Word & Character Counter
Writing limits vary: some count spaces, some count words, and some count underlying characters differently. This counter reports several measurements so you can compare them with the system that will receive your text. Words use browser Unicode segmentation where available, while character counts use Unicode code points. Paragraphs are separated by blank lines and reading time assumes two hundred words per minute. Treat sentence counts and reading time as estimates, especially for abbreviations, code snippets and multilingual content.
Your workspace
Runs locally in your browserResult
Your input is processed locally in your browser unless explicitly stated otherwise. Inputs are not saved by this tool.
How to use this tool
Paste or type text. Counts update locally as you write. Clear the field to reset all statistics.
Example
Input
Hello world.
A second paragraph.Output
5 words; 2 paragraphs; about 1 minute reading timeWhat does this tool do?
Text counts help fit drafts into editorial limits and estimate reading time. This counter uses Unicode-aware word segmentation where the browser supports it.
Common mistakes and limitations
Characters are counted as Unicode code points, so combined emoji may count as several characters. Sentence boundaries are approximate. Reading time assumes 200 words per minute.
Understand the counting rules
Words use Intl.Segmenter when the browser provides it; otherwise whitespace-separated runs are counted. This matters for languages that do not consistently place spaces between words. Characters are Unicode code points, so an emoji made from several code points may count as more than one even when it looks like one symbol. Characters without spaces removes whitespace including tabs and line breaks, not just the ordinary space character.
Sentences, paragraphs and reading time
Sentence counting uses punctuation heuristics, including full stops, exclamation marks, question marks and the danda. Abbreviations, decimal numbers and dialogue can make a simple heuristic disagree with an editor. Paragraphs are separated by blank lines; a single wrapped line is not necessarily a new paragraph. Estimated reading time rounds words divided by 200 words per minute upward. That is a planning convention, not a measurement of an individual reader.
200 words → about 1 minute
201 words → about 2 minutes
Blank input → 0 minutesUse counts alongside editing judgment
Compare a draft with a brief, shorten a description to fit a field, or check how much a revision changed the text. A platform may count UTF-16 code units, bytes or grapheme clusters instead of code points, so verify hard limits in the actual destination. Word count cannot tell whether an explanation answers the reader’s question. For SEO and documentation, remove repetition and add missing examples rather than expanding a page to hit an arbitrary total.
Check pasted formatting
Text copied from a document editor may include non-breaking spaces or line breaks that are not visually obvious. The no-whitespace count removes Unicode whitespace, while punctuation remains. Compare the actual pasted text with your source when counts differ unexpectedly. A social platform, form or content-management system may apply additional normalization after submission, so treat this page as an editing aid rather than the final authority on that platform’s limit.
Frequently asked questions
Are spaces included in character count?
The total includes whitespace. A separate count excludes all whitespace characters.
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