What it does
This tool counts the words, characters and sentences in whatever you type or paste, and estimates how long the text takes to read. The figures update as you type — there is no button to press, and your text never leaves your browser.
How it works
Each figure is counted with a simple, fixed rule:
- Words — the text is trimmed of surrounding spaces and split on every run of whitespace, so runs of spaces, tabs or line breaks count as a single gap. An empty box counts as zero words.
- Characters — the full length of the text, including spaces, punctuation and line breaks. This is the count most "character limit" rules use.
- Sentences — the text is split on runs of
.,!and?, and each non-empty piece counts as one sentence. A run such as?!or...ends a single sentence, and any trailing words with no closing mark still count as one sentence. - Reading time — the word count divided by 200 words per minute and rounded up, a common estimate for adult silent reading.
Worked example
Take the text The quick brown fox.. Splitting on spaces gives 4 words. Counting every position, including the spaces and the full stop, gives 20 characters. There is one closing full stop, so that is 1 sentence. At 200 words a minute the reading time rounds up to 1 min.
Common uses
- Essays and assignments — checking you are inside a "1,500 word" limit, or above a minimum.
- SEO and writing — keeping titles, meta descriptions and headings within their character budgets.
- Social posts — staying under a platform's character cap before you publish.
- Reading-time estimates — adding a "3 min read" label to an article, or judging how long a script runs.
Frequently asked
Does the character count include spaces?
Yes. The character figure counts every character in the box — letters, spaces, punctuation and line breaks. Most platforms that impose a character limit count spaces the same way.
How is the reading time calculated?
It divides the word count by 200 words per minute and rounds up to the next whole minute, so even a few words show as 1 min. Two hundred words a minute is a widely used average for adult silent reading; your own pace will vary with the material.
How do you decide where a sentence ends?
A sentence ends at a full stop, exclamation mark or question mark, and several of these in a row end just one sentence. This means abbreviations like "e.g." can read as an extra sentence — it is a fast, predictable rule rather than full grammatical parsing.
Do you store my text?
No. All the counting happens in your browser as you type. Nothing is uploaded, saved or sent to a server, so you can safely paste private or unpublished writing.