Count words, characters, sentences, and paragraphs as you type, and see an estimated reading time.
Everything runs in your browser - nothing is uploaded or saved.
Words are counted by splitting your text on whitespace. Characters are counted both including and excluding spaces, so you can check against limits that count either way. Sentences are counted by splitting on periods, question marks, and exclamation points, and paragraphs are counted as blocks of text separated by a blank line. Reading time is estimated using an average silent reading speed of 200 words per minute - actual time varies with text difficulty and reading speed.
The sample text preloaded above - two short paragraphs, 35 words total - comes out to 216 characters with spaces, 181 characters without spaces, 2 sentences, and 2 paragraphs. At 200 words per minute that is under a minute to read, which the tool reports as "< 1 min" rather than a misleadingly precise number of seconds.
Does this tool store or send my text anywhere?
No. All counting happens directly in your browser using JavaScript - nothing is uploaded, saved, or sent anywhere.
How is reading time calculated?
It divides your word count by 200, a commonly used average for silent adult reading speed, and rounds to the nearest minute. Faster or slower readers, and denser or simpler text, will take more or less time in practice.
Why are there two character counts?
Some limits (like certain form fields or older SMS rules) count every character including spaces, while others effectively ignore whitespace. Showing both means you can check against whichever limit applies to you.
How are paragraphs counted?
A paragraph is any block of text separated from the next by a blank line (a double line break). Single line breaks within a block do not start a new paragraph.
Can sentence counting be inaccurate?
Yes, somewhat. It splits on periods, question marks, and exclamation points, so abbreviations like "Mr." or decimal numbers like "3.14" can be miscounted as sentence breaks. Treat the sentence count as a close estimate rather than an exact figure for text with many abbreviations or numbers.
Is there a limit to how much text I can paste in?
No hard limit, but very large amounts of text - tens of thousands of words - may cause a brief lag as the counts recalculate on every keystroke, since it is a browser-based tool.
Can I use this to check social media character limits?
Yes, the character count (with spaces) is a good way to check a post against a platform's limit. Keep in mind some platforms count links, mentions, or emoji differently than a simple character count, so treat it as a close estimate near the limit.