Word & Character Counter
Live word, character, line, and reading-time metrics as you type.
Your Text
How the counts are defined
Counting words sounds unambiguous until you try it. This counter trims the text, then splits on any run of whitespace — so double spaces, tabs, and line breaks do not inflate the total. A hyphenated compound like well-known counts as one word, and it’s counts as one, matching how most word processors behave.
Character counts come in two flavours because the distinction matters. Social post limits count everything including spaces, and so do most database column limits. “Characters without spaces” is the figure academic and publishing guidelines usually mean. Both are shown so you never have to guess which one a limit refers to.
Reading time assumes 200 words per minute, a common average for adult silent reading of general prose. Technical material runs slower and light fiction faster, so treat it as a rough estimate rather than a measurement.
Frequently asked questions
How is a word defined here?
Any sequence of non-whitespace characters. The text is trimmed and split on whitespace runs, so extra spaces and blank lines do not affect the count. Hyphenated words and contractions each count as one.
Why do I get a different count than Microsoft Word?
Word applies extra rules — it may treat some punctuation-separated strings, numbers with units, or field codes differently. For ordinary prose the two agree closely; for heavily punctuated or technical text they can diverge by a percent or two.
What reading speed is used?
200 words per minute, a typical adult silent reading rate for general prose. Dense technical writing is often closer to 100–150, so adjust upward for that kind of material.
Does it count empty lines?
Yes, the line count reflects every newline in the text, including blank ones — that matches what a text editor shows. Blank lines contribute nothing to the word count.
Is there a length limit?
No fixed limit. Everything runs in your browser, so very large documents are bounded only by your device’s memory.