What is WordCounter? Apart from counting words and characters, our online editor can help you to improve word choice and writing style, and, optionally, help you to detect grammar mistakes and plagiarism. To check word count, simply place your cursor into the text box above and start typing. You'll see the number of characters and words increase or decrease as you type, delete, and edit them. You can also copy and paste text from another program over into the online editor above. The Auto-Save feature will make sure you won't lose any changes while editing, even if you leave the site and come back later. Tip: Bookmark this page now.
Knowing the word count of a text can be important. For example, if an author has to write a minimum or maximum amount of words for an article, essay, report, story, book, paper, you name it. WordCounter will help to make sure its word count reaches a specific requirement or stays within a certain limit.
In addition, WordCounter shows you the top 10 keywords and keyword density of the article you're writing. This allows you to know which keywords you use how often and at what percentages. This can prevent you from over-using certain words or word combinations and check for best distribution of keywords in your writing.
In the Details overview you can see the average speaking and reading time for your text, while Reading Level is an indicator of the education level a person would need in order to understand the words you’re using.
Disclaimer: We strive to make our tools as accurate as possible but we cannot guarantee it will always be so.
What to know about counting words and characters
Characters and graphemes are different. Modern emoji can be 4–8 Unicode code points but render as one character - a grapheme-aware counter is what most platforms (Twitter, iMessage) actually use.Most SEO guidance refers to visible characters, not bytes. A meta description of 160 characters is roughly the same on all browsers, but pixel width varies - so 160 is a safe rule of thumb, not a hard line.
Average reading speed for adults is around 200–250 words per minute silent, 130–160 spoken. Coddy's estimate uses 225 and 150 respectively.
How to use the word counter
1. Paste or type your text
The counter updates live with every keystroke. Replace the sample text or click Clear to start fresh.2. Watch the headline counts
Word and character counts are highlighted at the top of the panel. Use them for assignment word limits, SEO checks, or social posts.3. Check the length-limit bars
The colored bars under Length limits show progress against common caps - tweet, SEO title, meta description, OG description, SMS. They turn red when you go over.4. Use the detail stats for editing decisions
Longest-word and sentence count are useful when you suspect a paragraph is too dense. Reading and speaking times help with talk scripts and video voiceovers.
Common length limits
Approximate caps that platforms enforce or that authors target. Use them as rules of thumb, not strict laws.| Where | Limit | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| X / Twitter post | 280 chars | Counts links as 23 chars regardless of length |
| SEO <title> | ~60 chars | Google may truncate longer titles on results |
| Meta description | ~160 chars | Pixel-based truncation; 155 is a safer aim |
| Open Graph description | ~200 chars | Best on Facebook and LinkedIn; Twitter caps lower |
| SMS (single) | 160 chars | Going over splits the message into multiple billed segments |
| Slack message preview | ~150 chars | Anything more is hidden behind Show more |
Things to try in the counter
Check whether a tweet fits
Paste a draft and watch the X / Twitter post bar. If it turns red, edit until it goes back to neutral. Links count as 23 characters in real Twitter regardless of length, so a tweet that looks long here may actually fit. The 280 number is a safe upper bound.Tune an SEO title and meta description
Paste the page title first, watch the SEO title bar (target ~60 chars). Then paste the description, watch the Meta description bar (target ~155 chars). The bars give you a quick visual without having to count by hand. Google sometimes rewrites your tags, but staying inside the soft cap keeps the original visible.Estimate a script length
Paste your video or podcast script. The Speaking time line is roughly how long it will take to deliver at an unrushed pace (~150 wpm). Useful for trimming a script to fit a target runtime. Anchors and presenters typically run a little faster than the estimate.Common counting mistakes
Word Count Guidelines by Content Type
Different types of content call for different lengths. Blog posts that perform well in search results typically run between 1,500 and 2,500 words, though some topics merit going longer. Product descriptions work best at 150 to 300 words - enough to inform without overwhelming. Social media posts vary by platform: Twitter gives you 280 characters, LinkedIn posts perform well around 150 to 300 words, and Instagram captions top out at 2,200 characters but get the best engagement under 150 words.Academic writing has its own norms. College essays typically run 500 to 1,500 words depending on the assignment. Research papers and dissertations range from 3,000 to 10,000 words or more. News articles tend to be 600 to 800 words for standard pieces, while feature articles can stretch to 2,000 or beyond.
The Top Keywords Feature
Below the main stats, you'll see a keyword frequency breakdown showing your most-used words. This is useful for checking keyword density if you're writing content with SEO in mind. It filters out common English stop words (the, and, is, etc.) so you get a meaningful picture of your content's focus topics. If your target keyword doesn't appear in the top results, that's a sign you might want to work it in more naturally.Privacy First
This word counter runs entirely in your browser. Your text is never sent to any server, stored anywhere, or shared with anyone. All the counting and analysis happens locally with JavaScript. Close the tab and your text is gone. That means you can safely paste drafts, confidential documents, or any sensitive content without worrying about privacy.Need to clean up formatting issues in your text? Try our Article Formatter to fix encoding problems and remove unwanted characters. Or convert your content between formats with our Markdown to HTML Converter and HTML to Plain Text tools. For a deeper dive into word and character counting methods across different languages and platforms, see our complete guide: How to Count Words, Characters, and Sentences in Text.