Text Counter
Count words, characters, sentences, and more. Perfect for essays, articles, and social media posts.
About this tool
A word counter tells you how much text you actually have: words, characters with and without spaces, sentences and paragraphs. Every count updates as you type, so you can write towards a limit instead of pasting into a checker afterwards.
The counts that matter depend on where the text is going. University essays and articles are measured in words. Social posts, meta descriptions and SMS are measured in characters — including spaces, which people often forget. Reading time estimates help when you are writing for the web.
Nothing you type is uploaded. That matters more than it sounds: draft essays, cover letters, patient notes and unpublished articles are exactly the texts people paste into free online counters without thinking about where they end up.
How to count words
- 1Type directly into the text area, or paste text from a document, email or web page.
- 2Read the live counts — words, characters, characters without spaces, sentences and paragraphs all update instantly.
- 3Use the character count with spaces when a form or platform states a character limit; that is almost always what they mean.
- 4Edit until you hit your target. Nothing is submitted anywhere, so you can keep working in place.
What this tool does
Live counting
Words, characters, sentences and paragraphs recalculate on every keystroke — no button, no page reload.
Characters with and without spaces
Both numbers are shown separately, because publishers, forms and translation agencies each ask for a different one.
Sentence and paragraph counts
Useful for checking readability: very long paragraphs and very long sentences are the two most common causes of hard-to-read text.
Private by design
Your text stays in the browser and is discarded when you close the tab. Suitable for unpublished drafts and confidential documents.
Frequently asked questions
How are words counted?
A word is any sequence of characters separated by whitespace, which is the same rule word processors use. Hyphenated terms like "well-known" count as one word; numbers and standalone symbols count as words too if they are separated by spaces.
Should I use characters with or without spaces?
With spaces, in almost every case. Social platforms, meta description limits, SMS and form fields all count spaces. Characters without spaces is mainly used in professional translation pricing and some academic requirements.
How many words is one page?
A common convention is around 250 words per double-spaced page and 500 per single-spaced page in 12 pt type. Publishers and universities often define their own figure, so check the brief you were given.
Does it count words in other alphabets?
Yes. Whitespace-separated counting works for Turkish, German, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Cyrillic and most other scripts. Languages that do not use spaces between words, such as Chinese and Japanese, cannot be word-counted this way.
Is my text stored or sent anywhere?
No. Counting is pure JavaScript running in your browser. Nothing is uploaded, saved or logged — the text exists only in the page until you close it.