About the Word Counter
This word counter shows the number of words, characters with and without spaces, lines, paragraphs and estimated reading time as you type. It is handy for essays, college applications, social media posts and meta descriptions with a word or character limit. Turn on the character limit to see how much room you have left.
How to use
- Paste your text into the box above or start typing.
- Read the word and character counts below. They update with every keystroke.
- If you have a limit, tick Character limit and enter the number to see how many characters are left.
- Your text is saved automatically in this browser, so you can close the tab and come back later.
Common length limits
| Where | Limit |
|---|---|
| X (Twitter) post | 280 characters |
| Meta description (Google) | about 155โ160 characters |
| Instagram caption | 2,200 characters |
| Common App personal essay | 650 words |
| SMS (one message) | 160 characters (70 with emoji or non-Latin text) |
How reading time is estimated
Reading time is the word count divided by 238 words per minute, the average silent reading speed of adults for non-fiction. Speaking a text out loud is slower, at roughly 130โ150 words per minute.
FAQ
Do line breaks count as characters?
Yes. In the character count with spaces, each line break counts as one character. The count without spaces ignores spaces, tabs and line breaks.
Is my text stored anywhere?
No. Nothing is sent to a server. The text is saved only in your own browser, and the Clear button deletes it.
How are emoji counted?
Each emoji you see counts as one character, even emoji made of several code points such as ๐๐ป or family emoji.
How are words counted in Japanese or Chinese text?
These languages donโt use spaces between words, so the counter uses your browserโs built-in word segmentation to estimate the number of words.