Character Counter
Count characters, words, sentences, paragraphs and reading time, instantly as you type
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Characters
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No spaces
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Words
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Sentences
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Paragraphs
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Lines
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Reading time
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Speaking time
Know Before You Post Whether Your Caption Actually Fits
This counter recalculates on every keystroke: characters, characters with whitespace stripped out, words (split on any run of whitespace), sentences (split on periods, question marks, and exclamation points), paragraphs (split on blank lines), and total lines. From the word count it derives two estimates, reading time at 238 words per minute and speaking time at 130 words per minute, the commonly cited averages for silent adult reading and spoken delivery respectively, useful for judging how long a video script or a presentation script will actually take to say out loud versus how long it takes to read on a page.
Below the core stats, a set of progress bars checks your text's character count against six real platform limits: Twitter/X's 280 characters, Instagram and TikTok bio limits, Meta (Google) description length for SEO snippets, YouTube title length, and standard SMS length. Each bar fills as you approach the limit and turns red the moment you go over, with the exact overage shown in characters, so you know precisely how much to trim rather than guessing. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere; every count is computed locally as you type, and a one-click copy button grabs the exact text you're working with, whitespace and all.
How to Use
- 1
Type or paste your text into the box
Every stat below recalculates immediately with each keystroke. There's no button to click to get a count.
- 2
Check the four headline numbers
Characters, characters without spaces, words, and sentences are shown as large stat tiles at the top.
- 3
Scroll to paragraphs, lines, and time estimates
Paragraph and line counts sit next to reading time (238 wpm) and speaking time (130 wpm) estimates.
- 4
Watch the platform limit bars
Once you've typed something, bars for Twitter, Instagram bio, TikTok bio, Meta description, YouTube title, and SMS show how close you are to each limit, turning red if you go over.
Key Features
- →The 'no spaces' count strips every whitespace character, spaces, tabs, and line breaks alike, not just the spaces between words.
- →A sentence is counted on periods, question marks, and exclamation points, so abbreviations with periods (like 'Dr.' or 'e.g.') can slightly inflate the sentence count.
- →Meta descriptions display best in search results under roughly 160 characters; going over doesn't break anything but the tail end gets truncated with an ellipsis.
- →Speaking time (130 wpm) is meant for scripted, natural-paced delivery, a fast talker or a rehearsed announcer will run faster than this estimate.
- →For a quick full-box replace, select all text with Ctrl+A (or Cmd+A on Mac) inside the textarea, then just start typing to overwrite it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does this tool count sentences accurately for all kinds of text?
It splits on periods, question marks, and exclamation points, which works well for standard prose but can overcount sentences in text full of abbreviations, decimal numbers, or ellipses, since those also contain periods.
What's the difference between the two time estimates?
Reading time uses roughly 238 words per minute, the commonly cited average silent adult reading speed, while speaking time uses about 130 words per minute, closer to natural spoken delivery, useful for timing a script or speech.
Why does the Twitter bar turn red before I even reach 280 characters?
It only turns red once you actually exceed the limit; below 280 it shows yellow once you're past about 80% of the limit as an early warning, then red only after you cross the line.
Is my text saved anywhere while I'm typing?
No. All counting happens locally in your browser as you type. Nothing is transmitted or stored, and refreshing the page clears whatever was in the box.
Can I count characters in a language other than English?
Yes, the character and word counts work on any Unicode text, though word-splitting logic (based on whitespace) works best for languages that separate words with spaces.
Last updated: June 2026