Word Counter
Paste or type below — counts update live. Your text stays on your device.
When exact counts matter
Word and character limits are everywhere: college essays (often 250–650 words), meta descriptions (~155 characters), X posts (280 characters), LinkedIn summaries, grant applications, and abstract submissions. This counter gives you the numbers editors and forms actually check, updated on every keystroke rather than after an upload.
Worked example
The paragraph above is a typical "short answer" length: about 45 words in two sentences — roughly a 12-second read. A 650-word college essay reads in just under 3 minutes, which is why admissions guidance keeps essays near that ceiling.
Frequently asked questions
How are words counted?
Words are sequences of letters or numbers separated by spaces or punctuation. Hyphenated words like 'mother-in-law' count as one word; contractions like "don't" count as one word too. This matches how most word processors count.
Is my text uploaded anywhere?
No. The counting happens entirely in your browser with JavaScript — nothing you type or paste is sent to our servers, stored, or logged. Close the tab and it's gone.
How is reading time estimated?
We divide the word count by an average adult silent-reading speed of 225 words per minute. Technical or dense material reads slower; light fiction reads faster — treat it as a good baseline, not a stopwatch.
What counts as a sentence?
Text ending with a period, question mark, or exclamation point followed by a space or the end of the text. Abbreviations can occasionally over-count — for prose the estimate is reliable.