Free Word Counter — Count Words, Characters & Reading Time
Count words, characters, sentences, paragraphs, and estimate reading time. Paste or type your text below for instant analysis.
About This Word Counter
Our word counter calculates the following statistics instantly as you type:
- Words: Total number of words (separated by spaces, including hyphenated words).
- Characters: Total character count including spaces and punctuation.
- Characters (no spaces): Character count excluding all whitespace.
- Sentences: Count of sentences based on punctuation (. ! ?).
- Paragraphs: Count of paragraph blocks separated by blank lines.
- Reading Time: Estimated at 200 words per minute (average adult reading speed).
Common Word Count Requirements
- Tweet: Up to 280 characters
- Instagram caption: Up to 2,200 characters
- Blog post: 1,000–2,500 words (for SEO)
- Short essay: 500–800 words
- College essay: Usually 250–650 words
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, 100% free with no sign-up required. There are no limits on how much text you can analyze.
No. All analysis happens locally in your browser. Your text never leaves your device or gets sent to any server.
Reading time is calculated at 200 words per minute, the widely cited average adult silent reading speed. It rounds up to the nearest minute.
Any sequence of characters separated by whitespace counts as a word, including hyphenated words like "well-known" which count as one word.