Word & Character Counter

This word and character counter updates live as you type or paste, breaking your text into eight figures at once: words, characters (with and without spaces), sentences, paragraphs, unique words, and estimated reading and speaking time. It is built for the moment you are up against a limit — an essay word count, a meta description, a tweet, or a speech that has to fit a time slot.

The counting rules are straightforward. A word is any unbroken run of non-space characters, so hyphenated and contracted words count as one. Characters are counted both ways so you can match either kind of limit. A sentence is a stretch ending in a full stop, question mark, exclamation mark or ellipsis; a paragraph is a block separated by a blank line; and "unique words" ignores case, so "The" and "the" are the same word.

Reading time assumes an average silent reading speed of about 200 words per minute, while speaking time uses roughly 130 words per minute — a comfortable pace for a talk or voiceover. Everything happens in your browser as you type: your text is never uploaded, stored or sent anywhere, so it is safe to paste drafts, private notes or unpublished work.