Steps
- Open the Word Counter.
- Paste or type your text.
- Read words, characters, sentences and reading time live.
- Trim or expand to hit your target (e.g. 500-word essay).
Common limits cheat-sheet
- Tweet/X post — 280 characters
- Meta description — ~155 characters
- College essay — 500-650 words
- Blog post — 1,000-2,000 words
Related tools
- Word Counter — live counts.
- Case Converter — fix capitalization.
- Text Tools — clean and format text.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I count words online?
Paste text into the free Word Counter — words, characters, sentences update live as you type.
Does it count characters with and without spaces?
Yes. Both counts are shown, plus sentences, paragraphs and reading time.
What is the reading time based on?
Average adult reading speed (~200-250 words per minute).
Is there a word limit?
No. Paste essays, blogs or full documents — counting runs locally in your browser.
Is my text uploaded?
No. Everything runs locally — your text never leaves your device.