Word Counter
Count words, characters, sentences & reading time — live as you type
Paste or type your text and this counts the words, characters (with and without spaces), sentences and paragraphs as you go, and estimates how long the piece takes to read aloud or silently. It's the quick check for anything with a limit attached — an essay word count, a personal statement, a tweet, or a meta description that has to fit.
Your Text
📱 Social Media Character Limits
How much of each platform's limit have you used?
Why word and character limits exist
Different limits exist for different reasons, and knowing which you're up against helps you cut in the right place. Academic word counts are usually about fairness and focus — everyone gets the same room to make their case. Character limits are almost always about display space: a search result shows roughly the first 60 characters of a title and 155 of a description before trailing off, a text message splits into a second charge past 160 characters, and social platforms cap posts to keep feeds moving.
Reading time, which this tool estimates at around 200 to 250 words a minute for silent reading and slower for speech, is handy for judging whether a talk will fit its slot. When you're over a limit, cutting whole sentences almost always reads better than shaving individual words.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
How do I count words online? ▼
Simply paste or type your text into the box above. The word counter updates live as you type — showing word count, character count, sentence count, paragraphs, and reading time instantly. No need to click anything.
What is the Twitter / X character limit? ▼
X (formerly Twitter) allows 280 characters per post. The character limit bar above shows exactly how close you are. URLs count as 23 characters regardless of their actual length.
How is reading time calculated? ▼
Reading time is calculated at the average adult reading speed of 238 words per minute. Speaking time uses 130 words per minute (average conversational speech). These are averages — your actual speed may vary.
Does this save my text? ▼
No — everything runs entirely in your browser. Your text is never sent to any server. When you close the tab it's gone. This is 100% private.
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