Word Counter
Live word, character, and SEO target counter
Count words, characters, sentences, paragraphs, and pages in real time. Live target meters for SEO title tags, meta descriptions, X posts, LinkedIn, Facebook, Google Ads, SMS, and more. Reading level, keyword density, and CSV export, with no signup and no ads.
Platform target meters
Live progress against character limits for SEO tags, social posts, and ad copy
Google truncates at ~60 chars on desktop, less on mobile
Aim for 140-160. Google cuts off around 160 on desktop
Top keywords
Most-used words and phrases, with frequency and density
Count, check, and ship clean copy
Type or paste. The tool updates 30+ stats live, including platform-specific character meters most counters skip.
Paste your text
Drop in a blog draft, a meta description, a tweet, an ad, a script, or any text. The editor handles short snippets and long documents equally well.
Watch the stats
Words, characters, sentences, paragraphs, reading level, reading time, and keyword density update as you type. No buttons to click.
Hit your target
Live meters show progress for SEO title tags, meta descriptions, X, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Google Ads, and SMS. Green good, yellow tight, red over.
What Is a Word Counter?
A word counter is a tool that counts the words, characters, sentences, and paragraphs in a piece of text in real time. Writers, marketers, students, journalists, and developers use them to hit length requirements: a 1,500-word blog post, a 60-character meta title, a 280-character X post, a 160-character SMS, a 500-word college essay. Without a counter, you guess. With a counter, you ship.
The KeyGrow Word Counter goes further than the average tool. Alongside the basics, it shows reading time (how long an average reader takes to finish), speaking time (how long it would take to read aloud), reading level (what grade level the text is written at), top keywords (which words you over-use), and character meters for 13 platforms you might be writing for: SEO title tag, meta description, X, Bluesky, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube (title and description), Google Ads (headline and description), and SMS.
Everything runs entirely in your browser. Your text never leaves your device. There are no ads, no signup walls, and no upsells inside the tool. It is offered as a free utility from KeyGrow, a marketing agency that helps businesses rank on Google and AI search engines.
Character Limits Every Marketer Should Know
Every platform has a different ceiling. Some are hard limits (you cannot post past them), others are soft (you can, but engagement drops). The tool tracks both with color-coded meters. Here is what each one is and why it matters.
| Platform / Field | Hard limit | Ideal | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| SEO Title Tag | 60 chars | ~55 chars | Google truncates the title in SERPs around 60 chars on desktop, less on mobile |
| Meta Description | 160 chars | 140-160 | Google cuts the snippet at ~160 chars on desktop. Aim to fit your CTA inside that |
| X (Twitter) Post | 280 chars | any | Hard cap per post. Threads chain multiple 280-char posts |
| Bluesky Post | 300 chars | any | Hard cap. Slightly more breathing room than X |
| LinkedIn Post | 3,000 chars | ~1,300 | Hard cap is 3,000 but engagement drops sharply past ~1,300 chars |
| Facebook Post | 63,206 chars | under 80 | Effective reach drops after 250 chars. Engagement peaks under 80 |
| Instagram Caption | 2,200 chars | under 140 | Truncates after 125 chars on mobile feed. First 138 chars carry the post |
| TikTok Caption | 2,200 chars | any | Hard cap. Earlier caps were lower; current platform allows long captions |
| YouTube Title | 100 chars | ~70 | YouTube truncates titles in feed and search around 70 chars |
| YouTube Description | 5,000 chars | any | Hard cap. First 100-150 chars are what shows above the fold |
| Google Ads Headline | 30 chars | any | Per headline in responsive search ads. Up to 15 headlines per ad |
| Google Ads Description | 90 chars | any | Per description line. Up to 4 descriptions per responsive search ad |
| SMS (1 segment) | 160 chars | under 160 | Carriers split messages over 160 chars into multiple billed segments |
How the Counts Are Calculated
A word counter sounds simple but the details matter. Here is exactly how each stat in this tool is calculated so you know what you are looking at.
Words
Counted by splitting your text on whitespace (spaces, tabs, newlines) and counting non-empty tokens. Hyphenated terms (state-of-the-art) count as one word. Numbers and symbols count when they are surrounded by spaces. This matches Microsoft Word, Google Docs, and most academic word-count rules.
Characters (with and without spaces)
Two counts: total characters including every space, tab, and line break, and the same count with every whitespace character removed. Some platforms (X, SMS, SEO meta tags) count the full character total. Others (academic word-counts, character-only fields) want no-space totals. The tool shows both.
Sentences and paragraphs
Sentences split on the standard terminators (period, exclamation, question mark) followed by whitespace or end of text. Abbreviations like Dr. and U.S.A. can throw off counts in any tool that does not parse them specifically. Paragraphs split on double newlines, matching how plain text and markdown denote paragraph breaks.
Reading and speaking time
Reading time uses 238 words per minute, the average silent reading rate for adult English readers. Speaking time uses 150 words per minute, the rate for clear conversational speech (faster talkers reach 180, audiobook narrators average 155). For a 1,500-word blog post: about 6 minutes reading, about 10 minutes reading aloud.
Reading level (Flesch-Kincaid Grade)
Uses the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level formula: a function of words per sentence and syllables per word. Output is a US school grade. Most marketing copy should target Grade 6 to 8. Anything above Grade 12 is hard to read on a phone. The formula is the same one used in Microsoft Word's readability stats. If you need 5 other formulas (Flesch Reading Ease, Gunning Fog, SMOG, Coleman-Liau, ARI), use our Readability Score Checker tool.
Keyword density
Tokenizes the text, lowercases everything, removes punctuation, and filters out English stop words (the, and, of, is, in, etc.) for single-word density. For 2-word and 3-word phrases, the tool keeps only repeating phrases (count >= 2). Density is shown as a percent of total content words. Useful for spotting over-used keywords or finding the natural top terms in your draft.
Who Uses This Word Counter
The classic case is "I have to write 500 words for school." But the modern case is multi-platform: every channel has different limits, and good marketers hit them all in one draft.
Content marketers and bloggers
Hit your target word count for the post, then check the meta title and description against SEO limits without leaving the tool. Reading level keeps copy scannable; keyword density catches over-stuffing.
Social media managers
Draft a post once, hit the right length for X (280), Bluesky (300), LinkedIn (~1300 sweet spot), Facebook (under 80 for engagement), Instagram caption (under 140 above the fold). All in one screen.
PPC and search marketers
Write Google Ads responsive search ads with 30-char headlines and 90-char descriptions. The platform meters flip yellow before you hit the limit so you can tighten the line before paste.
Writers, students, and journalists
Count words for essays, articles, novels, or reports. See reading time so you know if your 800-word article reads in 3 minutes or 5. Export the full stats sheet as CSV for editor submissions.
Word Counter questions answered
How counts are calculated, what platform limits mean, how to use reading level and keyword density, and where this tool beats the standard alternatives.
A word counter is a tool that counts the words, characters, sentences, and paragraphs in a piece of text. Writers use it to hit length requirements: a 1,500-word blog post, a 60-character meta title, a 280-character X post. The KeyGrow Word Counter also shows reading time, speaking time, reading level, top keywords, and character meters for 13 platforms (SEO tags, X, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Google Ads, SMS, and more) so you can write multi-channel copy in one place.
Yes. The KeyGrow Word Counter is 100% free with no signup, no login, no email gate, no ads, and no usage limits. Count unlimited text, export unlimited CSV reports. No paid tier and no upsell inside the tool. We offer it as a free utility from KeyGrow, a marketing agency that helps brands rank on Google and AI search engines.
No. The Word Counter runs entirely in your browser using client-side JavaScript. Your text never touches our servers, never gets logged, never gets sent over the network. You can verify this by opening DevTools network tab while typing. The tool also works offline after the first page load.
The word count splits text on whitespace and counts non-empty tokens, which matches the rules used by Microsoft Word, Google Docs, and most academic counters. Hyphenated terms count as one word (state-of-the-art = 1). Numbers count when surrounded by spaces. For most use cases the count matches what your editor or grader expects within 1 word.
Two counts are shown. "Characters" includes every space, tab, and line break. "Characters (no spaces)" removes all whitespace. Different platforms want different counts: X, SMS, SEO meta tags use the full character count (spaces matter). Some academic and form fields count only non-whitespace characters. The tool shows both so you can pick the one you need.
Reading time uses 238 words per minute, which is the average silent reading rate for adult English readers. Speaking time uses 150 words per minute, which is the rate for clear conversational speech. For a 1,500-word blog post you get about 6 minutes of reading time and about 10 minutes if you read it aloud. The estimates are approximate (faster readers hit 300+ wpm; audiobook narrators read at 155 wpm), but reliable for sizing content.
Reading level is the US school grade required to understand the text, calculated using the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level formula (a function of words per sentence and syllables per word). The same formula Microsoft Word uses in its readability stats. For marketing copy, target Grade 6 to 8. Blog posts: Grade 7 to 9. Technical docs: Grade 10 to 12. Anything above Grade 13 starts to feel academic. For 6 readability formulas at once (Flesch, Gunning Fog, SMOG, Coleman-Liau, ARI, FKGL), use our Readability Score Checker tool.
Live progress bars for the character limits of 13 places marketers write: SEO Title Tag (60), Meta Description (160), X/Twitter (280), Bluesky (300), LinkedIn (3000), Facebook (250 effective), Instagram (2200), TikTok (2200), YouTube Title (100), YouTube Description (5000), Google Ads Headline (30), Google Ads Description (90), and SMS (160). Each meter shows the current count, the limit, and a color that flips from green to yellow to red as you approach and pass the cap. Some have an "ideal" line that flags engagement-optimal length even if the hard cap is higher.
The tool tokenizes your text, lowercases it, strips punctuation, and counts how often each word appears. For single-word density, it filters out English stop words (the, and, of, is, in, on, to, for, with, by, etc.). For 2-word and 3-word phrases, it shows only repeating combinations (count of 2 or more). Density is the percent of total content words. Useful for spotting over-stuffed keywords or finding the natural top terms in your draft. Old SEO advice said 1-3% density was the target; modern SEO ignores density and focuses on topical coverage instead.
The tool uses 250 words per page (the academic standard for double-spaced 12pt Times New Roman with 1-inch margins). Single-spaced pages hold around 500 words. The page count is shown to 2 decimal places so you can see exactly how close you are to the next page boundary. Quick reference: 250 words = 1 page, 500 words = 2 pages, 1,000 words = 4 pages, 5,000 words = 20 pages, 10,000 words = 40 pages.
Yes. The "Export stats as CSV" button in the stats sidebar downloads a CSV with every stat the tool calculates: word count, character counts (with and without spaces), sentence count, paragraph count, line count, page count, reading time, speaking time, reading level, average words per sentence, average characters per word, and total syllables. Useful for academic submissions, editor handoffs, or content brief documents.
Word and character counts work for any Unicode text including Spanish, French, German, Russian, Greek, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. Sentences and paragraphs use Latin punctuation conventions (period, exclamation, question mark) and may under-count for Chinese, Japanese, and Korean which use different sentence terminators. Reading level (Flesch-Kincaid) is calibrated for English and will produce nonsense scores for other languages. Word and character meters work the same regardless of script.
It counts everything in the text box as-is. If you paste HTML, the tags count as characters and the tag names count as words. If you paste markdown, the syntax (** _ # > etc.) counts. For accurate counts of just the visible text, paste the rendered output, not the source. If you need to clean AI text or strip markdown before counting, run it through our Prompt Cleaner tool first.
wordcounter.net adds ads, a Grammarly upsell, and a busy UI. QuillBot focuses on Facebook (250), X (280), and Google (300) only. Grammarly's is a thin wrapper around a Grammarly signup CTA. The KeyGrow Word Counter has no ads, no signup, no upsell inside the tool, supports 13 platform meters (not 3), shows reading level, top keywords with 1/2/3-word n-grams, sentence and word averages, and exports the full stats as CSV. All client-side, all free, no friction.
Quick reference based on platform research and 2026 best practices: Blog posts that rank tend to be 1,500-2,500 words. Meta descriptions: 140-160 chars. SEO title tags: 50-60 chars. X posts: under 280, ideally 100-150 for engagement. LinkedIn: 1,000-1,300 for max reach. Facebook: under 80 for engagement, under 250 for effective reach. Instagram caption: hook in first 138 chars (truncates after that). Google Ads headline: hit close to 30 to use the slot. SMS: stay under 160 to avoid multi-segment billing.
Yes. The editor, stats sidebar, platform meters, and keyword density grid all reflow for narrow screens. The stats sidebar moves below the editor on mobile. Copy and download buttons use the native clipboard and download APIs and work on mobile Safari, Chrome, and Firefox. For long documents a desktop browser is more comfortable, but mobile works for quick post and meta-tag length checks.
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