Word Counter
A word counter that reads your text live and reports words, characters, characters without spaces, sentences, paragraphs and an estimated reading time at roughly 200 words per minute.
Count words and characters.
How to use Word Counter
- Type or paste your text into the box
- Read the live word, character, sentence, and paragraph counts
- Check the estimated reading time for your content
About Word Counter
Word Counter reads whatever you type or paste and recounts it on every keystroke. It shows words, characters with spaces, characters without spaces, sentences, paragraphs and estimated reading time in one live grid. A word is any run of non-whitespace characters, so "well-known" is one word, "3.5%" is one word and a URL is one word; Characters (no spaces) strips every space and line break first, which is the figure most character limits actually measure.
Most people land here to check a limit before they submit. Paste a 500-word college essay, a 300-word abstract, a 150-character meta description or a 2,200-character Instagram caption, watch the count, trim, and the numbers move as you edit. Because it counts anything you paste, it doubles as a word counter for text lifted out of Google Docs, Microsoft Word or a PDF: copy the passage in and you get an independent tally without opening the original app. Counts use thousands separators, so a 12,480-word manuscript stays readable at a glance.
Two things to know. The sentence counter is a plain punctuation split, so abbreviations like "e.g." and decimals like "3.14" each add an extra sentence, so treat that number as a close estimate. And for languages written without spaces, such as Japanese or Chinese, a whole run of characters reads as a single word, so lean on the character count there instead. Word and character counts for spaced text are exact. Everything runs in your browser as you type; nothing is uploaded, and the text is gone the moment you close the tab.
Frequently asked questions
- How many words is one page?
- A single-spaced page in a 12-point font holds roughly 500 words; double-spaced, about 250. Paste your text here and divide the word count by those figures to estimate page length.
- Does it count hyphenated words as one word?
- Yes. The counter treats any unbroken run of non-space characters as a word, so "mother-in-law" and "well-known" each count once. Microsoft Word counts them the same way.
- Do numbers, emojis and URLs count as words?
- Yes. Anything separated by spaces or line breaks counts, so "2026", a single emoji and "https://example.com/page" are each one word.
- How do I count words in Google Docs?
- In Google Docs open Tools then Word count, or press Ctrl+Shift+C (Cmd+Shift+C on a Mac) to keep a running total on screen. Or paste the same text here for the word count plus characters, sentences and reading time without switching apps.
- Why does my word count differ from Google Docs or Word?
- The main differences are punctuation and dashes. This tool counts a spaced dash ("word — word") as a word, while some editors ignore standalone punctuation. On a long document the gap is usually only a handful of words.
- How do I see the word count in Microsoft Word?
- In Word the live count sits in the status bar along the bottom of the window, and Review then Word Count opens the full breakdown. Pasting the same text here adds characters with and without spaces plus reading time alongside the word total.
- Can I use this instead of Grammarly's word count?
- Yes. Grammarly shows words and characters in the corner of its editor, and this tool gives the same live word and character count for any text you paste. There is no account to create and no browser extension to install.
- Can I use this as a word counter for essays?
- Yes. Paste your essay, compare the word count against the assignment's limit, and trim or expand until it fits. The paragraph and reading-time figures help you gauge length for a 500-word or 1,000-word requirement.
- Can it count the words in a PDF?
- It counts text you paste in rather than reading the PDF file itself. Open the PDF, select and copy the passage you want, then paste it here for the word and character count. A scanned PDF with no selectable text won't copy, so nothing to count.
- Does it count Japanese or Chinese characters?
- It splits on spaces, so a Japanese or Chinese sentence written without spaces registers as a single word. For those languages use the character count instead, since that reflects the real length of the text.
- How are sentences counted?
- Text is split wherever a period, question mark or exclamation mark ends a run of text. Abbreviations such as "Dr." or "e.g." and decimals like "1.5" trigger extra splits, so the sentence count can run slightly high.
- How is reading time calculated?
- Word count divided by 200 words per minute, rounded up to the next whole minute. A 450-word article shows 3 min; a 30-word note shows 1 min.
- Does the character count include spaces?
- Both figures are shown. Characters includes spaces and line breaks, which is what Twitter/X, meta descriptions and most form limits measure. Characters (no spaces) removes every whitespace character.
- Is my text saved or sent anywhere?
- No. Counting happens in the page as you type and the text is discarded when you close or refresh the tab. Nothing is stored, so pasting an unpublished draft or a confidential document is fine.