Free Word Counter
Count words, characters, sentences, and paragraphs as you type. Your text stays in this browser.
Why use a word counter?
Word counts help you shape social captions, school assignments, blog drafts, video descriptions, applications, and professional messages. Character counts are especially useful when a platform has a strict limit. This tool updates immediately so you can edit toward the target without leaving the page.
For accurate results, paste the final version you plan to publish. Multiple spaces are treated as one separator, while punctuation remains part of the original character count. Paragraphs are counted when text blocks are separated by a blank line.
Simple writing workflow
- Paste your draft into the editor.
- Check words and characters against the destination platform.
- Review sentence and paragraph counts for readability.
- Trim repeated phrases, then copy your finished text.
Common character and word limits
Different platforms enforce different limits, and this tool makes it easy to check your text against the most common ones before you hit publish.
- X (Twitter) — 280 characters per post.
- Instagram caption — up to 2,200 characters, though the first ~125 are what shows before "more."
- Instagram and TikTok bio — 150 characters.
- Meta description for SEO — roughly 150–160 characters to avoid truncation in search results.
- YouTube title — 100 characters, though under 60 usually displays fully in search.
- College application essays — often 500–650 words for the Common App personal statement.
Reading time and pacing
Word count is also a quick way to estimate reading time. Most adults read somewhere between 200 and 250 words per minute for casual content, so a 500-word blog post takes roughly two to two and a half minutes to read, while a 1,500-word article runs closer to six or seven minutes. Sentence and paragraph counts matter too: shorter sentences and more frequent paragraph breaks generally make text easier to skim on a phone screen, which is why many web-writing guides recommend keeping paragraphs to two or three sentences online.
Tips for trimming a draft to fit a limit
- Remove filler words like "very," "really," "just," and "actually" — they rarely change meaning.
- Combine short, choppy sentences that repeat the same idea.
- Replace long phrases with a single precise word where possible.
- Cut the opening sentence if it only restates the title.
- Read the final version out loud — awkward or overly long spots are usually easy to hear.
Word counter FAQs
Does this tool save my writing?
No. Counting happens in your browser and the page does not need a server to calculate the totals.
How are words counted?
Words are separated by whitespace. This gives a practical count for ordinary sentences, captions, notes, and drafts.
What counts as a paragraph?
A paragraph is a non-empty block separated from another block by a blank line.
Does this tool count hyphenated words as one or two?
A hyphenated word like "well-known" is counted as a single word, since there is no whitespace splitting it into separate parts.
Can I use this to check an essay's minimum word count?
Yes. Paste your essay in and compare the live word count against the assignment's minimum or maximum requirement before you submit it.
Why does my character count seem higher than expected?
Character counts include spaces and punctuation, not just letters, so a sentence with a lot of punctuation or spacing will have a higher character count than word count alone would suggest.