word counter
Counted as you type, in this tab, and never sent anywhere.
The short answer
A word here is any run of characters with whitespace around it, which is how a word processor counts and what an editor asking for eight hundred words means. So "don't" is one word and "state-of-the-art" is one word. Reading time assumes 220 words a minute, roughly adult silent reading pace.
Words, characters, sentences, paragraphs and a reading time, updating on every keystroke. Useful when a form has a hard limit or an editor has given you a brief.
The formula
words = runs of non-whitespace · reading time = words ÷ 220
Worked examples
- "Don't stop."
- 2 words, 11 characters
- "State-of-the-art work"
- 2 words
- "What?! Really..."
- 2 sentences
Reference table
| Where | Limit | Counted in |
|---|---|---|
| A single SMS | 160 | characters |
| A post on X | 280 | characters |
| A meta description before Google truncates it | about 155 | characters |
| An Instagram caption | 2,200 | characters |
| A LinkedIn post | 3,000 | characters |
How to use it
- 01Paste or typeThe counts update as you go. The box takes as much text as you want to put in it.
- 02Read the count you needCharacters with and without spaces are both shown, because forms disagree about which one they mean.
Also searched for
Searches that land here include word counter, character counter, count words online, word count tool and how many characters.
Counting, and what the counts are for
The two figures that get confused
Words and characters are not interchangeable, and forms rarely explain which they want. A 280-character post is about forty-five words of ordinary English. A 500-word essay is around 2,800 characters with spaces. When a field says "maximum 160" it almost always means characters, and when a brief says 800 it almost always means words.
Sentences and paragraphs are rougher
A sentence here ends at a full stop, question mark or exclamation mark, and a run of them counts once, so "What?!" is one ending rather than two. Abbreviations with full stops in them will push the count up, because no simple rule can tell "e.g." from the end of a sentence. Paragraphs are counted as blocks separated by a blank line, which is how the text will behave when it is pasted somewhere that renders it.
Nothing here leaves the page
The text stays in your browser. That is worth knowing when the thing you are counting is a covering letter, a complaint, a personal statement or anything else you would rather not leave in someone's server log.
Questions people ask
How is a word counted?
As any run of characters with whitespace either side. That makes “don't” one word and “state-of-the-art” one word, which is how word processors count and what an editor asking for eight hundred words has in mind. A number counts as a word too.
Does a character limit include spaces?
Usually yes, and both figures are shown so you do not have to guess. SMS and social posts count spaces. Some academic forms and older database fields do not. If the form does not say, assume spaces count, because that is the stricter reading.
How is the reading time worked out?
Words divided by 220, which is a common figure for adult silent reading of ordinary prose. Treat it as a rough guide: dense technical writing runs slower, and a page of dialogue runs faster. It is there for pacing a talk or sizing an article, not for anything precise.