About the Word Counter
Writers, students and marketers often have to hit an exact length: a 500-word essay, a 160-character meta description or a 280-character post. This word counter updates the totals instantly as you type or paste, and it also estimates how long the text takes to read and to say out loud. Everything runs inside your browser — your text is never uploaded, saved or shared.
How to use the Word Counter
- Type in the box, or paste text copied from Word, Google Docs, an email or a web page.
- Watch the word, character, sentence and paragraph totals update as you write.
- Check the "Common limits" panel to see if you are within the length for your platform.
- Use "Most used words" to spot repetition before you submit or publish.
The formula behind it
How words and characters are counted
A word is any run of letters or numbers. Contractions such as "don’t" and hyphenated words such as "well-known" count as one word, matching how Microsoft Word and Google Docs count. Characters include spaces and punctuation; the "no spaces" figure removes all spaces, tabs and line breaks. Paragraphs are separated by a blank line.
Typical length limits
Platforms and assignments set different limits. Some common ones:
- X (Twitter) post: 280 characters for standard accounts.
- Search result meta description: around 150–160 characters before Google truncates it.
- Instagram caption: 2,200 characters.
- Common App personal essay: 650 words.
- LinkedIn post: 3,000 characters.
Examples
Speech planning
A 750-word speech takes about 5 minutes to deliver at a typical pace of 150 words per minute.
Blog post
A 1,500-word article takes the average reader roughly 6 minutes 18 seconds to read.
Frequently asked questions
Is my text saved anywhere?
No. The counting happens in your browser. Nothing you type is sent to our servers or stored.
Why is my count slightly different from Microsoft Word?
Tools treat edge cases such as dashes, URLs and numbers with symbols slightly differently. The difference is usually only a word or two.
How is reading time calculated?
We divide the word count by 238 words per minute, the average adult silent reading speed found in a 2019 review of 190 studies.
Does it work with other languages?
Yes for languages that separate words with spaces, including accented Latin, Cyrillic and Arabic scripts. Languages written without spaces, such as Chinese or Japanese, are not counted word by word.
Sources
- Brysbaert, M. (2019). How many words do we read per minute? Journal of Memory and Language, 109. — Average silent reading speed of 238 words per minute for non-fiction.
About the author: Ahmed Bilal
Ahmed Bilal is the founder of VolexTool and builds and maintains every calculator on the site. Tax rates and thresholds are taken directly from official sources such as GOV.UK, HMRC, the Canada Revenue Agency and the Australian Taxation Office, the formula is shown on every page, and each update must pass more than 600 automated checks before it goes live. Ahmed is not a tax adviser: for decisions about your own situation, speak to a qualified accountant or financial adviser.