paste or type your text
The counter updates live as you type, no button needed.
Check the word and character counts
See both with-spaces and without-spaces character totals.
Review sentence and paragraph counts
Useful for meeting structural requirements in an assignment or brief.
Check the estimated reading time
Handy for blog posts, scripts, or presentation timing.
About the Word & Character Counter
Word and character limits show up constantly — a Twitter/X post capped at 280 characters, a meta description that needs to stay under 158 characters, a college essay with a strict word count, or a video script that needs to fit a target reading time.
This tool counts everything relevant in one pass: total words, character count both including and excluding spaces (since some platforms count spaces and others don't), sentence count based on ending punctuation, paragraph count based on line breaks, and an estimated reading time based on average adult reading speed.
Because it updates live as you type or paste, you can watch the numbers change in real time — useful for writing directly against a limit rather than checking after the fact and having to trim back down.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is the reading time estimate calculated?
It's based on an average adult silent reading speed of roughly 200-238 words per minute for general content, which this tool uses as its baseline. Actual reading time varies by content complexity and individual reading speed, so treat it as a helpful estimate rather than an exact figure.
What counts as a "sentence" for the sentence count?
The tool counts runs of text ending in a period, exclamation mark, or question mark followed by a space or the end of the text. Highly unconventional punctuation or abbreviations with periods (like "Dr." or "U.S.") can occasionally cause minor over-counting.
Why are there two different character counts?
Some platforms and limits count spaces as characters (like most text message limits), while others explicitly exclude them. Showing both numbers means you can check against whichever type of limit you're working with.
What counts as a paragraph in the paragraph count?
A paragraph is counted as a block of text separated from others by at least one blank line, matching how most word processors and content management systems define paragraph breaks.
Does this tool count words the same way Microsoft Word does?
It uses a similar standard approach — splitting text on whitespace and punctuation boundaries — which should closely match Word's count for typical prose, though very unusual formatting or special characters can occasionally cause small differences between tools.
Is my text saved or uploaded anywhere?
No — counting happens entirely in your browser using JavaScript as you type. Nothing is sent to a server or saved.