How to Count Words and Characters in Your Text Online

Try it now: Word Counter →

Word and character limits show up constantly — an essay assignment, a tweet, a meta description, a resume length guideline. Rather than guessing or counting by hand, a live word counter gives you exact numbers as you type or paste.

When you need a word or character count

• Checking an essay, article, or assignment against a required word count
• Staying under a character limit for a tweet, ad headline, or SEO meta description
• Trimming a resume or cover letter to a recommended length
• Estimating how long a script or speech will take to read aloud

How to count words and characters, step by step

1. Open the Word Counter.
2. Paste or type your text into the box.
3. Word count, character count (with and without spaces), sentence count, and paragraph count update instantly.
4. Check the estimated reading and speaking time for the same text.

Tips for working with length limits

• Character count, not word count, usually matters for social media and meta descriptions — check which limit applies before trimming.
• Use the most-frequent-words list to catch repetition — if the same word shows up far more than expected, it might be worth varying your language.
• Reading time is a rough guide, not a guarantee — it's based on an average reading speed, so dense or technical text may take longer in practice.

Common questions

Does this count words the same way as Microsoft Word? It uses a standard whitespace-based word count, which matches most word processors closely, though exact edge-case handling (like hyphenated words) can vary slightly between tools.

Is my text sent anywhere? No — counting happens directly in your browser as you type; nothing is uploaded.

Can I count words in a file, not just pasted text? Copy the text from your document into the counter, or open it directly if it's already in a text-editable format.

Need an exact word or character count? Count your text for free →