Word & Character Counter
Live counts for words, characters, sentences, paragraphs and reading time.
The Word & Character Counter gives you live statistics for any text: word count, character count with and without spaces, sentences, paragraphs, lines, and estimated reading and speaking time. It updates as you type and never sends your text anywhere.
- ✓Counts words, characters, sentences, paragraphs and lines
- ✓Separate character counts with and without spaces
- ✓Reading time (~200 wpm) and speaking time (~130 wpm)
- ✓100% private — nothing is uploaded
Common Character Limits
A lot of word-counting happens because somewhere else enforces a hard limit. A few common ones worth knowing off the top of your head:
| Context | Typical limit |
|---|---|
| Google search result title | ~60 characters before truncation |
| Google meta description | ~155-160 characters before truncation |
| X (Twitter) post | 280 characters |
| SMS (single segment) | 160 characters |
| LinkedIn post (before "see more") | ~210 characters |
| Commit message subject line | 50 characters (convention, not enforced) |
Where a Word Count Helps
- ▸Meeting length limits — Stay under a character cap for a meta description, tweet, bio, or form field.
- ▸Writing and editing — Track article or essay length against a target word count as you write.
- ▸Estimating read time — See roughly how long a piece takes to read or present before you publish.
- ▸SEO snippets — Keep titles and descriptions within the length search engines display.
- ▸Academic and essay limits — Check a submission against a strict word-count requirement before turning it in.
Why Reading Time Is Only an Estimate
200 words per minute is a broad average for adult silent reading of straightforward prose in English — real reading speed varies a lot by content. Dense technical writing, code-heavy documentation, or text full of unfamiliar terms is read noticeably slower than casual narrative writing, sometimes by half. Skimming (scanning for key points rather than reading every word) can run 2-3x faster than careful reading. Treat the reading-time figure as a rough planning number — useful for comparing two drafts' relative length, or estimating a talk's pacing — not a precise guarantee for any specific reader or piece.