What is Character Counter?

Character Counter shows your character count, word count, sentence count, and reading time as you type. Free and private — nothing leaves your device.

Alongside total characters, the tool tracks words, unique words, sentences, paragraphs, and lines, plus the average word length and average sentence length, and reading time at 200 wpm and speaking time at 130 wpm. A Flesch Reading Ease score with grade-level label flags whether your prose lands at elementary, high-school, or college reading age. Live progress bars show how the text fits SMS (160), Twitter (280), Reddit titles (300), Instagram (2,200), LinkedIn (3,000), and Facebook (63,206), and a custom limit highlights any characters that spill past your target right inside the input. The keyword panel surfaces your most-used words, and CSV export is one click.

How to use

1. Type or paste your text in the input area
2. View live character, word, and sentence counts instantly
3. Check social media character limits and estimated reading time

When to use

• Drafting tweets and Instagram captions to stay under the platform character cap.
• Estimating how long a speech or podcast script will take to read out.
• Tightening meta descriptions and Google Ads copy to a fixed character budget.

Result

Paste your tweet to see if it fits within the 280-character limit, plus reading time of 2 seconds.

FAQ

Does it count emojis the same way social networks do?

Mostly yes, but with caveats. Most emojis are 1-4 JavaScript code units long, so a tweet that looks short can hit Twitter's limit faster than expected. Use the live Twitter bar as the source of truth.

How is reading time calculated?

Word count is divided by 200 words per minute for reading and 130 wpm for speaking. These are the typical adult averages used in publishing. Technical or unfamiliar material can slow readers down by 30-40%.

Why does my paragraph count look low?

Paragraphs are separated by a blank line, not by a single newline. If your text uses single line breaks between paragraphs, hit Enter twice to add a blank line and the counter will catch up.

Are sentence counts accurate for abbreviations like 'e.g.' or 'U.S.A.'?

The detector splits on punctuation followed by whitespace, so abbreviations mid-sentence are handled correctly. A trailing 'etc.' at the end of a paragraph still counts as one sentence boundary, which is what most writing tools do.

Can I save the count to a spreadsheet?

Yes. Use the Export CSV button to download a file with every stat (chars, words, sentences, reading time, top keywords) ready to paste into Excel or Google Sheets. The download happens on your device — your text is never uploaded.

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