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Word counter and reading time

How long is
your text?

Paste or type. See words, characters, sentences, paragraphs and how long the text takes to read, live.

Words
0
Characters
0
No spaces
0
Sentences
0
Paragraphs
0
Reading time
0 sec
Speaking time
0 sec

Assumptions, not measurements: 238 wpm is a commonly cited average for silent reading of non-fiction in English, 150 wpm a typical pace for speaking. Change them to match your audience.

Rough length guides

    Approximate and unofficial. Platforms change limits, and Google cuts titles and descriptions by pixel width, not character count. Check the platform before you publish; for Google, try the SERP snippet checker.

    Guide: how long should a blog post be.

    More tools: Keyword density checker · SERP snippet checker · URL slug generator · Blog post ideas · Readability checker

    Free, no account, nothing leaves your browser.

    How to use it

    1. 1
      Type or paste your text

      Counts update as you type. Nothing is sent anywhere.

    2. 2
      Read the counts

      Words, characters with and without spaces, sentences and paragraphs, plus reading and speaking time.

    3. 3
      Check the length guides

      See how your text compares with rough character limits for a title tag, a meta description, an X post and more. Platforms change their limits, so confirm before you publish.

    Questions

    How is reading time calculated?

    Words divided by an assumed reading speed. The default is 238 words per minute for silent reading and 150 for speaking aloud. Both are averages and are labelled as assumptions: real speed varies a lot by person and by text. You can change both numbers in the tool.

    How does the tool count words?

    A word is any run of characters separated by spaces or line breaks, which is how most word processors count. Hyphenated words count as one. Languages written without spaces between words, such as Chinese or Japanese, will show a low word count; use the character count for those.

    How long should a blog post be?

    There is no ideal length. Google has said it does not use word count as a ranking factor; what matters is whether the post answers the search well. Look at the pages that already rank for your search to see how much ground they cover, then write what the topic needs and no more.

    Are the character limits exact?

    No. They are rough guides from commonly published figures and platforms change them. Google cuts titles and meta descriptions by pixel width, not by characters, so the numbers are only an approximation. To see the real cut-off for a title, use the SERP snippet checker.

    How are sentences counted?

    By full stops, question marks and exclamation marks followed by a space or the end of the text. Abbreviations such as "e.g." and decimal numbers can throw the count off slightly, so treat it as an estimate.

    Is my text sent anywhere?

    No. Everything runs in your browser and nothing is stored.

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