Word Counter Text
Count words, characters, sentences, paragraphs and reading time as you type.
Word Counter is a free online tool that count words, characters, sentences, paragraphs and reading time as you type. It runs entirely in your web browser using plain JavaScript, so files are processed on your own device and never uploaded to a server. There is no sign-up, no file size limit imposed by the site, no watermark and no paid tier.
- Price
- Free — no account, no quota, no watermark
- Category
- Text
- Where it runs
- In your browser, on your device
- Files uploaded
- None
- Technology
- plain JavaScript
- Settings
- None — it just works
- Works offline
- Yes, after the first visit
About Word Counter
Word counters exist because somebody else set a limit: a 500-word essay, a 160-character meta description, a 2,200-character LinkedIn post, a 280-character reply. Counting happens as you type and the draft never leaves your browser, which matters more than it sounds when the draft is a cover letter or a legal statement.
How to use it
- Paste or type your text. Every figure recalculates on each keystroke.
- Use the sample button to see what the numbers look like on real prose.
Under the hood
| Runs on | plain JavaScript — runs the whole thing |
Questions
Does this count the same way as Microsoft Word?
For ordinary prose, yes — both split on whitespace. Word counts hyphenated compounds as one word and so does this; the small divergences are around footnotes, headers and text boxes, which Word includes or excludes depending on its settings.
Where does the reading time come from?
Silent reading of English prose averages around 238 words per minute for adults, from Brysbaert's 2019 meta-analysis of 190 studies. Speaking is much slower — 130 wpm is a comfortable presentation pace.
How are sentences counted?
By terminal punctuation: full stops, question marks and exclamation marks. Abbreviations like "e.g." and decimal numbers can inflate the count slightly, which is a limitation of every counter that does not do full language parsing.