Online Word Counter + Reading Time
Online Word Counter
Count words, characters, sentences and paragraphs as you type, with reading and speaking time. Works with plain text, HTML and any language.
- Free, no sign-up
- Text or HTML
- Reading and speaking time
- Any language
Counts
- Unique words
- 0
- Words per sentence
- 0
- Longest sentence
- 0 words
Where it fits
| Limit | Used | Status |
|---|
Paste only your title or description to check it. For a full Google preview, use the SERP preview tool.
Counting happens in your browser. Your text is not sent anywhere.
Step by step
How to use the word counter
Paste or type your text
The counts update as you type. You can paste plain text, a Word or Google Docs document, or the HTML of a web page. Auto mode spots HTML for you, and the Text and HTML buttons let you choose.
Read the counts
Words, characters with and without spaces, sentences, paragraphs, and reading and speaking time are always visible. On a phone, a bar at the bottom of the screen keeps the word count in view while you type.
Set your pace and a goal
Change the reading and speaking speed to match your audience. Add a word goal to see how far you have to go, which helps with essays, briefs and guest posts that ask for a set length.
Check it fits
“Where it fits” compares your text with the limits of title tags, meta descriptions, X posts, SMS and social captions. Copy the counts when you need to report them.
Rules
How the word count is calculated
Word counters rarely agree with each other. We tested nine popular ones on the same paragraph and got anything from 25 to 29 words, because each tool treats hyphens, numbers and symbols a little differently. These are the rules this one follows, so you know exactly what you are getting.
| Count | How we count |
|---|---|
| Words | Anything between spaces that contains a letter or a number. e-commerce, don’t, 3.14, $1,299 and a URL each count as one word. A dash or an ampersand on its own does not count. |
| Chinese and Japanese | These languages are written without spaces, so the counter splits them into words with your browser’s built-in word list. The CJK characters count appears as well, because limits in these languages are often set in characters. |
| Characters | Counted the way you see them on screen, so an emoji or a letter with an accent is one character, even when it is stored as several code points. Spaces and line breaks are included. “No spaces” leaves them out. |
| Sentences | A sentence ends at a full stop, question mark or exclamation mark followed by a space, and at a line break. Decimals, prices, URLs, e.g. and titles like Dr. do not end a sentence. Text without a final full stop still counts. |
| Paragraphs | Every line that contains a word. A heading or a list item on its own line counts as a paragraph, as it does in Word. |
| HTML | Tags, scripts, styles and the head of the page are ignored. Headings, paragraphs, list items and table cells become separate lines, so you get the same counts as if you copied the text from the page. |
If you need to match a word count from Microsoft Word or Google Docs exactly, a difference of a few words usually comes from symbols standing on their own or from text in headers, footnotes and captions.
Reading and speaking
Reading time and speaking time
time = words ÷ words per minute
Reading time uses 238 words per minute by default. That figure comes from a 2019 review by Marc Brysbaert of 190 reading studies, which found adults read English non-fiction silently at about 238 words per minute and fiction at about 260. Speaking time uses 140 words per minute, a comfortable pace for a talk or a video. Your own pace may differ, so change either speed in the settings. To find your speaking speed, read a page aloud for one minute and count the words.
| Length | Example | Reading | Speaking |
|---|---|---|---|
| 300 words | a short news story | 1 min 16 sec | 2 min 9 sec |
| 1,000 words | a standard blog post | 4 min 12 sec | 7 min 9 sec |
| 2,000 words | a long guide | 8 min 24 sec | 14 min 17 sec |
| 5,000 words | a short e-book chapter | 21 min 1 sec | 35 min 43 sec |
For a speech, work backwards: five minutes at 140 words per minute is about 700 words, and ten minutes is about 1,400.
Character limits
Character limits the counter checks
| Where | Limit | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Title tag | About 600 pixels on desktop | Google shortens longer titles with an ellipsis |
| Meta description | About 960 pixels on desktop, 680 on mobile | Measured in pixels, not characters |
| X post | 280 | Links count as 23, emoji and Chinese or Japanese characters as 2 |
| SMS | 160, or 70 with special characters | Longer messages are split into parts |
| YouTube title | 100 characters | |
| Instagram caption | 2,200 characters | |
| LinkedIn post | 3,000 characters |
Google measures titles and descriptions in pixels, so a title full of wide letters like W and M runs out of room sooner than one with narrow letters. The counter measures the pixel width the same way the SERP preview tool does. Platform limits can change, so check the platform’s own help pages before a big campaign.
For SEO
Using the word count for SEO
Word count is not a ranking factor, and Google has said so more than once. Length matters only because covering a topic properly takes a certain number of words. A better guide than any fixed number is the pages that already rank for your keyword: check the length of the top results and aim to answer the question at least as fully.
Once the length is right, check that the page uses the words people search for. The keyword density checker shows every word and phrase in your text, and where your target keyword appears.
FAQ
Questions about the tool
Do hyphenated words count as one word?
Yes. e-commerce, well-known and mother-in-law each count as one word, the same as in Microsoft Word. A dash with spaces around it is not counted as a word.
Do numbers, URLs and emoji count as words?
Numbers and URLs count as one word each. An emoji on its own is not counted as a word, but it is counted as one character.
Why is my count different from Word or Google Docs?
Each program has slightly different rules for symbols, and Word and Docs can include text in headers, footnotes or text boxes. The rules above show exactly how this counter works, so you can see where a difference of a few words comes from.
Can I paste HTML?
Yes. In Auto or HTML mode the counter reads the text the way a visitor sees it, ignoring tags, scripts and styles. Switch to Text if you want the code itself counted.
How many words is a 5-minute speech?
About 700 words at 140 words per minute. Fast speakers reach 160, which makes it about 800 words. Set your own pace in the settings and the speaking time updates.
Does it work for other languages?
Yes. Latvian, German and other languages with accented letters are counted correctly, and Chinese and Japanese text is split into words even though it has no spaces.
Is my text saved or sent anywhere?
No. Everything is counted in your browser. If you tick “Keep my text in this browser”, the text is saved on your own device so it is still there when you come back. Untick it or press Clear to remove it.
Why does the keyword density checker show a different word total?
The keyword density checker splits text into words for counting phrases, so it reads 3.14 as two numbers and skips URLs. The word counter follows word processor rules. For words and normal punctuation both tools give the same result.