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Word Counter

Count words, characters, sentences and reading time live as you type — nothing uploaded.

Privacy: your files never leave your device. All processing happens locally in your browser.

How to use

  1. 1.Type directly or paste your text into the box — counting starts instantly, no button to press.
  2. 2.Read the live stats: words, characters with and without spaces, sentences, paragraphs and reading time.
  3. 3.Edit down or add until you hit your target, then click Clear to start over. Your text never leaves your browser.

About Word Counter

A word counter is one of the most-used writing tools on the web, and this one is built to be instant, private, and precise. The moment you start typing or paste text into the box above, it counts six things at once: words, characters (with spaces), characters without spaces, sentences, paragraphs, and estimated reading time. Nothing is uploaded — every calculation happens locally in your browser, so even a 50,000-word manuscript stays entirely on your device.

Why so many writers keep a word counter open: almost every place you publish enforces a limit. A post on X caps at 280 characters. A meta description that Google displays comfortably sits around 150–160 characters. An Instagram caption allows 2,200 characters, a LinkedIn post 3,000. Academic essays and applications are usually specified in words — 500-word statements, 650-word Common App essays, 1,500–2,500-word term papers. Seeing the live count as you write means you never paste your work into a submission box only to be told it is 40 words too long.

How the counts are calculated. Words are counted by splitting your text on any run of whitespace, which matches how Google Docs and Microsoft Word report word count for ordinary prose. Characters with spaces is the raw length — the number publishers and SMS gateways actually enforce. Characters without spaces strips every space, tab and line break, which is the figure most academic style guides use. Sentences are detected by terminal punctuation (. ! ?), and paragraphs by blank lines, so pasted articles report sensible structure. Reading time assumes an average adult silent reading speed of about 200 words per minute — the widely cited benchmark — and rounds up to the next whole minute.

Common uses. Students check essay and dissertation limits. Bloggers and SEO specialists keep titles and meta descriptions inside Google's display width and aim for content depth. Social media managers fit copy to each platform's ceiling. Authors track daily writing goals and chapter length. Translators and copywriters scope work by word count. Anyone editing down a bloated draft can watch the number fall in real time.

Privacy by design. Because the tool is pure client-side JavaScript, your text is never transmitted, logged, or stored. There is no sign-up, no watermark, and no cap on how much text you can analyze. Close the tab and nothing remains.

Tips. Paste rich text and only the words are counted — formatting is ignored. Use the reading-time figure when writing scripts or speeches: a 5-minute talk is roughly 750 words. For SEO, keep page titles near 60 characters and meta descriptions near 155 so they are not truncated in search results.

Frequently asked questions

Is this word counter free and unlimited?
Yes. It runs entirely in your browser, so there are no server costs, no sign-up, no watermark, and no limit on how much text you can paste.
Are my documents uploaded anywhere?
No. All counting happens locally with JavaScript. Your text is never sent to a server, logged, or stored — close the tab and nothing remains.
How is the word count calculated?
Words are counted by splitting on whitespace, the same way Word and Google Docs count prose. Reading time assumes about 200 words per minute and rounds up to the next minute.

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