Character Counter
Paste or type your text below to count characters, words, sentences and paragraphs instantly. Everything runs in your browser, so nothing you type is sent anywhere.
Runs entirely in your browser — nothing you type is uploaded or stored.
Check against a limit
What this tool counts
This counter tracks six things as you type. Characters with spaces is the total length of your text, which is what most platforms measure against their limits. Characters without spaces ignores spaces and line breaks, which some academic and publishing guidelines use instead. Words are counted by splitting on spaces, so hyphenated terms like "well-known" count as one. Sentences are counted by full stops, question marks and exclamation marks. Paragraphs are separated by blank lines. Reading time estimates how long the text takes to read aloud or scan, based on an average of around 200 words per minute.
Emoji and accented characters are counted the way modern platforms count them — a single emoji is one character, not two, which is a common source of confusion when a post looks like it should fit but doesn't.
Common character limits
Different platforms cut you off at different lengths, and a few of them matter more than people expect.
- X (Twitter) — 280 characters. Links and emoji still count toward this, so a post that reads as short can run over.
- SEO page title — around 60 characters. Google truncates longer titles in search results. It actually measures pixel width rather than a strict character count, so 60 is a practical guideline rather than a hard rule — shorter is safer.
- SEO meta description — around 160 characters. Longer descriptions get cut off with an ellipsis. Front-load the important words so they survive truncation.
- Instagram caption — 2,200 characters, though only the first couple of lines show before "more", so put the hook at the start.
- LinkedIn post — 3,000 characters, with roughly the first 200 visible before the "see more" cut.
- SMS — 160 characters per message. Beyond that, messages are split and may be billed separately, and using certain special characters reduces the limit further.
Why character counts differ between tools
If another counter gives you a different number, it's usually one of three things. Some tools count characters without spaces by default. Some count a line break as one character, others as two (Windows-style line endings use two). And many older tools count emoji and some accented letters as two characters, because of how text is stored internally. This counter treats a visible character as one character, which matches how most platforms count today.
Frequently asked questions
- Is my text sent to a server?
- No. The counter runs entirely in your browser using JavaScript. Nothing you type or paste leaves your device, and nothing is stored.
- Does it count spaces?
- Both ways — you'll see characters with spaces and without, side by side.
- How is reading time calculated?
- It uses an average reading speed of about 200 words per minute, which is typical for adults reading general text. Technical material usually takes longer.
- Is there a limit to how much text I can paste?
- No fixed limit. Very large documents may take a moment to process, but the tool handles long text without trouble.
- Does it work on mobile?
- Yes, it's designed to work on any screen size, including small phones.
- Is it free?
- Yes, completely free with no sign-up.