OnlineFreeToolBoxHow-to guide
How to Count Words Online Free
Word limits are everywhere — university essays, job applications, social posts — and counting by hand is slow and unreliable. This guide shows how to count words, characters, sentences and paragraphs as you type, for free, in your browser. Use the free word counter below to count your words as you type.
How to Count Words — step by step
- Type or paste your text into the text area.
- Watch the counts update live as you type.
- Use “Copy text” to copy the text, or “Clear” to start again.
- Check words, characters, characters without spaces, sentences and paragraphs against your limit.
Tips
- Counts update live as you type, so you can watch whether an essay or post meets its limit.
- Two character counts are shown because some limits count spaces and some do not.
- Words separated by spaces count as separate words — hyphenated words joined without spaces count as one.
Frequently asked questions
Does the counter update live?
Yes. Counts update as you type.
Does it count hyphenated words as one or two?
The counter treats words separated by spaces as separate words, which matches how most editors count. Hyphenated words joined without spaces count as one.
Why are there two character counts?
Some limits count spaces and some do not. Showing both means you can check against either rule without recounting.