Writing & Text
Character Counter
Live counts of characters, words, sentences, and reading time as you type — with presets for X, meta descriptions, and more.
How it works
Behind the numbers
Type or paste and every metric updates instantly: characters with and without spaces, words, sentences, and paragraphs. Word boundaries follow Unicode rules, so hyphenated terms and contractions count the way you'd expect.
Platform presets measure your text against real limits — X's 280 characters, a meta description's ~155, an Instagram caption's 2,200 — with a progress bar that warns you before you overflow.
Reading time assumes about 200 words per minute; speaking time about 130. Useful for essays with word counts, video scripts, and anything with a hard limit.
FAQ
Questions, answered
Do spaces count as characters?
We show both counts, because it depends on the limit. Most platform limits — X posts, SMS — count spaces, so use the 'with spaces' number when checking against them.
How is reading time calculated?
Word count divided by 200 words per minute, the commonly cited average adult reading speed for comprehension.
What is the X (Twitter) character limit?
280 characters for standard posts. The preset above tracks it live, including spaces.
How long should a meta description be?
Around 155 characters — Google typically truncates beyond that. The preset shows exactly where the cut happens.
Is my text uploaded anywhere?
No. Counting happens entirely in your browser with JavaScript. Close the tab and it's gone.