Word Counter & Character Count Tool

A word counter and character counter that updates as you type or paste, for essays, application answers, speeches and any text with a length limit. Next to characters with and without spaces it shows words, sentences, paragraphs, lines, UTF-8 bytes and estimated reading and speaking time. Set a limit and a bar shows how many characters or words are left or how far you are over. The text is counted on your device and never sent to a server.

How to use

1. Type or paste your text into "Text". The counts change at once; press "Load example" first if you want to see how they look.
2. Read the large "Characters" figure and the boxes beside it: "Without spaces", "Words", "Sentences", "Paragraphs" and "Lines".
3. If a form or database field limits size in bytes, check "Bytes (UTF-8)".
4. Under "Length limit", enter a number in "Limit" (for example 500) and pick "Characters", "Without spaces", "Words" or "Bytes (UTF-8)" as the "Count"; a bar shows what is left or how far you are over.
5. For a talk or a script, read "Speaking time"; for an article, "Reading time". Open "Reading and speaking speed" to change the rates.
6. Look at "Most used words" to spot words you repeat too often, then press "Copy" to take the text with you or "Clear" to delete it.

How it works

• Characters are counted as you see them, so an emoji, a flag or an accented letter is one character. "Without spaces" leaves out spaces, tabs and line breaks.
• Words are the pieces between spaces, so "well-known" and "2026" are one word each; Chinese, Japanese and Thai text is split into words by the browser.
• "Bytes (UTF-8)" counts 1 byte for each basic Latin letter, digit, space or line break, 2 for accented Latin letters, 3 for most Chinese, Japanese and Korean characters and 4 for most emoji.
• Reading time uses 238 words per minute, the average silent reading rate for English non-fiction in a 2019 review by Brysbaert; speaking time uses 150 words per minute, a common estimate for talks. Both can be changed.
• Sentences are found with the browser's built-in sentence rules, so an abbreviation such as "Dr." can occasionally be counted as a sentence end. Paragraphs are blocks separated by a blank line.
• Your text is never sent anywhere; it is saved automatically in this browser on this device only.

Character count with spaces vs without spaces

When a form, a scholarship essay or a job application says "500 characters" without saying whether spaces count, the real rule is whatever its own text box counts. Paste your text there and check the counter if it has one. If you cannot check, assume spaces count: that limit is stricter, so a text that fits it also fits a no-spaces limit.

The gap between the two numbers is simply the number of spaces and line breaks. The example text on this page has 284 characters with spaces and 228 without, a difference of 56, so in ordinary English prose the no-spaces count is roughly four fifths of the full count. Aim to fill most of a limit without going over, and keep an eye on the "Length limit" bar as you edit.

Why is the byte count different from the character count?

A byte count measures how much storage text takes, not how many characters you see. In UTF-8, the encoding used by almost every web page, plain English letters take 1 byte each, so for English text the two counts are usually equal. Other characters take more: "café 👍" is 6 characters but 10 bytes, because "é" takes 2 bytes and the emoji 4.

Byte limits still appear in database columns, some web forms and APIs, so a text that fits in characters can be rejected for being too large. If yours has a byte limit, set the "Count" to "Bytes (UTF-8)" and leave a little room, since some systems store line breaks as 2 bytes.

How long does it take to read or say 1,000 words?

At 238 words per minute, 1,000 words take about 4 minutes 12 seconds to read silently. Spoken at 150 words per minute, the same 1,000 words take about 6 minutes 40 seconds, so a 5-minute talk is roughly 750 words. Real speakers vary a lot, so read your script aloud for one minute, count the words and enter that number under "Speaking (words)".

This page does not count pages, because pages depend on font, size, margins and line spacing. A widely used rule of thumb is about 500 words per single-spaced page and 250 per double-spaced page in a 12-point font, which makes 1,000 words about two or four pages.

Questions and answers

Do spaces count as characters?

Yes in "Characters", no in "Without spaces". If a form does not say which it means, follow its own counter or stay under the stricter count with spaces.

Do line breaks count as characters?

Yes. Each line break counts as one character in "Characters" and is left out of "Without spaces".

How long does it take to read 1,000 words?

About 4 minutes at an average silent reading rate of 238 words per minute. Paste your text to see the time for its exact length.

How many words is a 5-minute speech?

About 750 words at 150 words per minute. Measure your own pace and change "Speaking (words)" for a closer estimate.

Does an emoji count as one character?

Yes, an emoji you see as one symbol counts as one character here. In bytes it is larger: most emoji take 4 bytes in UTF-8, and ones with a skin tone take 8.

Why is the byte count higher than the character count?

Because characters outside basic Latin take more than 1 byte in UTF-8. Accented letters take 2 bytes, most Asian characters 3 and most emoji 4.

Does the word counter count hyphenated words and numbers?

A hyphenated word such as "well-known" counts as one word, and a number such as "2026" also counts as one word. A dash standing alone between spaces is not counted.

How many pages is 1,000 words?

Roughly two single-spaced or four double-spaced pages in a 12-point font, by a common rule of thumb. This page does not count pages because fonts and margins vary.

Is my text sent anywhere?

No. All counting happens in the browser and the text is saved only on this device. On a shared computer, press "Clear" when you finish.