Word and character limits are everywhere: a college essay capped at 650 words, a meta description that gets cut off in search results, a product title with a hard character limit, an SMS that splits into two messages. This free word counter shows you every number you need in one place, so you can stop guessing and trim with confidence.
Just start typing or paste a draft. The counter recalculates a moment after each change and shows words, characters, characters without spaces, lines, an estimated sentence count and reading time. Everything runs in your browser, so drafts, cover letters and client copy stay on your device. The tool accepts up to 1 MiB of text, which is far more than a typical book chapter.
How to use: Word Counter and Character Counter
- Click into the Your text box and type, or paste your text with Ctrl+V (Cmd+V on a Mac).
- Watch the Your text in numbers panel: it updates automatically a moment after you stop typing.
- Read off Words, Characters, Characters (no spaces), Lines, Sentences and Min read.
- Edit your text in place until each number fits the limit you are aiming for.
- Use Copy or Download to save the statistics, or Clear to start over with a new text.
Example: "Hello world! Free tools are here." gives 6 words, 33 characters, 28 without spaces and 2 sentences.
When a word or character count really matters
Online limits are mostly measured in characters, while schools and publishers think in words. Platforms change their limits from time to time, so treat these figures as typical guidance.
- Essays and applications: admissions essays, scholarship answers and assignments often set a word range, such as 250 to 650 words.
- SEO title tags: aim for roughly 50 to 60 characters so the title is less likely to be truncated in search results.
- Meta descriptions: around 150 to 160 characters is a common target; longer snippets are often cut short.
- Social posts: X (formerly Twitter) has long used a 280-character limit for standard posts; other networks set their own caps.
- SMS: a single plain-text message usually holds up to 160 characters, and fewer when it contains emoji or special characters.
How this counter counts
Words are detected with your browser's built-in language segmentation (Intl.Segmenter), not by splitting on spaces. A contraction like "don't" counts as one word, a hyphenated term such as "well-known" counts as two, and punctuation on its own is never counted.
Characters are counted as the symbols you actually see, so an emoji counts as one. Characters (no spaces) leaves out spaces, tabs and line breaks, and Lines includes empty lines. Reading time assumes 200 words per minute, rounded up.
The sentence count is an estimate based on periods, question marks and exclamation points, so abbreviations such as "Mr." or "U.S." can add an extra sentence, and a heading without punctuation counts as one.
Why the numbers can differ from Word or Google Docs
Microsoft Word and Google Docs use their own word-breaking rules; Word, for example, usually counts "well-known" as one word. A difference of a few words on a long essay is normal. Excel has no word counter, and its LEN formula may count an emoji as two characters.
Some platforms also count in their own way, for example by giving links a fixed length. When a limit is strict, get close here, then check the final version where you publish it.
Frequently asked questions
Does the character count include spaces?
Both are shown. Characters includes every space, tab and line break, which is the number most platforms and form fields use. Characters (no spaces) excludes all whitespace, which some translation agencies and academic guidelines ask for. If a limit just says "characters" without further detail, assume spaces are included and go by the first number.
How is reading time calculated?
Reading time is your word count divided by 200 words per minute, rounded up to the next whole minute. That is a comfortable average for adults reading online content. Technical or dense material is usually read more slowly, while light content is skimmed faster, so use the figure as a guide for labels like "5 min read" rather than an exact measure.
Can I check the length of a meta description or title tag?
Yes. Paste the title or description and look at the Characters figure. A common target is around 50 to 60 characters for titles and 150 to 160 for meta descriptions, though search engines actually truncate by pixel width, not character count. Wide letters like W and M take up more room, so keep a small safety margin.
Why is my word count different from Microsoft Word?
Each program splits words slightly differently. This counter uses your browser's language-aware segmentation, so "don't" is one word but "well-known" or "e-mail" are two, while Word usually counts hyphenated compounds as one. URLs and dashes can also be handled differently. On a typical essay the gap is only a few words, so if a limit is strict, follow the tool your teacher or publisher uses.
Is there a limit to how much text I can count?
You can paste up to 1 MiB of text, which is roughly 150,000 to 180,000 English words of plain text. That covers essays, reports and full book chapters. Because counting happens in your browser, very long documents may take a moment longer on older phones, but nothing is uploaded and there is no daily usage limit.