Word & Character Counter
Count words, characters, sentences and paragraphs online with reading and speaking time, keyword density, SMS parts and limits for X, Instagram and meta tags.
Runs in your browser · Nothing uploaded · No sign-up
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About the Word & Character Counter
The Word Counter counts words, characters (with and without spaces), sentences, paragraphs, lines and UTF-8 bytes as you type, with reading and speaking time. It also checks the text against common limits (X posts, title tags, meta descriptions, Google Ads, Instagram, LinkedIn and essays), shows how many SMS messages it takes, and lists the words you use most.
Everything runs in your browser, so your input is never uploaded to a server.
How to use the Word & Character Counter
- Type or paste your text into the box.
- Read the live counts, reading time and speaking time on the right.
- Check Length limits to see how many characters are left (or over) for each platform, and the SMS line for the number of messages.
- Use Top words to find words you repeat too often, then edit until the text fits.
Character and word limits
The limits the Word Counter checks as you type. Title and meta description lengths are where Google usually cuts the text off, not hard limits.
| Where | Limit | Counted in | Good to know |
|---|---|---|---|
| X (Twitter) post | 280 | Characters | Emoji and Chinese, Japanese or Korean characters count as two; links count as 23 |
| Google title tag | About 60 | Characters | Google cuts titles by pixel width, so wide letters fit fewer |
| Meta description | About 155–160 | Characters | Shorter on phones; Google may show other text from the page instead |
| Google Ads headline | 30 | Characters | Descriptions: 90 characters |
| YouTube title | 100 | Characters | Descriptions: 5,000 characters |
| Instagram caption | 2,200 | Characters | Only the first lines show before “more” |
| LinkedIn post | 3,000 | Characters | Only the first lines show before “see more” |
| SMS | 160 (70) | GSM-7 characters (Unicode) | One emoji or Hindi letter switches the message to 70; split messages hold 153 or 67 each |
| Common App essay | 650 | Words | The personal essay; the minimum is 250 words |
Checked on 3 November 2026. Platforms change their limits from time to time.
Common mistakes
- Characters versus bytes. A database column limited to 255 bytes may hold far fewer than 255 characters of accented or non-Latin text. Check the UTF-8 size for byte limits.
- Emoji counts. Some emoji are several code points joined together, such as family or flag emoji. Different systems count them as one to eleven characters.
- Sentence detection. Sentences are split at ., ! and ?. Abbreviations such as "e.g." or "Dr." can add extra sentences to the count.
Works well with the Word & Character Counter
- Meta Tag Generator: write a title and description within search-result limits.
- Case Converter: change the case of the text.
- Lorem Ipsum Generator: generate placeholder text of a given length.
Frequently asked questions
Why do bytes and characters differ?
In UTF-8, letters outside basic English (accents, other scripts, emoji) use two to four bytes each. Databases and APIs often limit bytes, not characters.
How are reading and speaking time estimated?
Reading time uses about 230 words per minute, a typical silent reading speed. Speaking time uses 130 words per minute, a comfortable pace for talks and voice-overs.
How are characters counted?
As the letters you see: an accented letter or an emoji made of several code points counts once. Spaces and line breaks count too; the Without spaces figure leaves out all whitespace.
Why does my SMS count as two messages?
One SMS holds 160 characters from the GSM-7 alphabet. A single emoji, a Hindi letter or a curly quote switches the whole message to Unicode, which holds 70. Longer messages are split into parts of 153 (or 67) characters. The counter shows the encoding and the number of parts.
What is keyword density?
How often a word appears as a share of all words. Top words lists the most frequent ones, leaving out common words like “the” and “and” unless you switch that off. Use it to spot a word you repeat too often; there is no ideal percentage for search engines.
Is my text stored?
No. Counting happens in your browser as you type, and nothing is uploaded.
Guides and tutorials
- Security & Encoding
Unicode and UTF-8 Explained: Why String Length Lies
Code points, UTF-8 bytes, UTF-16 code units and graphemes: why an emoji has length 2 in JavaScript, how mojibake happens, and how to count and compare text.
· 5 min read
- Programming Languages
Strings in C: char Arrays, the Null Terminator and the Bugs to Avoid
Strings in C explained with tested examples: char arrays, the \0 terminator, strlen vs sizeof, strcmp, strtok, strtol, string arrays and safe copying.
· 9 min read
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