Word & Character Counter

About This Tool

This word counter online is a real-time text analysis tool that gives writers, bloggers, developers, and students instant feedback on their text. Unlike simple character counters, this tool provides six key metrics simultaneously: word count, total character count (including spaces), character count excluding spaces, sentence count, paragraph count, and estimated reading time.

Reading time is calculated at a standard adult reading pace of 200 words per minute, giving you a quick sense of how long your content will take to consume. This is especially useful for blog posts, documentation, email newsletters, and social media content where length limits matter.

The Highlight Repeated Words feature is a bonus writing aid — it visually marks words you have used more than once, helping you spot redundancy and improve your vocabulary diversity. This is useful for polishing essays, cover letters, or marketing copy.

All processing happens instantly in your browser. There is no character limit, no account required, and your text never leaves your device.

How to Use

1. Type or paste your text into the text area.
2. All six statistics update automatically as you type — no button needed.
3. Click Clear to reset the text area and all counts.
4. Enable Highlight repeated words to see a color-highlighted preview below the text area where repeated words (3+ letters) are marked.

Statistics Explained

• Words: sequences of non-whitespace characters separated by spaces
• Characters: total number of characters including spaces and line breaks
• No Spaces: characters after removing all whitespace
• Sentences: text segments ending in a period, exclamation mark, or question mark
• Paragraphs: blocks of text separated by one or more blank lines
• Read Time: estimated at 200 words per minute (average adult reading speed)

Frequently Asked Questions

How is reading time calculated?

Reading time is estimated by dividing the word count by 200, which is the average adult reading speed in words per minute. A 1,000-word article takes approximately 5 minutes to read. This estimate is useful for blog posts, documentation, and email newsletters.

What counts as a word?

A word is any sequence of non-whitespace characters separated by spaces or line breaks. Numbers, hyphenated words, and contractions each count as one word. Punctuation attached to a word does not create an extra word.

Does this tool count characters with or without spaces?

Both. The Characters stat counts every character including spaces and line breaks. The Spaces stat shows only the number of actual space characters in your text, which is useful when working with platforms that have character limits.

What is the ideal word count for a blog post?

For SEO, long-form content between 1,500 and 2,500 words tends to rank best for competitive keywords. For conversational or news content, 500–800 words is common. The right length depends on the topic — always prioritise covering the subject fully over hitting a number.

How do I count paragraphs online?

This tool counts paragraphs automatically — a paragraph is any block of text separated from others by one or more blank lines. The count updates in real time as you type or paste your text.