Word Counter
Count words, characters, sentences, paragraphs, and estimate reading time instantly. Free online word counter — no login, works offline.
Why count words?
Word count matters more than most writers realise. Blog posts under 300 words rarely rank well in search engines. Academic essays have strict limits. LinkedIn posts perform better under 150 words. Cover letters should stay under 400. Social media character limits vary by platform. Knowing your count before you publish saves editing time later.
What Stax Word Counter tracks
- Words: whitespace-delimited tokens
- Characters: total including spaces and punctuation
- Characters (no spaces): useful for Twitter/X and SMS limits
- Sentences: text ending in . ! or ?
- Paragraphs: blocks separated by blank lines
- Reading time: at 200 wpm (average adult)
- Speaking time: at 130 wpm (presentation pace)
Common word count targets
Different content types have different sweet spots. A tweet is under 280 characters. A LinkedIn post performs best at 100–150 words. A product description is typically 150–300 words. A blog post that ranks well is usually 1,000–2,500 words. A short story is 1,000–7,500. A novella starts at 17,500. A novel is 50,000+.
Frequently asked questions
- How does the word counter work?
- The tool splits your text on whitespace (spaces, tabs, newlines) and counts the resulting tokens. Empty strings are ignored, so multiple consecutive spaces don't inflate the count. Everything runs in your browser — no upload, no processing on a server.
- What counts as a word?
- Any sequence of non-whitespace characters separated by spaces or line breaks. Hyphenated words (e.g. 'well-known') count as one word. Numbers count as words. Punctuation attached to a word (commas, periods) is counted as part of that token.
- How is reading time calculated?
- Based on an average adult silent reading speed of 200 words per minute — the commonly cited research average. Speaking time uses 130 words per minute, a typical presentation pace. These are estimates; your actual speed depends on the complexity of the text.
- Is there a character or word limit?
- No hard limit — the tool runs locally in your browser so it scales with your device's memory. In practice it handles novels and long documents without issues.
- Does it work offline?
- Yes. Once the page loads, all counting happens locally. Disconnect from the internet and it keeps working.