Word Counter
A word and character counter is essential for writers, students, marketers, and developers. Whether you're writing a 500-word essay, a 280-character tweet, a 1500-word blog post, or a 60,000-character novel, this free tool counts instantly as you type. It also estimates reading time (average 200-250 words per minute), sentence count, paragraph count, and average word length.
Type or paste your text into the editor below. Counts update live as you type — no submit button, no upload, no signup. Everything runs in your browser, so your text stays private. Works on mobile, tablet, and desktop.
How to Use This Word Counter
Type or paste your text into the box above. The counters update in real-time as you type. This tool is perfect for:
- Students: Checking essay and assignment word counts
- Writers: Tracking blog post and article length
- Social media: Staying within Twitter (280), Instagram (2,200), or LinkedIn (3,000) limits
- SEO: Meeting meta description (155 chars) and title (60 chars) limits
- Editors: Quickly assessing document length and reading time
Reading Time vs. Speaking Time
Two different metrics, both useful:
- Reading time (200 wpm): How long it takes to silently read your text. Based on the average adult reading speed for prose.
- Speaking time (130 wpm): How long it takes to present your text aloud. Use this for presentations, podcasts, or YouTube videos.
Common Word Count Targets
- Twitter / X: 280 characters
- Instagram caption: 2,200 characters
- LinkedIn post: 3,000 characters
- Facebook post: 63,206 characters
- Meta title: 50-60 characters
- Meta description: 150-160 characters
- URL slug: under 60 characters
- Blog post: 1,500-2,500 words
- High school essay: 500-1,000 words
- College essay: 1,000-2,000 words
- Master's thesis: 15,000-30,000 words
- PhD dissertation: 80,000-100,000 words
- Email subject: 30-50 characters
- Ad headline: under 30 characters
- Landing page: 500-1,000 words
- Case study: 1,500-3,000 words
Frequently Asked Questions
How does the word counter work?
The counter analyzes your text in real-time using JavaScript. It splits on whitespace to count words, counts non-whitespace characters, identifies sentence-ending punctuation (periods, exclamation marks, question marks) to count sentences, and groups consecutive non-empty lines into paragraphs. Reading time is calculated at 200 words per minute.
Is my text saved or uploaded?
No. All counting happens in your browser using JavaScript. Your text never leaves your device. You can use this tool offline once the page is loaded.
What's the reading time based on?
200 words per minute — the average silent reading speed for adult prose. For technical or difficult material, the actual time will be longer. For skimming or familiar content, it will be shorter.
Does it count numbers as words?
Yes. Numbers separated by spaces count as words. So "I have 5 cats" is 4 words. "5cats" (no space) is 1 word.
Can I use this for social media character limits?
Yes. The character counter shows your current count in real time. Common limits: Twitter 280, Instagram 2,200, LinkedIn 3,000.