More than a word count
Essays, cover letters, ad copy, social posts, product descriptions and SEO tags all have limits. This word counter shows every number you’re likely to need as you type, with no button to press.
Counts
- Words – the main count used by schools, publishers and job applications.
- Characters – including spaces; used by most social platforms and forms.
- Characters (no spaces) – used by some translation agencies and academic limits.
- Sentences and Paragraphs – useful for readability. Very long sentences are harder to read; aim for an average of 15–20 words.
- Reading time – at 238 words per minute, the average silent reading speed for adults.
- Speaking time – at 140 words per minute, a natural pace for presentations, videos and speeches.
Limits at a glance
The counter compares your text’s characters with common limits and adds ⚠ when you go over:
| Limit | Characters |
|---|---|
| X/Twitter post | 280 |
| Meta description | 155 |
| Title tag | 60 |
| SMS | 160 |
Other common limits worth knowing: Instagram captions 2,200 characters; LinkedIn posts 3,000; YouTube titles 100; Google Ads headlines 30 and descriptions 90; Amazon product titles about 200.
Top keywords
Top keywords lists the words you use most, with counts and percentages, ignoring common words such as “the” and “and”. Use it to:
- Check that an article actually focuses on its main topic.
- Spot words you repeat too often.
- Avoid keyword stuffing – if one term makes up a large share of the text, it reads unnaturally to people and search engines alike.
Case conversion
One-click buttons change the case of your whole text:
- UPPERCASE and lowercase.
- Title Case – capitalises each word, for headings.
- Sentence case – capitalises the first letter of each sentence; good for fixing text typed with Caps Lock on.
- camelCase, snake_case and kebab-case – for variable names, file names and URL slugs.
- aLtErNaTiNg – for memes.
Copy puts the text on your clipboard; Clear empties the box.
Your text stays with you
Text is kept in your browser’s local storage so that a refresh or accidental tab close doesn’t lose your work. It is never sent anywhere. Press Clear to remove it, or use a private window if you’re on a shared computer.
Writing tips by length
- Tweets and SMS: one idea, front-loaded.
- Meta descriptions: summarise the page and include the main keyword in under 155 characters.
- Cover letters: typically 250–400 words.
- College essays: often 650 words (Common App limit).
- Blog posts: 1,000–2,000 words for in-depth topics – length should follow usefulness, not the other way round.
Related tools
Extract text from a PDF to count it with PDF to Text, or turn Markdown drafts into HTML with Markdown to HTML.
Frequently asked questions
How are words counted?
Words are runs of letters or numbers separated by spaces or punctuation, so hyphenated and contracted words like well-known and don't are handled sensibly. Results closely match Microsoft Word and Google Docs.
How is reading time calculated?
Reading time uses an average of 238 words per minute for silent reading. Speaking time uses 140 words per minute, a comfortable pace for presentations and speeches.
How many words is a 5-minute speech?
At about 140 words per minute, roughly 700 words. Paste your script to see the speaking time.
What are the title tag and meta description limits?
Google typically shows around 60 characters of a title and 155–160 of a description before cutting them off. The counter warns you with ⚠ when you exceed these.
Is my text saved?
Your text is saved only in your own browser (localStorage) so it survives a refresh. Press Clear to remove it. It is never uploaded.
Does it work with other languages?
Yes, for languages that separate words with spaces. Character counts work for every language.