Text Counter
Count characters, words, sentences, paragraphs, and lines instantly
Text Input
Our free online text counter goes beyond basic counting. It includes advanced readability analysis using industry-standard formulas such as the Flesch Reading Ease score, Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level, SMOG Index, and Coleman-Liau Index. These metrics help you understand how accessible your writing is and what education level your audience needs to comfortably read your content.
The tool also provides a detailed character breakdown showing the number of letters, digits, spaces, punctuation marks, and special characters in your text. This level of detail is invaluable for technical writing, data entry validation, and content analysis. Everything runs entirely in your browser — your text is never sent to any server, ensuring complete privacy and security.
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1Enter or Paste Your Text
Type directly into the text area or paste content from any source using Ctrl+V (Cmd+V on Mac). You can also drag and drop a .txt file onto the input area to load its contents automatically. The counter updates all statistics instantly as you type.
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2View Real-Time Statistics
As soon as text is entered, the statistics panel displays real-time counts for characters, words, sentences, paragraphs, and lines. These update instantly with every keystroke, so you always have an accurate picture of your content.
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3Explore Character Analysis
Expand the Character Analysis section to see a detailed breakdown of your text: how many letters, digits, spaces, punctuation marks, and special characters it contains. This is useful for technical writing and data validation.
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4Check Readability Scores
Open the Readability Scores section to see Flesch Reading Ease, Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level, SMOG Index, and Coleman-Liau Index. These scores help you tailor your writing to your target audience and ensure your content is accessible.
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5Review Time Estimates
Use the reading and speaking time estimates at the bottom of the statistics panel to plan presentations, podcasts, or video scripts. The reading time assumes 225 words per minute and speaking time assumes 130 words per minute.
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6Copy Statistics
Click the Copy Stats button to copy all statistics to your clipboard in a formatted text layout. This is useful for including word counts in reports, assignments, or documentation.
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7Clear and Start Over
Use the trash icon in the input header or the clear button to remove all text and reset the counters. You can then paste or type new content for a fresh analysis.
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8Check Platform Limits
Use the text counter to verify your content fits within character limits for social media (Twitter 280, Instagram 2,200), essays (word count requirements), meta descriptions (155 characters), or any other platform with content restrictions.
What does character count include?
Character count includes every single character in your text: letters (both uppercase and lowercase), numbers, spaces, punctuation marks, and special characters. Our tool also shows a separate count for characters without spaces, which is useful for platforms and contexts where spaces are not counted toward the limit.
How is word count calculated?
Words are counted by splitting text at whitespace boundaries (spaces, tabs, line breaks). Hyphenated words like "well-known" are counted as a single word. Multiple consecutive spaces are treated as one separator. This method aligns with how most word processors and academic institutions count words.
What is reading time and how is it calculated?
Reading time is calculated based on the average adult reading speed of approximately 200-250 words per minute. Speaking time uses a slower rate of about 130-150 words per minute, which accounts for natural pauses and enunciation. These estimates help speakers prepare presentations and writers gauge how long their content takes to consume.
Does it count HTML tags?
Our text counter analyzes plain text. If you paste HTML content, the tags will be counted as regular characters. For best results with web content, copy the visible text from the webpage rather than the source code.
Can I use this for social media character limits?
Absolutely. Our text counter is perfect for social media content creation. Common platform limits include: Twitter/X posts (280 characters), Instagram captions (2,200 characters), LinkedIn posts (3,000 characters), Facebook posts (63,206 characters), YouTube titles (100 characters), and SMS messages (160 characters). Type your text and watch the character count to stay within limits.
What's the difference between characters and words?
Characters represent every individual symbol in your text, including letters, digits, spaces, and punctuation — each one counts as one character. Words, on the other hand, are groups of characters separated by spaces. For example, the phrase "Hello world" has 11 characters (including the space) but only 2 words.
Does it work with non-English text?
Yes, our text counter supports text in any language including Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Arabic, Hindi, and all Latin-based languages. Character and word counting works accurately across different writing systems, though the concept of a "word" may differ in languages like Chinese and Japanese that do not use spaces between words.
How are emojis counted?
Yes, emojis are counted as characters. Most modern emojis consist of one or more Unicode code points. A simple emoji like a smiley face counts as one character, while complex emojis (like those with skin tone modifiers or family compositions) may count as multiple characters depending on the platform.
What do the readability scores mean?
The readability scores measure how easy your text is to understand. The Flesch Reading Ease score ranges from 0 to 100 (higher means easier). The Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level indicates the U.S. school grade needed to understand the text. The SMOG Index estimates the years of education required. The Coleman-Liau Index uses character counts rather than syllable counts for its grade-level estimate.
Is my text secure and private?
Yes, your text is completely secure. All counting and analysis happens entirely in your browser using JavaScript. Your text is never transmitted to any server, stored in any database, or shared with any third party. You can verify this by using the tool offline after the page loads.
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