Free tool
Word & Character Counter
Paste or type your text to count words, characters, sentences and paragraphs, estimate reading and speaking time, and check it against text message, Google Business Profile, X and search snippet limits. It runs in your browser and nothing is saved.
How to use this tool
- Paste your textType or paste into the box. The counts update as you type.
- Check your limitScroll to Limits to see how close you are to a text message segment, Google post, X post or search snippet.
- Edit and trimUse the repeated words and average word length to spot padding, then shorten until you are under the limit.
How we count
- Characters are what a person sees as one symbol, so an emoji counts as 1 (using the browser's text segmentation when available). Spaces are included, with a separate count without them.
- Sentences end at . ! ? or an ellipsis followed by a space or the end. Decimals like 3.5 do not end a sentence, but abbreviations such as "e.g." can, so treat it as an estimate.
- Paragraphs are blocks separated by a blank line. Lines are every line break plus one.
- Reading time = words ÷ 200 × 60 seconds; speaking time = words ÷ 130 × 60 seconds. Both speeds are editable assumptions.
- SMS segments: if every character is in the GSM-7 basic set or its extension table, one message holds 160 septets, or 153 per part when split. Extension characters ({ } [ ] ~ ^ | \ €) take 2. Any other character, such as an emoji or a curly quote, switches the message to UCS-2: 70 per message, 67 per part. An escape pair or emoji is never split between parts.
Platform limits change and carriers handle messages differently, so use the SMS numbers as a close estimate and check the others with the platform.
Frequently asked questions
How does the counter decide what a word is?
A word is a run of letters or digits. Apostrophes and hyphens inside a word keep it as one word, so "don't" and "e-mail" each count once, and a decimal such as 3.5 counts once. Stand-alone symbols and dashes are not words. Tick the CJK box if you write in Chinese, Japanese or Korean kanji and kana, and each such character is counted as a word.
How many characters fit in one text message?
A single message holds 160 characters when it uses the standard GSM-7 alphabet, or 70 when it needs Unicode (UCS-2). Longer messages are split into segments of 153 (GSM-7) or 67 (UCS-2) characters, because each segment carries some linking data. A few GSM-7 characters, such as { } [ ] ~ ^ | \ and the euro sign, count as two.
Why did my text suddenly become several segments?
One character outside the GSM-7 alphabet switches the whole message to Unicode, which has a much smaller limit. The usual culprits are emoji and the curly quotes or apostrophes that word processors insert. The limits panel lists the characters that caused the switch so you can swap them for plain ones.
Are the Google, X and meta limits exact?
Treat them as guidelines. The post, review-reply and X numbers are the commonly cited maximums, but platforms change them and count some characters differently, such as links on X. Meta title and description lengths are not hard limits: search engines truncate by pixel width and may rewrite what you provide. Always check the platform before you publish.
What do the reading and speaking times assume?
They divide your word count by a words-per-minute figure: 200 for silent reading and 130 for speaking aloud, such as a voicemail greeting or a video script. Those are adjustable assumptions, not facts about your audience, so change them to match how you or your readers actually go.
Is my text saved or sent anywhere?
No. Everything is counted in your browser while you type and nothing is uploaded or stored. We only count anonymous usage events, such as which tool was opened, never your text.