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Word Counter
Essays, job applications, captions, and briefs all come with limits. This word counter updates as you type—words, characters (with and without spaces), sentences, paragraphs, and a simple reading-time estimate.
Last reviewed July 30, 2026.
When to use this
- Staying inside a school or application word limit
- Checking character counts for titles and meta descriptions
- Estimating how long a draft will take to read aloud or skim
Worked example
The sentence “Hello world. This is a test.” counts as 6 words and 2 sentences. Reading time uses about 200 words per minute and rounds up to at least one minute when any text is present.
Common mistakes
- Assuming every platform counts characters the same way (some count newlines differently)
- Pasting rich text that includes hidden characters from Word or Google Docs
- Treating reading time as universal—speed varies by audience
How it works
Words are whitespace-separated tokens on trimmed text. Sentences follow simple punctuation boundaries. Reading time ≈ ceil(words ÷ 200), with a minimum of one minute when words > 0.
How to use
- Paste or type your text in the box.
- Watch the stats update live.
- Trim the draft until you hit your limit.
FAQ
How is reading time estimated?
About 200 words per minute, rounded up to at least one minute when there is any text.
Are hyphenated words one word or two?
Whitespace defines words, so “state-of-the-art” counts as one token unless spaces are present.
Is my text uploaded?
No. Counting runs locally in your browser.
Do multiple spaces create extra words?
No. Consecutive whitespace is treated as a single separator.
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