How this tool works
The count updates as you type. There is no button and no upload step, which also means your text never leaves your device — worth knowing if you are pasting an unpublished manuscript or a client contract.
Words are runs of text separated by whitespace, so a hyphenated compound counts as one. Characters include spaces, punctuation and line breaks, which is the figure most platforms enforce their limits against. Reading time divides the word count by 200 and rounds up. Sentence counting is the honest weak point: abbreviations inflate it, because a full stop after Dr. or a.m. looks like the end of a sentence to any splitter.
Limits worth knowing
- Academic work: most institutions allow ten percent either way, but what counts towards the total — footnotes, block quotes, the bibliography — varies. Check the brief rather than assume.
- Search results: titles are cut at roughly 60 characters and meta descriptions at about 155, though the real limit is pixel width, so wide capitals spend the budget faster.
- Speaking: comfortable delivery runs 130 to 150 words a minute, so a five-minute talk is around 650 to 750 words. The reading time shown here uses the faster silent-reading figure.
- Cutting ten percent: delete hedges, unwind "there is" constructions, and try removing the first sentence of each paragraph — it is often throat-clearing.