Word Counter
Count words, characters, sentences, paragraphs, and reading time — instantly.
Free Online Word Counter Tool
The Toolts Word Counter is a free, instant text analysis tool that helps writers, students, bloggers, and professionals track the length and structure of their writing. Whether you need to meet a specific word count for an essay, check character limits for a social media post, or estimate reading time for a blog article, this tool gives you everything in real time.
What Does the Word Counter Measure?
Every time you type or paste text into the editor, the word counter updates six key metrics instantly:
- Words — Total number of words, separated by spaces. Hyphenated words like "well-known" count as one word, matching the convention used by most text editors.
- Characters — Total character count including spaces. Useful for platforms with character limits like Twitter (280 characters) or meta descriptions (155–160 characters).
- Characters without spaces — Character count excluding all whitespace. Some academic and translation contexts require this specific count.
- Sentences — Detected by periods, question marks, and exclamation points. The counter handles abbreviations (Mr., Dr., etc.) intelligently.
- Paragraphs — Counted by line breaks. Each block of text separated by an empty line is one paragraph.
- Reading time — Based on an average reading speed of 238 words per minute, the standard established by research in cognitive science.
Who Uses a Word Counter?
Word counters are among the most commonly used online tools, and for good reason. Nearly every type of writing has a length requirement or optimal range. Students need to meet essay word counts, typically between 250 and 5,000 words depending on the assignment. Bloggers optimize for SEO by targeting articles of 1,500 to 2,500 words. Copywriters must fit text within precise character limits for ads, headlines, and product descriptions. Translators often charge by word count, making accurate measurement essential for billing.
Social media managers also rely on character counts to stay within platform limits. A tweet allows 280 characters. An Instagram caption can be up to 2,200 characters. A LinkedIn post maxes out at 3,000 characters. This tool helps you check all of those limits without leaving your browser.
How Reading Time Is Calculated
The estimated reading time is based on 238 words per minute, which comes from a 2019 meta-analysis of reading speed studies involving over 18,000 participants. This is the most commonly cited average for adult silent reading of non-fiction text in English. For reference, speaking time is typically calculated at 150 words per minute, which is the average for presentations and public speaking.
Top Keywords Feature
The word counter also identifies the most frequently used words in your text, filtering out common English stop words (the, and, is, etc.). This keyword density feature helps content creators understand which terms dominate their writing — useful for SEO optimization, ensuring topic relevance, and avoiding repetitive language.
Privacy First
All text analysis happens entirely in your browser. Nothing you type or paste is sent to any server, stored in any database, or shared with any third party. Your content stays private, always.