About the Word Counter

How the counter works, who it is for, and why your text never leaves your device.

The Word Counter is your free online tool for counting words and characters instantly — no sign-up, no installation, and your text is never uploaded anywhere. If you want to count characters online or check the word count of a text, you see all the important values at a glance: words, characters with and without spaces, sentences, paragraphs, unique words, plus reading and speaking time. Whether it’s an essay with a word limit, a job application, a social media post, a meta description or a speech — our word counter recalculates every change in real time as you type.

Counting characters is part of everyday work in many jobs: social media managers keep posts under 280 characters, SEO writers trim meta descriptions to about 155 and title tags to 60 characters, and a classic SMS allows 160. Because platforms and forms count differently, our character counter shows both values side by side at all times — characters with spaces and characters without spaces. If you want to count the characters of a text, just paste it in: the analysis starts instantly, no button click required.

Unlike many international counters, our word counter understands your language. Accented characters are counted correctly, hyphenated words like “state-of-the-art” or “mother-in-law” count as one word, and abbreviations like “e.g.”, “etc.” or “i.e.” don’t split your sentences. Apostrophe compounds like “don’t” are cleanly recognized as one word, too. This precision makes the result comparable to the count in Word — and often more reliable than simple counters that blindly split at every space.

For everyone who wants to check not just numbers but content, the Word Counter includes a keyword analysis. It shows the most frequent words of your text with absolute counts and density — ideal for spotting filler words or checking the keyword density of an SEO text. With one click you hide stop words like “the”, “and” and “of” and see only the terms that really matter. Bloggers, marketers and writers use this analysis to vary their phrasing and catch repetitions early.

The built-in limits are just as practical: simply pick “X / Post”, “SMS”, “WhatsApp status”, “Meta description” or “Title tag” — the progress bar shows you live how much of the limit is left and warns you before you go over. For essays and summaries with a required length there is the word goal: enter 250 words, for example, and you always see how far you’ve come and how many words are still missing. A custom character limit takes seconds to set up.

Privacy is not an afterthought for a counting tool — after all, you paste job applications, contracts or confidential texts here. That’s why the entire Word Counter runs 100 % in your browser: no server upload, no cookies, no tracking, no storage of what you type. Only your draft stays saved locally so you can continue after a reload. And once the page has loaded, it even works offline — counting characters online has never been more privacy-friendly.

Beyond words and characters, the tool calculates more values that help in daily work: reading time (200 words per minute for silent reading) and speaking time (120 words per minute for presentations) show you how long a text feels — important for speeches, podcasts, video scripts and presentations. Add to that the average sentence length, the average word length, the number of unique words and the longest word of your text. At a glance you can tell whether your sentences run tight or sprawling.

Of course you can count characters in Word (“Review → Word Count”) or in Google Docs (“Tools → Word count”) — but those dialogs only show a snapshot, with no limits, word goals or keywords. Our counter adds exactly that and runs independently of any program. If you want to count the characters in a PDF, you’re in the right place too: PDF content can usually be copied and pasted, after which we count words, characters and sentences as usual. Paste text, done — that’s all it takes. No account, no download, no ads.

The Word Counter is used by all kinds of people: students check term papers against word requirements, pupils shorten summaries, journalists stick to briefs, translators bill by characters without spaces, community managers optimize posts for X, LinkedIn, Instagram and WhatsApp, and speakers calculate whether their speech fits the time slot. Because the tool costs nothing, collects no data and runs on any device, it works for every text — from a three-word caption to a 10,000-word article.

A typical working day with the Word Counter looks like this: you write your text at your own pace in Word, Google Docs or directly in the counter’s text field. In between you glance at the word and character counts, check the progress bar against your chosen limit and see in the keyword analysis which terms are piling up. At the end you save the text as a file, copy it back into your document or clear the field with one click — knowing that no copy of your text ever landed on a server.

In short: the Word Counter combines word counter, character counter, sentence analysis and keyword tool in one fast, ad-free page — completely free and privacy-friendly. Whether you want to count words, count characters, track a word goal or check your keyword density: everything runs in real time right on your device. Just try it above — type or paste your text and see for yourself how quickly the analysis appears.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

How are words counted?
A word is a sequence of letters and digits — including accented characters (é, ü, ñ), hyphenated and apostrophe compounds like “mother-in-law” or “don’t”. Standalone punctuation marks do not count as words.
How are sentences counted?
A sentence ends with a period, exclamation mark, question mark or ellipsis. Common abbreviations like “e.g.”, “etc.” or “Dr.” do not end a sentence — unlike in many other counters.
Is my text stored or transmitted?
No. All calculations run entirely in your browser. Your text never leaves your device — there is no server upload and no storage. Only your draft is saved locally in your browser so you can continue after a reload.
How is reading time calculated?
We assume an average of 200 words per minute for silent reading — a common benchmark. For presentations and speeches we additionally show the speaking time at about 120 words per minute.
Why do I need a character limit?
Many platforms cap text length: X (Twitter) allows 280 characters, an SMS 160, and a meta description should stay at about 155 characters. Just pick a limit — the progress bar shows you live how much you have left.
Can I set a word goal too?
Yes — for example “250 words” for an essay or a summary. Enter your goal and the progress bar shows how far you’ve come and how many words are still missing.
Which app counts words?
Several programs count words: Microsoft Word shows the word count in the status bar, Google Docs under “Tools → Word count”. Even easier is our free word counter on this page — it runs directly in your browser, with no installation and no sign-up, and shows characters, sentences and reading time alongside the word count in real time.
How can I count words?
The quickest way is online: paste your text into the field above — the word count appears instantly, no click needed. Alternatively, Word counts words under “Review → Word Count” (shortcut Ctrl + Shift + G) and Google Docs under “Tools → Word count” (Ctrl + Shift + C).
How many A4 pages is 20000 words?
As a rule of thumb, an A4 page in standard formatting (12 point, 1.5 line spacing) holds about 350 words — so 20,000 words come to roughly 55 to 60 A4 pages. With single spacing and a slightly tighter font, about 500 words fit on a page, which works out to only about 40 pages. The exact number depends on font, font size, line spacing and margins.
Is there a free character counter?
Yes — the character counter on this page is completely free, with no sign-up and no limits. It counts characters with and without spaces in real time, directly in your browser; your text is never uploaded or stored. Word (“Review → Word Count”) and Google Docs (“Tools → Word count”) also show the character count free of charge.
Which apps are there for word puzzles?
There are many apps for word and letter puzzles: popular ones include “4 Pics 1 Word”, word-search and crossword apps, and digital versions of Scrabble for Android and iOS. You’ll find hundreds of games in the app stores under search terms like “word puzzles”, “word search” or “crossword”. A tip for puzzle fans: with the word counter above you can quickly check how many words and letters your solution ideas contain.
Which app can count objects?
For counting objects, so-called tally counter apps like “Tally Counter” or “Click Counter” for Android and iOS work well: every tap on the screen increases the count, and many apps manage several counters side by side and save intermediate results. If you need to record groups of people, store displays or repetitions, they are faster than pen and paper.
How many characters is 500 words?
Depending on word length, 500 words come to about 3,000 to 3,500 characters with spaces — on average, a word is around six letters long, plus the space. Without spaces, that’s roughly 2,500 to 3,000 characters. If you want to know exactly: paste your text above and you’ll see both values instantly.
How can I count the letters in a text?
Counting letters is easiest with an online counter: paste your text into the field above and the characters with and without spaces are displayed instantly. Every letter, digit and punctuation mark counts as one character — umlauts and accented letters included. If you only want the pure letters without spaces and punctuation, use the “characters without spaces” figure as an approximation.
How many words?
You get the answer in a second: paste your text into the field above — the word count appears instantly and updates live with every keystroke. Every sequence of letters and digits counts as a word; umlauts and hyphen or apostrophe compounds count as one word. Alongside the word count you also see characters, sentences, paragraphs and reading time.
How can I count the number of characters in a text?
Copy your text and paste it into the field above — you immediately see the character count with and without spaces in real time, without signing up and without your text being uploaded. Alternatively, you’ll find the character count in Word under “Review → Word Count” and in Google Docs under “Tools → Word count”. The practical part of the online counter: you can also activate a character limit (e.g. 280 for X) and see live how much is left.
How can I have letters counted?
Let your browser do the work: paste the text above, done — the counter determines the letters or characters automatically, recalculated with every keystroke. That’s handy for applications, SMS, meta descriptions or homework with character limits. Because everything runs locally on your device, your text stays private.
How many characters are on a page in Word?
An A4 page in Word with default settings (Calibri, 11 point, single spacing, 2.5 cm margins) holds about 3,000 to 3,500 characters with spaces — that’s roughly 450 to 500 words. With 1.5 line spacing, it’s about 1,800 to 2,200 characters per page. The exact number depends on font, font size, line spacing, margins and paragraph formatting.