Word & Character Counter

About this tool

Paste or type any text to get a live word count, character count, sentence count, paragraph and line counts, unique word count, and estimated reading and speaking time. Everything updates as you type and runs entirely in your browser — the text is never uploaded. Use Sample to try it with placeholder text, Paste to pull straight from your clipboard, or Open file to load a .txt or .md file from disk.

How each count is defined. Words are runs of non-space characters, so hyphenated terms like "well-being" count as one and numbers count as words. Characters include spaces and line breaks, matching how social platforms and most forms measure a limit; the no-spaces figure strips whitespace, matching how most word-processor status bars report it. Sentences are counted from terminal punctuation — full stops, question marks, exclamation marks — so an abbreviation like "e.g." or a decimal like "3.5" can nudge the count by one. Paragraphs are blocks of text separated by a blank line; lines are simply how many line breaks the text contains. Unique words counts distinct words case-insensitively, ignoring surrounding punctuation.

Reading time is words divided by 200, the rough average for adult silent reading of general text. Technical or dense material runs slower (150 or below); skimming runs faster. Speaking time uses 130 words per minute, a typical conversational pace — handy for estimating how long a script or speech will take to deliver aloud. Treat both as order-of-magnitude estimates, useful for labelling an article as "3 min read," not as precise figures. The page estimate uses 250 words per page, a common rule of thumb for a double-spaced page of 12pt text; a single-spaced page holds roughly twice as many words.

Common limits worth knowing.

Why another tool's count differs. Word processors and platforms disagree on edge cases: whether an em dash joins two words, how they treat CJK text (Chinese, Japanese, Korean, which often have no spaces), and whether trailing whitespace counts. Small differences between tools are normal.

For a readability grade rather than raw counts, use the readability checker; to see which terms appear most often, use the keyword density checker.

Frequently asked questions

How is reading time calculated?

Word count divided by 200 words per minute, the average for adult silent reading of general-purpose text. Actual speed varies with difficulty and reader.

How are sentences counted?

By counting sentence-ending punctuation (. ! ?). Abbreviations, decimals, or ellipses can throw the count off by one or two.

Does the character count include spaces?

Yes. It counts every character including spaces and line breaks, which matches how most platforms and forms enforce a character limit.

Why does my word processor show a different word count?

Tools differ on hyphenated words, dashes, numbers, and non-spaced scripts. A difference of a few words between two counters is expected.

Is my text sent anywhere?

No. All counting happens in your browser; nothing is transmitted or stored.

Does it count words in languages without spaces?

Word counting relies on spaces, so languages like Chinese and Japanese won't produce a meaningful word figure — the character count is the useful one there.

How are paragraphs and lines counted?

A paragraph is a run of text separated from the next by at least one blank line. A line is anything separated by a single line break — so a paragraph with hard-wrapped lines counts as multiple lines but one paragraph.

Does "Open file" upload my file anywhere?

No — it's read locally in your browser with the File API and only its text is placed in the box above. Nothing leaves your device.

Why does "Paste" need permission?

Browsers require an explicit user action before a page can read the system clipboard, as a privacy protection. If it's blocked, use Ctrl+V / Cmd+V directly in the text box instead.