Word Counter
Paste or type below. Words, characters, sentences, paragraphs and reading time update as you type, and the text never leaves your browser.
Runs entirely in your browser. Your text is not uploaded.
Counts
| Words | 0 |
| Characters | 0 |
| Characters without spaces | 0 |
| Sentences | 0 |
| Paragraphs | 0 |
| Unique words | 0 |
| Average word length | 0.0 |
| Average sentence length | 0 words |
| Reading time (238 wpm) | 0 sec |
| Speaking time (183 wpm) | 0 sec |
How to use the word counter
- Paste your text or start typing in the box.
- Read the live counts in the bar under the box and the table beside it.
- Set a word goal if you are writing to a limit; the bar turns plum-red when you go over.
Word limits you might be writing to
Common targets: a 280-character post on X is roughly 40 to 55 words; the Common App personal essay allows 650 words; a UCAS personal statement is capped at 4,000 characters, which is why the character counter sits next door. Academic abstracts usually run 150 to 250 words.
If you need to compare two drafts rather than count one, textdiff.io shows the differences line by line.
Questions
How does the word counter decide what a word is?
A word is any run of characters between spaces that contains at least one letter or digit, so "state-of-the-art" is one word, "2026" is one word and a lone dash is not a word. Chinese, Japanese and Thai have no spaces, so those scripts are split with the browser's built-in word segmenter instead.
Why does my word processor show a slightly different number?
Each program has its own rules for dashes, URLs, numbers and footnotes. Microsoft Word, for example, counts an em dash between two words with no spaces as joining them into one word. Differences of one or two per cent are normal.
How is reading time calculated?
We divide the word count by 238 words per minute, the average silent reading speed for English non-fiction found in Marc Brysbaert's 2019 meta-analysis of 190 studies. Speaking time uses 183 words per minute from the same paper.
Is there a word counter in Microsoft Word and Google Docs?
Yes. Word shows the count in the status bar at the bottom (click it for characters and paragraphs) or under Review > Word Count. Google Docs uses Tools > Word count, or Ctrl+Shift+C (Cmd+Shift+C on a Mac), and can show a live count while you type.
Can ChatGPT count words accurately?
Not reliably. Language models read text as tokens, not words, so their counts are often off, especially for long texts. A deterministic counter like this one gives the same exact answer every time.
How many pages is my word count?
Roughly 500 words per page single spaced and 250 double spaced in 12 pt Times New Roman. The words to pages converter adjusts for font, size and spacing.
Is my text uploaded anywhere?
No. Counting happens in JavaScript on your device. Nothing is sent to a server unless you choose to keep a copy in this browser's local storage, and you can clear that at any time.