🔢 Free · private · in-browser
Word counter — words, characters, sentences & reading time
Live counts as you type or paste, with reading-time estimates.
Why word counts matter more than ever
Nearly everything you write today has a length target. College essays cap at 650 words. Cover letters work best at 250–400. X posts truncate, meta descriptions cut off at ~160 characters, and editors commission articles by word count. Hitting the target isn’t bureaucracy — length limits exist because attention is finite, and writing that respects them gets read. This counter gives you every number that matters, live, as you type or paste.
The numbers explained
Words — whitespace-separated tokens, the standard used by Word and Google Docs. Characters — every letter, digit, space, and punctuation mark (the number platforms like X and SMS actually enforce). Characters without spaces — used by translation and typesetting pricing. Sentences and paragraphs — quick structure checks: if your paragraph count is low and sentence count is high, you’ve written a wall of text. Reading time (225 wpm) is what Medium-style “4 min read” badges are based on. Speaking time (140 wpm) converts a script or speech draft into minutes on stage — a 5-minute talk is roughly 700 words.
Common length targets (2026)
Blog post that ranks: 1,200–2,500 words. Newsletter: 500–800. LinkedIn post: 150–300 before the fold. Meta description: 120–160 characters. X/Twitter: 280 characters (25,000 for subscribers, but the first 280 still decide the click). YouTube description first line: ~100 characters. Podcast intro: 100–150 words. College application essay (Common App): 650 words hard cap. When a platform gives a range, aim for the middle — limits are tested at the edges.
Private and instant
Everything on this page happens in your browser. Your text — whether it’s a diary entry or an unpublished manuscript — is never uploaded, analyzed server-side, or stored. That’s a deliberate FileNimbus design rule: tools that can run on your device, do. Create a free account if you’d like your usage history saved across visits; the text itself is never part of that history.
Frequently asked questions
How is the word count calculated?
Text is split on whitespace after trimming, the same method word processors use. Hyphenated compounds count as one word; contractions count as one word.
What reading speed is the estimate based on?
Reading time uses 225 words per minute (average adult silent reading); speaking time uses 140 words per minute (a comfortable presentation pace).
Is my text stored or sent anywhere?
No. Counting happens live in your browser as you type — nothing is transmitted, logged, or stored. Refreshing the page clears everything.
What counts as a sentence?
Runs of text ending in ., !, ?, or …. Abbreviations can occasionally inflate the count slightly — treat it as a close estimate, not a grammar-checker verdict.
Does it work for long documents?
Yes — the counter handles book-length manuscripts (hundreds of thousands of words) instantly, because everything is computed locally.