text_fields Productivity Tool
Word Counter
Paste or type any text to instantly count words, characters, sentences, paragraphs, and get estimated reading and speaking time. Everything runs in your browser — nothing is ever sent to any server.
What Is a Word Counter?
A word counter analyzes text and reports key statistics — words, characters, sentences, paragraphs, and reading time. Writers use it to hit target lengths for blog posts, essays, and academic papers. Editors use it to verify publication requirements and spot verbosity.
What Each Metric Means
- Words — Any sequence of characters separated by whitespace. "Hello-world" counts as one word; "Hello world" counts as two.
- Characters (with spaces) — Every character including spaces, tabs, and line breaks. This is what tweet and SMS character limits measure.
- Characters (without spaces) — Only non-whitespace characters. Useful for comparing information density between texts.
- Sentences — Segments ending with a period, exclamation mark, or question mark.
- Paragraphs — Consecutive non-blank lines separated by at least one blank line.
- Unique Words — Distinct words (case-insensitive), ignoring punctuation. Indicates vocabulary richness.
- Reading Time (200 WPM) — Average adult silent reading speed. Dense or technical text may take longer.
- Speaking Time (130 WPM) — Average conversational speech rate. Good estimate for presentations and podcasts.
Common Word Count Targets
- Tweet — 280 characters
- LinkedIn post — Under 1,300 characters (3,000 max)
- Short blog post — 500–800 words
- Standard blog post — 1,200–1,800 words
- Long-form / pillar content — 2,500–4,000 words
- Short story — 1,000–7,500 words
- Novella — 17,500–40,000 words
- Novel — 70,000–120,000 words
Frequently Asked Questions
How accurate is the word count?
Very accurate for standard prose. The counter splits text on whitespace, matching how most word processors work. Hyphenated words like "well-known" are counted as one word. Code, URLs, and special character sequences may vary slightly.
Is my text stored or sent anywhere?
No. All counting happens instantly in your browser using JavaScript. Your text is never sent to any server, logged, or stored anywhere outside your current browser tab.
How many words should a blog post have for SEO?
For competitive topics, 1,500–2,500 words tends to rank well. Short tips pieces can work at 600–900 words. Long-form pillar content at 3,000–5,000 words ranks well for broad topics. The ideal length is whatever fully answers the reader's question — not artificially padded to hit a number.
What reading speed is used?
Reading time is estimated at 200 WPM (words per minute), the widely cited average for adult silent reading. Speaking time uses 130 WPM, a standard estimate for clear conversational speech. Both are approximations — complex academic text may be closer to 150 WPM while skimming can exceed 400 WPM.