Word Counter
Paste your text and see at once how long it is: words, characters, sentences and reading time, live as you type.
Count words: how long your text really is
The word counter shows you live, as you type, how long your text is: words, characters with and without spaces, sentences, paragraphs and the estimated reading time. Paste your text above and every number counts along, letter by letter. No uploading, no saving: the whole counter runs in your browser. So you can paste client copy, proposals or unpublished drafts without them ever leaving your machine.
Counting itself is deliberately unspectacular. It becomes useful because almost every channel comes with a length brief: the blog post that needs a certain depth, the column with a fixed length, the LinkedIn post that must not get cut off, the radio spot that has to fit into 20 seconds. Writers count. This tool does the counting for you.
Reading time and speaking time
Beyond the raw numbers, the counter works out two durations. Reading time assumes 200 words per minute, a common pace for silent reading. Speaking time assumes 130 words per minute, the pace of a calm delivery. Speaking time is the underrated one: if you write video scripts, presentations or speeches, you plan better in minutes than in words. Three minutes of video is roughly 400 spoken words, no more.
Readability comes on the side
Below the numbers, the tool also shows your text's Flesch score: a 0 to 100 measure of how easy your text reads. The counter detects the language automatically; German texts run through the Amstad formula, English texts through Rudolf Flesch's original. If you want to know why the score is what it is and where to cut, take the Flesch Score Calculator: it marks up your text like an editor and hands you a ready-made prompt for simplifying.
Frequently asked questions
What counts as a word?
Anything between spaces or punctuation that contains letters or digits. Hyphenated compounds count as one word, and so do numbers like 2026 or 3.5. That matches what word processors like Word or Google Docs count; small differences on edge cases are normal.
Characters with or without spaces: which one applies?
Depends on the brief. Platform limits, like meta descriptions or ads, almost always count spaces. Fees billed by standard page or per character are calculated differently from client to client, which is why the counter shows both values. When in doubt, ask which count is meant.
How accurate is the reading time?
It is an estimate. Practised readers manage 250 words per minute and more, and dense expert copy slows everyone down. For blog posts and newsletters, 200 words per minute is an honest ballpark, not a stopwatch.
Is my text sent anywhere?
No. The counter is plain JavaScript in your browser. Your text never leaves your machine, no server sees it, and nothing is stored.