Word Counter

What does a word counter measure?

A word counter tells you how long a piece of writing really is. Editors commission articles by word count, universities set essay limits, and SEO briefs usually ask for a target length based on the pages that already rank. Counting by hand is slow and error-prone; a counter gives you the number instantly and keeps it up to date while you edit.

This tool counts words (runs of letters and digits — "don't", "well-known" and "1,200" each count as one word), characters with and without spaces, sentences, paragraphs and unique words. It also estimates reading time at about 238 words per minute, the average silent reading speed for adult English non-fiction, and speaking time at about 150 words per minute, a typical pace for presentations and podcasts.

The keyword table shows the ten words you use most, with common stop words such as "the" and "and" filtered out. It is a quick way to spot an overused word or to confirm a page is actually about its target topic. Everything runs in your browser — your draft is never uploaded.

How to use the Word Counter

1. Type or paste your text into the box. Click Sample to see how it works with an example blog post.
2. Read the live statistics: words, characters, sentences, paragraphs, reading and speaking time.
3. Check the Top keywords table for repeated words. Untick the stop-word filter to include words like "the" and "with".
4. Optionally tick Set a word count goal and enter a target to see a progress bar while you write.
5. Use Copy stats to paste a summary into a brief, a ticket or an email to your editor.

Example

For a typical blog intro the counter reports figures like these:

Words: 1,214
Characters: 7,032
Characters (no spaces): 5,840
Sentences: 68
Paragraphs: 21
Reading time: 5 min 6 sec
Speaking time: 8 min 6 sec

Typical word counts

• Blog post: 1,000–2,000 words for an in-depth article; 600–900 for news and updates.
• Product description: 150–300 words — enough for benefits, specifications and keywords.
• Meta description: around 25–30 words, but the real limit is characters; check it with the Character Counter.
• Landing page: 500–1,000 words, depending on how much convincing the offer needs.
• Speech: 130–150 words per minute, so a 5-minute talk is roughly 700 words.

How counting works

Words are sequences of letters, digits and accent marks. Apostrophes and hyphens inside a word keep it together, and numbers with separators such as 3.14 or 1,000 count once. Chinese and Japanese characters are counted one per word, because those languages do not separate words with spaces.

Sentences end with ., !, ? or …. Common abbreviations (Dr., e.g., etc.) and initials are not treated as sentence ends, and each line break also ends a sentence so headings and list items are counted. A paragraph is any line that contains text. Characters are counted as you see them, so an emoji or an accented letter counts as one.