Word Counter Online
Paste or type any text to count words, characters, sentences, and paragraphs, with an estimated reading time.
- Words
- 0
- Characters
- 0
- Without spaces
- 0
- Sentences
- 0
- Paragraphs
- 0
- Reading time
- 0 min
How to Use the Word Counter
Paste or type your text into the box above. The counts update on every keystroke: words, characters with and without spaces, sentences, and paragraphs (blocks separated by a blank line). Reading time assumes 238 words per minute, the average silent reading speed for English non-fiction found in Marc Brysbaert's 2019 review of 190 studies.
Why Word and Character Counts Matter
Most writing you publish has a limit attached to it, and the limit is usually measured in characters rather than words. A page title gets cut off in Google results past roughly 60 characters. A meta description gets truncated past about 160. Email subject lines are safest under 50 so they survive mobile inboxes.
Word count matters for a different reason: it is how assignments, journals, and clients specify length. Knowing both numbers at once saves you from writing to the wrong target.
Common Length Limits Worth Knowing
| Where | Limit | Measured in |
|---|---|---|
| Google page title | ~60 | characters |
| Meta description | ~160 | characters |
| Email subject line | ~50 | characters |
| X (formerly Twitter) post | 280 | characters |
| Instagram caption | 2,200 | characters |
| LinkedIn post | 3,000 | characters |
| SMS message | 160 | characters |
| College essay (typical) | 500 to 650 | words |
How the Counter Handles Spaces and Punctuation
The character count includes spaces and punctuation, which is how most platforms count. Twitter, SMS, and meta description limits all count spaces, so the number shown here is the number that matters for those limits.
The word count treats any run of characters separated by whitespace as one word. Hyphenated compounds like "self-report" count as a single word, and numbers count as words.
Other Text Tools
Once your text is the right length, format it: use the title case converter for headlines, the sentence case converter for subheads and email subjects, or convert to UPPERCASE and lowercase. For URL slugs, replace spaces with hyphens.