Word Counter
Count words, characters, sentences, paragraphs, and estimate reading time.
What is Word Counter?
Word Counter is a free online tool that instantly analyzes your text to provide word count, character count, sentence count, paragraph count, and estimated reading time. It's useful for writers, students, and anyone who needs to meet specific length requirements for essays, articles, social media posts, or SEO content.
How to Use
- Type or paste your text into the text area above.
- View real-time statistics including words, characters, sentences, and paragraphs.
- Check the estimated reading time, calculated at an average pace of 200 words per minute.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is reading time calculated?
Reading time is estimated at approximately 200 words per minute, which is the average adult silent reading speed. The minimum displayed is 1 minute. This rate accounts for general comprehension of non-technical content. For technical or academic writing, actual reading time may be 25-50% longer due to increased cognitive load and re-reading.
What counts as a word?
A word is any sequence of non-whitespace characters separated by spaces, tabs, or line breaks. Hyphenated words like "well-known" count as one word. Numbers, URLs, and email addresses each count as a single word regardless of length. This matches the behavior of most word processors like Microsoft Word and Google Docs.
Does it count characters with and without spaces?
Yes. The tool shows both total characters (including spaces and line breaks) and characters without any whitespace, which is useful for platforms with strict character limits. For example, Twitter/X counts all characters including spaces (280 limit), while some SMS systems only count non-space characters. The dual count helps you optimize for either scenario.
