Free tools

Word counter, with characters, sentences and reading time

Count words, characters and sentences as you type, and see how long the text takes to read. Everything runs locally — your text never leaves the browser.

Words
0
Characters
0
Characters (no spaces)
0
Sentences
0
Reading time
—

How long is this, and how long will it take to read?

Two numbers, really: how much text there is, and how much of somebody's evening it will cost. We built this one for ourselves — Sapiens has to estimate how long a lesson takes before it writes it — and left it here because most word counters on the web are a wrapper around an ad slot. Nothing is stored, nothing is sent, and there is no cap on how much you paste.

  • Counts as you type: words, characters, characters without spaces, and sentences.
  • Reading time at 220 words a minute — the usual pace for an adult reading ordinary prose silently — rounded up to the minute.
  • A word is any run of text between spaces; sentences are split on . ! ? and …
  • No upload, no storage, no account, no limit: once the page has loaded, the counting is arithmetic in your browser.

About the numbers

How is reading time worked out?

Words ÷ 220, rounded up to whole minutes. 220 words a minute is a fair average for an adult reading prose silently — slow it down in your head for technical writing, speed it up for a novel.

Does the character count include spaces?

Both are shown: characters as typed, and characters without spaces, which is the one most editors and form limits mean.

What counts as a sentence?

Anything ending in . ! ? or … Abbreviations and decimals will therefore push the count up a little: it is an estimate, not a parser.

Is my text saved or sent anywhere?

No. It is never uploaded, never stored, and gone when you close the tab.

Like the tools? Wait until it writes you a course.

These are free because they're the easy part. The product turns a topic into a course you'd actually read — and sends it to the same Kindle.

Start for free

More free tools