This free online word counter gives you an instant breakdown of words, characters, sentences, paragraphs, and estimated reading time for any text. Whether you're checking a blog post against a target length, verifying an essay word count, or ensuring your meta description fits within SEO character limits, this tool delivers real-time text statistics without any server calls.
Step-by-Step
1. **Paste or type your text** into the input area.
View instant stats — Word count, character count (with and without spaces), sentence count, paragraph count, and reading time update in real-time as you type.
Adjust your content — Edit directly in the tool and watch the counts update live.
Features
Word count — Accurate counting that handles multiple spaces, tabs, and newlines correctly.
Character count — Both with spaces and without spaces, critical for social media limits and meta tags.
Sentence count — Detects sentence boundaries using period, exclamation, and question mark patterns.
Paragraph count — Counts text blocks separated by blank lines.
Reading time estimate — Based on the average adult reading speed of 200–250 words per minute.
Real-time updates — All statistics recalculate instantly as you type or edit.
100% client-side — Your text is never sent to any server.
Common Use Cases
Blog Post Length Checking — SEO best practices suggest 1,500–2,500 words for pillar content. Paste your draft here to check if you've hit your target length before publishing.
Essay and Academic Writing — Meet strict word count requirements for college essays, journal submissions, or grant applications without relying on Microsoft Word.
Social Media Limits — Twitter allows 280 characters, LinkedIn posts perform best under 1,300 characters. Check your character count before posting.
SEO Meta Descriptions — Google typically displays 150–160 characters for meta descriptions. Use the character counter to ensure your description fits.
Reading Time for Articles — Adding "X min read" to blog posts improves user engagement. Use the reading time estimate to calculate this value accurately.
Tips for Power Users
- The reading time calculation uses 225 words per minute as the baseline, which is the commonly accepted average for online content.
- For Twitter/X optimization, focus on the character count without spaces for hashtag efficiency.
- When preparing email subject lines, aim for 30–50 characters for optimal open rates.
- Use this tool to audit competitor content — paste their blog posts to understand their content length strategy.
- Combine with the Text Cleaner to normalize whitespace before counting for the most accurate results.
Why Use This Tool?
This word counter runs entirely in your browser using JavaScript. Unlike online word counters that upload your text to a server, your content stays on your device. It's instant, accurate, and completely private — perfect for counting sensitive documents like contracts, proposals, and proprietary content.