Word Counter

Count words online — free and private

Whether you're writing an essay with a word limit, a meta description that has to fit, a tweet, or an assignment that must hit a minimum length, you need to know how much you've actually written. This word counter gives you the numbers instantly — words, characters, sentences, paragraphs, and an estimated reading time — and it updates as you type. There's no button to press and no waiting.

It also runs entirely in your browser. The text you paste never leaves your device, never goes to a server, and isn't stored anywhere. For drafts, confidential documents, or anything you'd rather not upload, that matters — you get the counts without handing your writing to someone else's computer.

What it counts

Type or paste your text and six figures update live. Each one answers a different question about your writing.

Words

Words are counted the way most word processors do it: any run of characters separated by spaces, tabs, or line breaks counts as one word. This is the number that usually matters for essays, articles, and limits.

Characters, with and without spaces

Two character counts are shown. One includes every character, spaces included — the figure that social platforms and SMS limits care about. The other strips spaces out, so you see just the letters, digits, and punctuation. Character counts are Unicode-aware, so an emoji or an accented letter counts as a single character.

Sentences and paragraphs

Sentences are counted by their endings — periods, question marks, and exclamation points — with a final unfinished line still counting as a sentence. Paragraphs are the blocks of text separated by blank lines. Together they give you a quick sense of structure, not just length.

Reading time

The reading-time estimate divides your word count by about 200 words a minute — a typical adult reading speed — and rounds up. It's a rough guide for talks, blog posts, and scripts, not an exact stopwatch, since real reading speed varies with the reader and the material.

Who uses a word counter

Students check essays against a minimum or maximum length. Writers and journalists keep articles within a brief. SEO and marketing people size up titles, meta descriptions, and ad copy against strict character limits. Translators and editors bill or plan by word count. Anyone drafting a social post wants to know if it fits before publishing. Because the counts are live, you can watch a sentence push you over or under a limit and adjust on the spot.

Works on your phone

The counter runs in your phone's browser with nothing to install. Paste text from an email, a notes app, or a message and read the counts straight away. Since everything happens locally, it works the same offline once the page has loaded, and even long passages count instantly.

Privacy: your text never leaves your device

Every count is calculated in your browser as you type. Your text is never uploaded, never stored on a server, and never seen by anyone but you. There's no account to create and nothing to delete afterwards, because nothing was ever sent. Paste sensitive material — a contract clause, an unpublished draft, private notes — with the same confidence as anything else.

Frequently asked questions

How are words counted?

As runs of non-space characters — anything separated by spaces, tabs, or line breaks counts as one word, the same way most word processors do it.

Why are there two character counts?

One includes spaces (useful for SMS and strict limits), the other removes them so you see just the letters, digits, and punctuation.

Is my text uploaded to a server?

No. Counting happens entirely in your browser as you type — your text never leaves your device, and nothing is stored or sent anywhere.