Free Word & Character Counter
Live word, character, sentence and reading-time counts — plus a free filler-word and long-sentence checker. Nothing leaves your browser.
Free word and character counter
This is a free word counter and character counter that works entirely in your browser — nothing you type is uploaded or stored on a server. Alongside the live word count it shows characters with and without spaces, sentences, paragraphs, lines, reading time and speaking time, so you can check any limit at a glance. It also doubles as a free filler-word and long-sentence checker (a lightweight Hemingway alternative), flagging padding, overlong sentences and repeated words as you write.
How to use it
- Paste or type your text into the editor — the counts update instantly.
- Watch the target-limit chips to stay under a tweet, meta description, SMS, essay or personal-statement limit.
- Toggle filler-word, long-sentence and repetition highlighting on or off.
- Check readability (Flesch Reading Ease, Flesch–Kincaid grade and Gunning Fog) and keyword density.
- Copy the text, download a .txt, or copy a plain-text stats summary. Your text auto-saves in this browser.
Words to pages
A rough guide for 12pt Times New Roman or Arial with 1-inch margins. Single-spaced is about 500 words per page; double-spaced is about 275.
| Word count | Single-spaced | Double-spaced |
|---|---|---|
| 250 words | ½ page | 1 page |
| 500 words | 1 page | 2 pages |
| 1,000 words | 2 pages | 4 pages |
| 1,500 words | 3 pages | 5½ pages |
| 2,000 words | 4 pages | 7¼ pages |
| 5,000 words | 10 pages | 18 pages |
Words to reading and speaking time
Based on an average silent reading speed of 200 words per minute and a speaking pace of about 130 words per minute. You can change both speeds in the Text Stats panel.
| Word count | Reading time | Speaking time |
|---|---|---|
| 100 words | 30 sec | 45 sec |
| 500 words | 2½ min | 3¾ min |
| 1,000 words | 5 min | 7½ min |
| 2,000 words | 10 min | 15 min |
| 5,000 words | 25 min | 38 min |
Common word and character limits
| Where | Limit | Counted in |
|---|---|---|
| Tweet / X post | 280 | characters |
| SMS (single message) | 160 | characters |
| Google title tag | ~60 | characters |
| Meta description | ~160 | characters |
| Instagram caption | 2,200 | characters |
| UCAS personal statement | 4,000 | characters |
| Common App essay | 650 | words |
How we count words
Words are counted as runs of letters, numbers and apostrophes separated by spaces or punctuation, which is how Microsoft Word and Google Docs count in most cases — so totals usually match within a word or two. Small differences appear with hyphenated terms, numbers and symbols: "state-of-the-art" may count as one word here and in Word but differently elsewhere. Characters without spaces removes every space, tab and line break; characters with spaces counts everything you can see, matching Word's "Characters (with spaces)".
FAQ
What's the difference between characters with and without spaces?
Characters with spaces counts every character including spaces, tabs and line breaks. Characters without spaces removes them, which is what most tweet, SMS and meta-description limits are really measuring.
Does this match Microsoft Word's word count?
Almost always, within a word or two. Both count words as space-separated runs of characters. Differences come from hyphenated words, standalone numbers and symbols, which different tools treat slightly differently.
How is reading time calculated?
Word count divided by reading speed. The default is 200 words per minute for silent reading and 130 for speaking aloud; you can change both in the Text Stats panel.
What is a good number of words per sentence?
Aim for an average of 15–20 words per sentence for general writing. Sentences over 25 words are highlighted so you can spot places to break them up.
What do the readability scores mean?
Flesch Reading Ease runs 0–100, where higher is easier; 60–70 is plain English. Flesch–Kincaid and Gunning Fog both estimate the US school grade needed to read the text, so lower means more accessible.
Is my text uploaded anywhere?
No. Everything runs locally in your browser and nothing is sent to a server. Your text is auto-saved only in this browser's local storage so it survives a refresh, and clearing the editor removes it.