How to use it
- 1Type or paste your text into the box. Every count updates as you type.
- 2Read the totals below the box: words, characters with and without spaces, sentences, paragraphs, and the estimated reading and speaking time.
- 3Check the length limits to see whether the text fits a page title, a meta description, an X post or a single SMS.
- 4Use the keyword list to spot the words you repeat most. Turn off “Skip common words” to include words such as “the” and “and”.
How words and characters are counted
A word is a run of letters or digits, so punctuation, symbols and emoji don’t count. Hyphenated compounds such as well-known and contractions such as don’t count as one word, the way word processors count them. Chinese, Japanese and Thai are written without spaces between words; for them the counter uses your browser’s built-in word dictionary for the language.
Characters are counted the way you see them: an accented letter or an emoji like 👍🏽 is one character, even though it’s stored as several code points. “Characters without spaces” leaves out spaces, tabs and line breaks.
A sentence ends with a full stop, a question mark or an exclamation mark – or with a line break, so headings and list items count as sentences too. Every line that isn’t empty counts as a paragraph.
Reading and speaking time
Reading time assumes 238 words per minute, the average silent reading speed of adults for non-fiction found by a 2019 review of 190 studies. Speaking time assumes 140 words per minute, a comfortable pace for a talk or a presentation.
Treat both as estimates. Dense technical writing takes longer to read, light fiction less, and most speakers slow down for slides and pauses.
Length limits worth knowing
Search engines usually show about 50–60 characters of a page title and 150–160 characters of a meta description before cutting them off. The real limit is the width in pixels, so a title full of wide letters like W and M is cut sooner.
An X post can be 280 characters long. Every link counts as 23 characters however long it is, and emoji and Chinese, Japanese or Korean characters count as two.
One SMS holds 160 characters of the basic GSM alphabet. A single character outside it – such as ř, ł, ő or any emoji – switches the whole message to Unicode, which fits only 70 characters. Longer texts are sent as several linked parts of 153 or 67 characters, and each part is billed as one message.
Questions and answers
Are spaces counted as characters?
In the “Characters” total, yes – spaces, tabs and line breaks count, which is what most sites mean by a character limit. “Characters without spaces” shows the count without them.
How many words are on one page?
About 500 words on a single-spaced page and about 250 double-spaced, with a 12-point font and standard margins. Headings, short paragraphs and larger fonts lower the number.
How many words is a 5-minute speech?
About 700 words at a relaxed 140 words per minute. Plan roughly 1,400 words for 10 minutes and 2,100 for 15 minutes, and a little less if you’ll pause for slides or questions.
Why is my SMS limited to 70 characters?
Your text contains at least one character that isn’t in the basic GSM alphabet – often a letter with a háček or ogonek, a curly quote or an emoji. The phone then sends the message in Unicode, which fits 70 characters instead of 160. Replacing those characters brings the limit back to 160.
Is my text stored or sent anywhere?
No. Everything is counted in your browser; the text is never uploaded or saved. When you close the tab, it’s gone.