How to Count Words and Characters Online for Free
Whether you're writing to a word limit, optimising a meta description, or billing by the word as a freelancer, accurate text statistics matter. This guide shows you how to get live word counts, character counts, reading times, and more — instantly, without installing anything.
What the Tool Counts
- Words — sequences of characters separated by whitespace
- Characters (total) — every character including spaces and punctuation
- Characters (no spaces) — useful for Twitter/X or SMS limits
- Sentences — split on full stops, question marks, and exclamation points
- Paragraphs — separated by blank lines
- Reading time — based on 200 words per minute (average adult reader)
- Speaking time — based on 130 words per minute (presentation pace)
Step-by-Step Instructions
Open the Word Counter
Navigate to the free Word Counter. Your text stays in your browser tab — it is never sent anywhere.
Paste or type your text
Click into the large text area and paste your content with Ctrl+V (Cmd+V on Mac), or type directly. All statistics update live with every keystroke.
View live word and character counts
The stats panel shows word count, character count (with and without spaces), sentence count, paragraph count, and line count — all in real time.
Check reading and speaking time
The estimated reading time (at 200 wpm) and speaking time (at 130 wpm) help you gauge whether your content fits a time slot or reader attention span.
Review the word frequency table
Scroll to the frequency table to see your top 10 most-used words (excluding common stop words). This helps identify keyword repetition or overused filler words.
Common Use Cases
- Essay word limits: Check you're within the 2,000-word submission limit before uploading
- Social media: Verify tweet length (280 chars) or LinkedIn post length before posting
- SEO meta descriptions: Keep descriptions under 160 characters for search engine display
- Freelance billing: Count words in translated documents for per-word invoicing
Count your words and characters now
Live stats, reading time, word frequency — 100% browser-based, no uploads, no account.
Open Word Counter