This word counter counts words, characters with and without spaces, sentences, paragraphs and lines as you type, and estimates reading and speaking time at research-based rates. It also checks your text against limits for SEO titles, meta descriptions, X posts and SMS, and shows keyword density. Counting runs on your device, so your text is never uploaded. It is one of the free ghacks tools.
How to count words and characters
Paste or type your text into the box; the counts update while you write.
- Paste or type into Your text, or click Try a sample.
- For a file, click Open a text file or drop it on the box (.txt or .md, up to 5 MB).
- Read Words, Characters, Characters without spaces and Reading time at the top. Speaking time, sentences, letters, averages and A4 pages (estimate) sit below.
- Pick a preset under Check a limit to see how many characters you have left.
- Copy results copies a plain-text summary; Clear empties the box.
How the word counter counts words
A word is any run of letters or digits between spaces or punctuation, and hyphenated compounds such as "well-known" count as one word, as in Microsoft Word. It follows the Unicode word-boundary rules (UAX 29). Switch rules off under Counting rules and rates:
| Text | Default count | Option that changes it |
|---|---|---|
| well-known | 1 word | Count hyphenated words as one word (as in Word) |
| 1,299.99 | 1 word | Count numbers as words |
| https://www.ghacks.net/tools/ | 1 word | Count web and email addresses as one word |
Sentence counts ignore the full stop in abbreviations such as e.g. and Mr.
Do hyphenated words count as one word?
Usually yes: Microsoft Word counts "well-known" as one word, and this counter does too by default. Style guides differ, so check the rules behind your limit. Untick Count hyphenated words as one word (as in Word) to count each part. A spaced dash is not a compound, so both sides count.
How characters and emoji are counted
Each visible character counts once, including emoji and flags, because the counter counts graphemes rather than code units: ?? is one character and so is ??. Spaces count in Characters, not in Characters without spaces; line breaks count in neither. Letters leaves out digits, punctuation and symbols. Some apps count a flag as two or more characters, one reason totals differ between tools. To insert symbols instead, type special characters and symbols.
Reading time and speaking time
At the average silent reading rate of 238 words per minute, 1,000 words take about 4 minutes 12 seconds to read and about 5 minutes 28 seconds to say aloud at 183 words per minute. Both defaults are the adult averages for non-fiction in Brysbaert's 2019 meta-analysis. Change them under Counting rules and rates with Reading speed and Speaking speed (100 to 400 words per minute); Reset rates restores them.
| Words | Reading time (238 wpm) | Speaking time (183 wpm) |
|---|---|---|
| 300 | 1 min 16 sec | 1 min 38 sec |
| 500 | 2 min 6 sec | 2 min 44 sec |
| 1,000 | 4 min 12 sec | 5 min 28 sec |
| 2,000 | 8 min 24 sec | 10 min 56 sec |
The rate depends on the language, so the German and Dutch editions of this tool use their own defaults. The IReST study measured 228 words per minute reading aloud in English, 179 in German and 202 in Dutch, because German words are longer. Scaled by those ratios, German gets 187 and 144 words per minute, Dutch 211 and 162. To measure how fast you type instead, test your typing speed.
Character limits for titles, posts and messages
Google typically shows about 60 characters of a title and 155 of a meta description; X allows 280 characters; one SMS holds 160 standard characters. The bar under Check a limit reads "Within the limit" or "Over the limit", with a check mark or exclamation mark and the characters left or over.
| Preset | Limit | Rule the preset uses |
|---|---|---|
| SEO title | 60 | Google cuts titles by pixel width, so 60 is a guide |
| Meta description | 155 | Characters as counted above |
| X post | 280 | Web addresses count as 23, emoji and CJK characters as 2; an approximation of X's rule |
| SMS | 160 or 70 | GSM-7: 160 per message, 153 per part when split. An emoji or other character outside GSM-7 switches to UCS-2: 70, or 67 per part; the tool shows the encoding and message count |
What keyword density shows (and what it does not)
Keyword density is the share of your text taken by a word or phrase; it is a writing check for repetition, not a ranking target. Keyword density lists the top 10 words and top 5 repeated two- and three-word phrases with count and share. Leave out stop words (the, and, of ...) is on by default. If one term dominates, vary the wording.
Word count in Word, Google Docs and LibreOffice
In Google Docs press Ctrl+Shift+C, in Word look at the status bar or press Ctrl+Shift+G, and in LibreOffice Writer read the status bar. Each applies its own rules, so totals can differ slightly from this tool.
Privacy: your text stays on your device
Your text never leaves your browser. Counting runs in a Web Worker on your device, the page sends no request while you type; the text is never stored or put in the address bar, only your counting options are. To check, press F12, open the Network tab and type: no new requests appear. The password generator works the same way.
FAQ
How many pages is 1,000 words?
About 2 pages. A typical A4 or Letter page holds roughly 500 words in a 12 pt font with single spacing, which is the estimate behind the A4 pages (estimate) figure: words divided by 500. Double spacing roughly halves the words per page, so 1,000 words fill about 4 pages.
How long does it take to read 1,000 words?
About 4 minutes 12 seconds of silent reading at 238 words per minute, the adult average for non-fiction in Brysbaert's 2019 meta-analysis. Reading the same text aloud at 183 words per minute takes about 5 minutes 28 seconds. Set Reading speed to your own pace for a closer estimate.
Do numbers count as words?
Yes, by default. A number such as 2026 or 1,299.99 counts as one word, because it is a run of digits between spaces, like any other word. If your limit counts only written words, untick Count numbers as words under Counting rules and rates.
Can ChatGPT count words accurately?
Not reliably. Language models such as ChatGPT read text as tokens, chunks that are often parts of words, so they estimate word counts rather than count them. For an exact figure, paste the text into a counter that follows fixed rules, such as this one.
Sources
- Brysbaert, M. (2019). How many words do we read per minute? A review and meta-analysis of reading rate. Journal of Memory and Language 109
- Trauzettel-Klosinski, S. and Dietz, K. (2012). Standardized assessment of reading performance: the new International Reading Speed Texts IReST. IOVS 53(9)
- Unicode Standard Annex 29: Unicode Text Segmentation