Counters
Count words, characters, sentences and more — 2 free tools in our Text Tools category.
All 2 tools
Word Counter
Count words, characters, sentences, and paragraphs instantly. Free online word counter tool with reading time estimation. No signup required.
Character Counter
Count characters, letters, digits, spaces, and special characters in your text. Free online character counter with detailed breakdown.
Counting tools answer a narrow but constant question: does this text fit? Almost every platform you publish to enforces a limit, and those limits are measured in different units. Academic work is set in words. Social platforms and database fields are set in characters. Search snippets are effectively measured in pixels, approximated as characters. Getting the unit wrong is how a post gets truncated mid-sentence.
Which counter do you need?
The Word Counter is the right starting point for prose — essays, articles, reports — because it reports words, sentences, paragraphs and an estimated reading time together. Use it when a requirement is expressed as "1,500 words" or when you want to know how long a piece takes to read.
The Character Counter breaks the same text down by character class: letters, digits, spaces and symbols, with separate totals including and excluding whitespace. Reach for it when a hard technical limit is in play, such as a 280-character post, a 160-character SMS segment, or a VARCHAR(255) column.
Why two tools report different numbers
A word count is not a precise measurement, it is a convention. Hyphenated compounds, numerals, contractions and text in footnotes are each treated differently by different software, so Word, Google Docs and a web counter can disagree by a percent or two on the same document. Character counts are far more stable, which is why platforms with hard limits use them. Where an exact figure matters — a submission that will be rejected over 10 words — check against the tool the assessor will use.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should I count with or without spaces?▼
Check which figure the requirement refers to, because both are in common use. Platform limits like Twitter/X, SMS and database columns count spaces. Translation and typesetting quotes are often priced on characters excluding spaces. The gap is significant: ordinary English prose is roughly 15 to 20 percent whitespace.
How many pages is my word count?▼
A common convention is 250 words per double-spaced page and about 500 per single-spaced page, in 12pt with standard margins. It is only an estimate — headings, block quotes, figures and font choice all move the real figure, so use it for planning rather than for meeting a strict page requirement.
Do these tools store the text I paste in?▼
No. Counting runs in your browser and the text is never transmitted, which is why the tools are safe to use on unpublished manuscripts, contracts and internal documents.