Word Counter: Complete Usage Guide
Count words, characters, sentences and reading time instantly for essays, posts and ad copy.
Open the toolPurpose
The Word Counter gives live counts for words, characters with and without spaces, sentences, paragraphs and estimated reading time. It exists for every situation where length is a hard constraint: university essays with strict limits, meta descriptions capped at 160 characters, ad headlines, social posts, and article briefs that specify a word target. Counting happens as you type, entirely in your browser, so unpublished drafts stay private.
How to use it
- 1Type or paste your text into the editor.
- 2Watch the counters update live above the text area.
- 3Use the character count when a platform enforces a character limit, and the word count for editorial targets.
- 4Check the reading-time estimate to see whether the piece matches its intended format.
Tips & tricks
- Character limits usually count spaces. Use the 'with spaces' figure unless the platform explicitly says otherwise.
- Reading time assumes roughly 200–250 words per minute for general audiences; technical content reads slower.
- Blog posts that rank for competitive queries usually run 1,000–2,000 words, but match the depth of what already ranks rather than a fixed target.
- For SEO work, the SEO Word Counter adds keyword-aware analysis on top of the raw counts.
- Paste as plain text if your source has formatting — hidden characters can distort counts.
Common errors and fixes
The count differs from Microsoft Word
Different tools treat hyphenated words, numbers and footnotes differently. Small variances are normal; check your institution's rule if the limit is strict.
Pasted text counts too high
Invisible formatting characters came along with the paste. Paste as plain text and re-check.
Sentence count looks wrong
Abbreviations like 'e.g.' and decimals contain full stops and can be read as sentence endings.