Word counter

How the counts work

Words

A run of letters or digits. Contractions such as “don’t” and web addresses such as example.com each count as one word; a hyphenated term such as “well-known” counts as two.

Characters

Every letter, digit, space, line break and punctuation mark. An emoji counts as one or more, depending on how it is built. “Without spaces” leaves out spaces, tabs and line breaks.

Sentences

Counted with your browser’s language rules, so “Dr. Lee arrived at 3.30 p.m.” is one sentence, not four.

Paragraphs

Blocks of text separated by a blank line.

How is reading time worked out?

Reading time assumes 238 words a minute, an average for adults reading English silently. Speaking time assumes 150 words a minute, a comfortable presentation pace. Both are estimates: dense or technical text takes longer.

Why do some sites count differently?

The limits shown are simple character counts. Some services count in their own way: X counts every link as 23 characters and some emoji as two, and an SMS with characters outside the basic alphabet holds 70, not 160. Use these as a guide and check the final count where you post.

Is my text uploaded?

No. Counting runs in your browser tab. Your text is not sent to a server or stored, and this page loads no ads.

Related tools

Fix capitalisation with the case converter, compare two drafts in the diff checker, or browse all utilities.