Word Counter & Character Counter
Count the words, characters, sentences, and paragraphs in any text instantly. Paste or type your text to see a live breakdown plus an estimated reading time — perfect for essays, articles, social posts, and SEO meta tags with strict character limits.
Formula reviewed for accuracy. Our methodology & sources
Word Counter
utility calculator
How It Works
The counter splits your text on whitespace to count words, measures its full length for characters (with and without spaces), and detects sentence-ending punctuation and line breaks to count sentences and paragraphs. Reading time assumes an average adult reading speed of about 200 words per minute. Because it counts both characters with and without spaces, it works equally well for Twitter/X posts, meta descriptions, and academic word limits.
Formula
Words = number of space-separated tokens Reading time = Words ÷ 200 words per minute
Examples
Check a tweet length
Counts characters so your post fits the platform limit.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between characters and characters without spaces?
"Characters" counts every character including spaces, tabs, and line breaks. "Characters (no spaces)" excludes all whitespace. Social platforms and SMS usually count all characters, while some academic limits count only visible characters.
How is reading time calculated?
Reading time divides the word count by an average reading speed of 200 words per minute. A 1,000-word article takes about 5 minutes to read.
How many words is a typical page?
A standard double-spaced page is roughly 250 words, and a single-spaced page about 500 words, depending on font and margins.
What is the ideal length for an SEO meta description?
Aim for about 150–160 characters so the full description shows in Google search results without being truncated.
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