Word & Character Counter
Count words, characters, sentences, and paragraphs. See reading time and keyword density. Runs in your browser with no data sent to any server.
Word & Character Counter
Runs entirely in your browser — no server calls, no tracking.
Enter text and click Count.
🔒 Your data never leaves this tab. This tool has no backend.
About the Word & Character Counter
This tool counts words, characters (with and without spaces), sentences, and paragraphs, and estimates reading time at 225 words per minute (the average adult reading speed for non-fiction). It also shows the top keywords after filtering common stop words — useful for checking if your content repeats the right target keywords for SEO.
Character limits for common platforms
Meta description: 155 characters. Title tag: 60 characters. Twitter/X tweet: 280 characters. LinkedIn post: 3,000 characters (preview truncates at ~210). SMS: 160 characters (or 153 per segment for multi-part). Google Ads headline: 30 characters. Google Ads description: 90 characters. Use this counter to check copy before submitting to any platform with a character limit.
Reading time and content planning
Reading time estimates help set user expectations and plan content formats. A 300-word article is a quick read (~1.5 min) — appropriate for a news item or product description. A 1,500-word post is a medium read (~7 min) — appropriate for a how-to guide or technical explanation. A 2,500+ word piece (~11+ min) is long-form — suitable for comprehensive pillar content, case studies, or guides intended to rank for competitive keywords.
Word counts in Google Docs, Word, UCAS and Overleaf
Different tools count differently, which is why the same document can show three different numbers. Here is what each one does and where this counter fits.
| Tool | How to check | Counts |
|---|---|---|
| Google Docs | Tools → Word count, or Ctrl+Shift+C | Body text; footnotes optional |
| Microsoft Word | Review → Word Count | Body; textboxes and footnotes optional |
| Overleaf / LaTeX | The word-count button | Rendered text, not markup |
| PowerPoint | No live counter | Paste slides here instead |
Paste from any of them into the box above and you get an immediate count that does not depend on the source application — useful when a submission portal disagrees with your editor.
UCAS personal statements
The UCAS personal statement limit is 4,000 characters including spaces, or 47 lines — whichever you hit first. That character limit is the one that catches people out, because a piece comfortably inside a word target can still exceed it. This counter shows characters with and without spaces alongside the word count, so you can check both before pasting into the UCAS form.
Counting without references or quotes
Most universities exclude the reference list from the word count, and some exclude block quotations and footnotes too. Word processors will not do this for you automatically. The reliable method is to paste only the sections that count — introduction through conclusion — and check that figure against your limit, keeping your bibliography out of the box.
What counts as a word
This tool counts a word as any run of characters separated by whitespace, which matches Google Docs and Microsoft Word. Hyphenated compounds count as one word; an em dash surrounded by spaces does not count as a word. Numbers and dates count as words, so “12 March 2026” counts as three.
Frequently asked questions
Open Tools then Word count, or press Ctrl+Shift+C (Cmd+Shift+C on a Mac). Tick “Display word count while typing” to keep it on screen. Google Docs counts body text and lets you include or exclude footnotes; pasting into this counter gives you the same figure plus character counts with and without spaces.
UCAS limits the personal statement to 4,000 characters including spaces, or 47 lines, whichever comes first. It is a character limit rather than a word limit, which is why a statement that looks the right length can still be rejected. This counter shows characters with and without spaces so you can check before submitting.
Paste only the sections that count towards the limit — usually introduction through conclusion — and leave the bibliography out of the box. Word processors cannot exclude a reference list automatically. Check your institution's rules: most exclude references, and some also exclude block quotes and footnotes.
PowerPoint has no built-in word counter, so select the slide text and paste it here. For a PDF, select the text in your reader and paste it in the same way. Because this tool counts whatever is in the box, it works regardless of which application the text came from.
Yes for ordinary prose. Both count a word as any run of characters separated by whitespace, so hyphenated compounds count as one word and numbers count as words. Small differences can appear with unusual punctuation, textboxes or footnotes, which Word may include or exclude depending on your settings.
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