💡 Student Tip: Writing an essay? Set your Word target above (for example, 500 words) and watch the bar fill up as you write. The Reading time tells you how long your essay takes to read, and the Speaking time tells you how long it takes to present.

Free Online Word Counter — Count Words, Characters & Sentences Instantly

Whether you are finishing a 500-word essay, checking a tweet, or proofreading a client report, our free word counter gives you the answer in seconds. Paste your text — or drop in a whole PDF, Word, Excel or CSV file — and see your word count, character count, sentence count and reading time live, right in your browser. No signup, no fees, and your files never leave your device.

A word counter (sometimes called a word count checker or word checker) does one simple job: it counts. But modern writing has modern problems — professors set strict word limits, social media caps your characters, and job applications reject you silently when you write too much or too little. That is why our tool goes further than a basic counter: it also counts sentences, paragraphs, lines and unique words, shows keyword frequency, and even downloads a full stats report as a PDF, Word or Excel file. Nobody else in this category does that — we checked six rival tools line by line before building ours.

How to Use the Word Counter

Type or paste your text into the box. The numbers update live as you type — no button needed.
Or upload a file: click Upload File and choose a TXT, PDF, Word (.docx), Excel (.xlsx) or CSV file. The whole file is counted at once — even a 12,000-character essay.
Read your stats in the dashboard: words, characters, characters without spaces, sentences, paragraphs, lines, reading time and speaking time.
Copy or download: use Copy Stats for a quick paste into an email, or Download to save your text or a complete stats report as TXT, PDF, Word or Excel.

Your draft is auto-saved in your browser, so an accidental refresh never loses your work. And because everything runs on your device, it is safe to count private documents — nothing is uploaded to any server.

Everything It Counts

Words — the number every teacher and editor asks for
Characters and characters without spaces — for platforms that count differently
Sentences, paragraphs and lines — see your text’s structure at a glance
Unique words — how much of your vocabulary you actually used
Average sentence length and longest sentence — spot the run-on sentence dragging your writing down
Keyword (word) frequency — which words you repeat most, with exact counts and percentages
Reading time and speaking time — how long your text takes to read or to say out loud, estimated from average reading and speaking speeds

The Word Counter That Counts Whole Files

Here is our honest edge. We read six of the biggest word counter sites before building ours, and here is what we found: not one of them lets you upload a PDF. Not one lets you upload an Excel or CSV file. The best file support anywhere was Word documents on one site — and nobody, anywhere, lets you download a stats report of your counts.

So we built exactly that. Drop a PDF of your assignment, a Word document of your report, or an Excel sheet of product descriptions — the tool extracts the text in your browser and counts it in full. Then download the result: your cleaned text, or a complete stats report (all counts, times and keyword frequency) as a TXT, PDF, Word or Excel file. Students count whole PDFs in one click. Freelancers hand clients a proper report. Nobody else offers this workflow — it is the reason this tool exists.

Word Counter vs Character Counter vs Sentence Counter

People search these three names, but the truth is simple: you need all three, and one good tool does all three.

A word counter answers “how many words is this?” — the question behind school essays, job applications and freelance billing.
A character counter answers “will this fit?” — Twitter/X allows 280 characters, an SMS is 160, an Instagram caption is 2,200. One character too many and your post is rejected.
A sentence counter is the writer’s secret weapon — short sentences are punchy, long ones are confusing. Counting sentences (and seeing your average and longest) is how you fix boring, tangled writing.

Our tool shows all three families of numbers on one screen, so you never need a second tab open.

Popular Character and Word Limits to Watch

Where	Limit	What happens if you cross it
Twitter / X post	280 characters	The post will not send
SMS text message	160 characters	It splits into (and bills as) two messages
Instagram caption	2,200 characters	It gets cut off
US college application essay	650 words	The form stops accepting text
Typical school essay	500 words	Marks are deducted

Type your draft into the counter, watch the characters number, and you will know before the platform tells you.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is this word counter really free?

Yes — completely free, with no account and no signup. Count as many texts and files as you like.

Does my file get uploaded to a server?

No. Every count happens inside your own browser. Your PDF, Word or Excel file never leaves your device, so private documents stay private.

Which file formats can I upload?

TXT, PDF, Word (.docx), Excel (.xlsx) and CSV. No other major word counter accepts PDF or Excel files — we checked.

Can I download my word count as a file?

Yes. Download your text or a full stats report (words, characters, sentences, times, keyword frequency) as TXT, PDF, Word or Excel.

Is there a character limit?

The old tiny limits are gone — paste full essays and long documents without hitting a wall. File uploads are counted in full.

How is reading time calculated?

From average adult reading speed, and speaking time from average speaking speed. They are estimates — fast readers finish sooner, careful readers take longer.

What is the difference between word count and character count?

Word count is the number of words (“hello world” = 2). Character count is the number of letters and symbols — “hello world” is 11 characters, or 10 without the space. Social media platforms almost always use character count.

Can I check word count in Google Docs with this?

Google Docs has its own counter under Tools → Word count, but it cannot read a PDF or export a stats report. Many writers draft in Docs, then paste the final text here for the deeper stats — sentences, keyword frequency and the downloadable report.

Explore our other free tools: Morse Code Translator · Binary Translator · Case Converter