Free Word Counter & Character Counter
Count words, characters, sentences, and paragraphs. Get reading time, speaking time, and keyword density. No signup required.
0
Words
0
Chars (w/ spaces)
0
Chars (no spaces)
0
Sentences
0
Paragraphs
0
Unique Words
~1 min
Reading Time
@ 200 wpm
~1 min
Speaking Time
@ 130 wpm
What Is a Word Counter?
A word counter is a text analysis tool that instantly counts words, characters, sentences, and paragraphs in any text you paste or type. Beyond simple counting, a full-featured word counter estimates reading time and speaking time, helping writers gauge how long content will take to consume. Knowing your word count is essential across many use cases: SEO writers target 1,500–2,500 words for long-form articles, social media has character limits (Twitter's 280, LinkedIn posts at 3,000), academic papers have strict word requirements, and video scripts need to match a target duration. Our free word counter handles all of this plus keyword density analysis — showing which words and two-word phrases appear most frequently, helping you optimize content without overstuffing any single term.
How Does the Word Counter Work?
The word count splits text on whitespace using a regular expression that handles multiple spaces, tabs, and newlines, filtering out empty strings. Character count (with spaces) is simply the string length. Character count without spaces removes all whitespace characters before measuring. Sentence count splits on '.', '!', and '?' characters. Paragraph count splits on double newlines. Reading time divides word count by 200 (the average adult silent reading speed in words per minute). Speaking time divides by 130 (the average speaking pace for presentations). Unique words lowercases all words and counts distinct values in a Set. Keyword density filters out a stop word list (the, is, at, which, etc.), counts remaining word frequency, then ranks the top 10 single words by count. Bigrams (two-word phrases) are extracted by sliding a 2-word window over the filtered word array and counting consecutive pairs, then the top 5 are ranked by frequency.
Features
- ✓Live word, character, sentence, and paragraph counts
- ✓Estimated reading time (200 wpm) and speaking time (130 wpm)
- ✓Unique word count for vocabulary analysis
- ✓Keyword density table: top 10 single words + top 5 bigrams
- ✓Excludes common stop words from density analysis
- ✓Fully client-side — your text never leaves the browser
Benefits
Hit Platform-Specific Length Targets
Different platforms have different optimal content lengths: SEO blog posts (1,500–3,000 words), YouTube descriptions (200–350 words), Instagram captions (138–150 characters for preview), LinkedIn posts (1,300–2,000 characters). The word counter helps you hit the right range for each platform.
Estimate Reading and Speaking Time
Paste your blog post to see '8 min read' before publishing, or paste your video script to confirm it fits your target duration. Average reading speed is ~200 wpm; average speaking speed is ~130 wpm. These estimates let you calibrate content length before it goes live.
Identify Keyword Overuse
The keyword density table shows which words and phrases dominate your text. If your target keyword appears 15 times in a 500-word article (3% density), it may trigger spam filters or feel repetitive to readers. Aim for 1–2% keyword density for natural-sounding, SEO-friendly content.
Academic and Professional Compliance
Essays, grant applications, job descriptions, and legal documents often have strict word limits. The real-time counter updates as you type so you can stay within requirements without pasting into a separate tool every few paragraphs.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is reading time calculated?
Reading time is calculated by dividing the total word count by 200 — the widely cited average adult silent reading speed in words per minute. The result is rounded up to the nearest minute. For example, a 1,000-word article shows '5 min read'. This is the same method used by Medium, dev.to, and most content platforms.
How is speaking time calculated?
Speaking time divides word count by 130 wpm — the average conversational speaking speed for presentations and video narration. Professional speakers typically speak 120–150 wpm; fast speakers may reach 160–180 wpm. Use this as a baseline and adjust based on your natural pace.
What are stop words?
Stop words are common functional words that carry little meaning on their own: the, is, at, which, on, a, an, and, or, but, in, of, to, etc. They're excluded from keyword density analysis because counting them would drown out meaningful content words. The focus is on nouns, verbs, adjectives, and multi-word phrases that reflect actual topics.
What are bigrams in keyword density?
Bigrams are two-word phrases extracted from your text. They're more meaningful than single words for SEO — 'content marketing' tells you more than 'content' or 'marketing' separately. The tool slides a 2-word window across your text (after removing stop words) and counts how often each pair appears, then shows the top 5 bigrams.
Is the word counter free and private?
Yes, completely free with no signup and no data collection. All analysis runs locally in your browser — your text is never uploaded to any server. This makes it safe for drafting sensitive content like legal documents, business plans, or personal writing.
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