Word and Character Counter
Paste or type your text and the numbers appear instantly: words, characters, sentences, paragraphs, reading time and the words you repeat most. Nothing leaves your browser.
Educational use: results are estimates made for study and reference. Checking the answer and deciding what to do with it is the sole responsibility of whoever uses the tool. Read the legal notice.
On this page
- How it works
- Practical examples
- Reference limits and sizes
- How each number is calculated
- Where counting tends to mislead
- The path from text to numbers
- Why every program counts differently
- Questions about counting text
- When a counter helps
- Counting what you write: from the lauda to the browser
- Writing and editing terms
- Fun facts
- Other tools
How it works
- Paste or type your text in the box. There is no button to click: the count updates with every letter.
- Read the numbers. The highlight is the total word count. Right below are characters (with and without spaces), sentences, paragraphs, lines and the estimated reading and speaking times.
- See the words you repeat most. The list ignores short words and connectors, such as "of," "the" and "and," and shows terms of 3 or more letters that appear more than once. It is a good way to catch writing tics.
- Clear whenever you want to start another text.
Your text never leaves your device. The counting happens in the browser itself, which is why it works even with a poor connection, and why you can use it for personal drafts without worry.
Practical examples
1. A short sentence
Text: The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
2. Hyphenated words
"T-shirt" counts as one word, and so does "ex-student." But "and/or" counts as two.
3. Reading time of an article
A text of 500 words.
4. A thousand-word speech
This is the kind of calculation that helps you rehearse presentations and videos with a time limit.
5. Character limit
You wrote a notice of 142 characters and want to send it as a traditional text message (SMS), which has a limit of 160 per message in the standard alphabet. It fits, with 18 to spare. But watch out: if the text has accented letters outside the standard set or emojis, the limit can drop to 70.
Reference limits and sizes
These numbers change over time and vary with the plan or app, so always check each platform's current rules. Use them as a starting point:
| Where | Usual limit or size |
|---|---|
| SMS (standard alphabet) | 160 characters per message (70 with special characters) |
| Page title for search engines | around 60 characters |
| Page description for search engines | around 150 to 160 characters |
| YouTube video title | up to 100 characters |
| Instagram caption | up to 2,200 characters |
| Standard post on X (Twitter) | 280 characters |
| LinkedIn post | up to 3,000 characters |
| Type of text | Length that usually works |
|---|---|
| Concise email | 50 to 150 words |
| Scientific paper abstract | 150 to 250 words |
| Blog post | 800 to 2,000 words, depending on the topic |
| 5-minute speech | about 650 words |
How each number is calculated
- Words: sequences of letters or numbers separated by spaces and punctuation. Hyphens and apostrophes inside a word keep it as one.
- Characters with spaces: everything typed, including spaces, symbols and line breaks.
- Characters without spaces: the same, minus spaces, tabs and line breaks.
- Sentences: stretches of text ending in a period, exclamation mark, question mark or ellipsis.
- Paragraphs: blocks of text separated by one or more blank lines.
Estimated time
speaking time = words ÷ 130result in minutes (words per minute)
Adults silently read ordinary text at somewhere between 200 and 300 words per minute, and we use 200 to stay on the conservative side. Out loud, a comfortable presentation pace is in the range of 120 to 150 words per minute, and we use 130. These are averages: technical texts, beginner readers and specific audiences have different paces.
Where counting tends to mislead
Comparing counts from different programs
Text editors, social networks and forms do not agree on what a "word" or a "character" is. If there is an official limit, check the count in the actual system that will receive the text.
Forgetting spaces and line breaks
Many limits count spaces and even line breaks. The "without spaces" version is usually used in specific contexts, such as some competitions and translation services.
Emojis and special characters
Some systems count an emoji as 2 characters or more. In this tool, the count follows the browser's standard, and it may differ from what the destination platform applies.
Text copied from PDFs
PDFs often insert line breaks in the middle of sentences and hyphenate words at the end of a line, which changes the line count and sometimes the word count. If the text came from a PDF, it is worth cleaning it up first.
Treating reading time as a fixed rule
The time is an estimate. Texts with lots of numbers, technical terms, tables or formulas take longer to read than the calculation suggests.
The path from text to numbers
Why every program counts differently
The counts follow the criteria described on this page and may differ slightly from those of text editors, spreadsheets, social networks and submission systems. When there is a limit that really matters (a competition, an official form, a publishing platform), confirm the count in the destination system.
Reading and speaking times are estimates based on averages. The text you type is processed only in your browser and is not stored, but remember that what you write and how you use it is your responsibility.
Bottom line: this tool is educational. Results do not replace your own checking, and how you use them is entirely your responsibility. More details in the legal notice.
Questions about counting text
How do I count the words in a text?
Paste the text in the box above and the total appears instantly, along with characters, sentences, paragraphs and estimated times.
What is the difference between characters with and without spaces?
"With spaces" counts everything typed, including spaces. "Without spaces" ignores spaces, tabs and line breaks. Each platform's limit defines which one it uses.
Do hyphenated words count as one or two?
As one. "T-shirt" and "ex-student" are single words in this tool's count.
How is reading time calculated?
By dividing the number of words by 200 (words per minute). It is an average: the real pace varies with the reader and the type of text.
How many words are in a lauda?
It depends on the publisher. A lauda (a standard manuscript page used in Brazil) is commonly taken as 1,400 characters with spaces, which works out to around 200 to 250 words.
Is my text saved or sent anywhere?
No. The counting happens in your browser, and the text is neither sent nor stored. When you close or refresh the page, it disappears.
Why does the count differ from Word or Google Docs?
Each program has its own criteria for what a word is and how to treat symbols, numbers and hyphens. Small differences are normal.
How does the tool count sentences?
It treats a stretch of text as a sentence when it ends in a period, exclamation mark, question mark or ellipsis. Abbreviations with periods can cause extra counts.
Do emojis count as one character?
It depends. Some systems count an emoji as 2 or more characters. If you have a strict limit, check it on the destination platform.
Is there a size limit for the text?
There is no fixed limit, but extremely long texts can slow the page down on older devices. For entire books, use a text editor instead.
When a counter helps
- Essays and academic papers: meeting the minimum and maximum number of words or characters.
- Social media and ads: fitting within limits for titles, captions and descriptions.
- Websites and SEO: adjusting titles and descriptions to the length that search engines display.
- Presentations and videos: estimating how long a script will take.
- Translation and proofreading: many services charge by the word or by the character.
- Creative writing: tracking daily word goals.
- Text editing: finding words that are repeated too often.
Counting what you write: from the lauda to the browser
Before computers, people writing for newspapers and publishers had to report the length of their texts another way: in laudas (a Portuguese term), standardized sheets of paper with a fixed number of lines and characters. A lauda usually works out to around 1,400 characters with spaces, although each publisher has its own. It was the yardstick journalism used for decades, and many delivery deadlines are still stated that way in Brazil.
With word processors, counting words became a single click. The slight variation in criteria between programs, such as what counts as a word and how to treat numbers and hyphens, shows that even a task this simple depends on definitions.
Writing and editing terms
- Character
- Each individual symbol in a text: a letter, number, punctuation mark or space.
- Word
- A continuous sequence of letters or numbers, bounded by spaces and punctuation.
- Paragraph
- A block of text separated from the others by a blank line.
- Lauda
- A standard sheet of text used in Brazil to measure the length of manuscripts; usually about 1,400 characters.
- Words per minute (wpm)
- A measure of reading or speaking pace.
- Writing tic
- A word or construction repeated to excess, which tires the reader.
- Character limit
- The maximum length allowed for a text in a given system.
Fun facts
- Portuguese tends to use more characters per word than English, so the same content translated from English into Portuguese usually takes up more space.
- Shorter texts are not always better, and neither are longer ones. What matters is saying what needs to be said. But knowing the length helps you calibrate.
- The most repeated word in ordinary writing is almost always a connector ("the," "of," "and"). That is why the tool ignores them in the repeated-words list.