Word & Character Counter
Paste your writing and see every count at once: words, characters, characters without spaces, sentences, paragraphs, lines, and how long it takes to read or say out loud.
Updated 12 Aug 2026
0
Words
0
Characters
0
Without spaces
0
Sentences
0
Paragraphs
0
Lines
1 sec
Reading time
200 words/min
1 sec
Speaking time
130 words/min
About the Word & Character Counter
This is a plain counter, not an editor: no grammar suggestions, no rewriting, no account. It runs entirely in your browser, updates as you type, and the reading and speaking time estimates are clearly labelled with the words-per-minute assumption behind them (200 for reading, 130 for speaking) rather than presented as a measurement of you specifically.
Step by step
How to use the Word & Character Counter
Type your text, pick a style, copy it, and paste it wherever you want word and character counter.
Type your text
Type or paste your text into the box at the top of the page. Every style updates live as you type, so you are previewing your own words rather than a sample.
Pick a style
Scroll the list and find a style you like. Use the search box to filter by name, or the "only styles people can still search for" toggle if the text needs to stay findable.
Copy it
Press Copy on that style. The styled text goes to your clipboard exactly as shown, including any spacing or marks.
Paste it
Paste it wherever you need it. Because the styling is built from real Unicode characters, it travels with the text into apps that give you no font settings of their own.
Get it right
Tips and common mistakes
Tips
- Sentence and paragraph counts here are pattern-based, not a grammar check: a sentence ends at a period, question mark, or exclamation point followed by a space, and a paragraph is text separated by a blank line. An abbreviation like "Dr." or "e.g." can occasionally be miscounted as a sentence break, the same limitation every simple counter has.
- For a length limit on a specific platform (an Instagram caption, a Discord bio), use the Character Limit Checker instead: it checks against that field's own documented number rather than a general count.
- Reading time assumes silent reading at a steady pace. A technical document with unfamiliar terms, or content meant to be skimmed, will not match the estimate closely, since it is a rough guide rather than a promise.
Keep going
Related tools
Other generators people use alongside the Word & Character Counter.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is word count calculated?
Text is split on whitespace (spaces, tabs, line breaks), and each resulting chunk counts as one word. A hyphenated word like "well-known" counts as one word; an em-dash-separated pair without a space would too, since there is no space to split on.
Are spaces counted as characters?
The main Characters count includes spaces and line breaks, matching how most platform limits are stated (a platform's own counter almost always counts every character you typed, including the newline when you press Enter). The Without Spaces figure is shown separately for anyone who needs the letters-and-punctuation-only count, such as a strict field that specifically excludes whitespace from its limit.
Why does this tool show a different character count than another counter for the same text?
Almost always because of line breaks, not a bug in either tool. Some counters include every line break in the character total; others exclude them, or only count them between paragraphs. Paste a multi-paragraph document into two counters and the gap you see is usually close to the number of line breaks in the text: this tool always counts them, since that matches how a platform's own character limit is actually enforced. If the gap is larger than your line-break count, check for a stray space or an extra blank line at the very start or end of the pasted text, which is easy to miss and easy for one browser tab to keep while another drops it.
What is reading time, and how is it calculated?
An estimate of how long the text takes to read silently, based on 200 words per minute, a commonly cited average for adult silent reading. Word count divided by 200 gives minutes; under a minute, the result is shown in seconds instead. Actual reading speed varies by person and by how dense the text is.
Is the Word & Character Counter free to use?
Yes. The Word & Character Counter is completely free with no sign-up, no watermarks, and no limits on how much text you convert or how many times you copy it.