Word counter for everything you publish
Type or paste your text: words, characters, sentences, reading time and readability update as you write. The meters beside the text show at a glance whether it fits an X post, a LinkedIn post, an Instagram caption, a YouTube title, a text message or a search result.
- Words
- 0
- Characters
- 0
- Without spaces
- 0
- Sentences
- 0
- Paragraphs
- 0
- Reading time
- 0 s
- Speaking time
- 0 s
Feed & search cut preview
See exactly what readers see before clicking “more” or visiting your page.
your_handle
Original audio
146 of 2,200 characters visible in mobile feed. 437 characters hidden behind “... more”.
Rule: Cuts at the first line break before “... more”, or at the caption limit.146 / 2,200 characters
Type or paste text to see the words you use most.
- Flesch Reading Ease
- Needs a full sentence
- –
- Flesch–Kincaid grade
- US school grade
- –
- Coleman–Liau index
- US school grade, from letters instead of syllables
- –
- SMOG grade
- Years of schooling to understand the text
- –
0 syllables, 0.0 words per sentence, 0.0 letters per word. Syllables are estimated from spelling, so scores can differ a little from other tools. The formulas were made for English. How the scores work
Type or paste text to see your longest sentences.
Will it fit?
- Links count 23, emoji and CJK count 2280 available
- characters3,000 available
- 0 hashtags of 30, 0 @ tags of 202,200 available
- characters100 available
- Plain text: 1 byte per character5,000 available
- One segment160 available
- Search titleyour target0 / 580 pxFirst line, Arial 20 px; target is yours to set580 px available
- Meta descriptionyour target0 / 920 pxArial 14 px; target is yours to set920 px available
- Your own limityour target0 / 500characters500 available
Reading time at 238 words per minute, speaking at 183. Unique words: 0. Longest sentence: 0 words.
Every limit on this page, and where it comes from
| Destination | Limit | Counted as | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| X post | 280 | Weighted: most characters 1, emoji and CJK 2, links 23 | X Developer Platform |
| LinkedIn post | 3,000 | Characters | LinkedIn Help |
| Instagram caption | 2,200 | Characters, plus 30 hashtags and 20 @ tags | Meta, Instagram Platform |
| YouTube title | 100 | Characters; no < or > | YouTube Data API |
| YouTube description | 5,000 | UTF-8 bytes; no < or > | YouTube Data API |
| Text message | 160 or 70 | GSM-7 or UCS-2; 153 or 67 per part when longer | 3GPP |
| Search title | 580 px (yours) | Width in Arial 20 px; no published limit | Google Search Central |
| Meta description | 920 px (yours) | Width in Arial 14 px; no published limit | Google Search Central |
Limits read on the platforms’ own pages on October 17, 2026. The Instagram figures come from Meta’s reference for publishing through its API.
How the readability scores work
Each score turns sentence length and word length into a number. Flesch Reading Ease runs from about 0 to 100, and higher means easier. The three grade scores estimate the US school grade a reader needs: 8 means a reader in eighth grade should follow the text.
Long sentences and long words push every score toward “harder”. Splitting one long sentence in two usually moves the score more than changing any single word.
- Flesch Reading Ease: 206.835 − 1.015 × (words ÷ sentences) − 84.6 × (syllables ÷ words)
- Flesch–Kincaid grade: 0.39 × (words ÷ sentences) + 11.8 × (syllables ÷ words) − 15.59
- Coleman–Liau index: 0.0588 × letters per 100 words − 0.296 × sentences per 100 words − 15.8
- SMOG grade: 1.0430 × √(words of 3+ syllables × 30 ÷ sentences) + 3.1291
How does the word counter count words?
A word is a run of letters or digits. An apostrophe, hyphen or dot between two letters keeps them together, so don’t, e-mail and 3.5 are one word each, while a dash with spaces around it is not a word at all. Each Chinese, Japanese or Korean character counts as one word, because those scripts do not put spaces between words. Numbers count as words, the same as in most word processors.
Why do platforms count characters differently?
Because each one sets its own rule. X weighs characters: most count 1, emoji and Chinese, Japanese or Korean characters count 2, and every link counts 23 however long it is. YouTube measures a video description in bytes, so an accented letter takes 2 of its 5,000 and an emoji 4. A text message switches to a smaller alphabet budget when it contains one curly quote. Each meter on this page counts the way its platform says it counts.
Which limits does the page check?
An X post (280 weighted characters), a LinkedIn post (3,000 characters), an Instagram caption (2,200 characters, 30 hashtags and 20 @ tags), a YouTube title (100 characters) and description (5,000 bytes), and one text message (160 or 70 characters). Each limit links to the platform’s own page. For the search title, the meta description and your own limit, you set the target.
How are reading time and speaking time worked out?
By dividing the word count by an average pace. The page uses 238 words per minute for reading and 183 for speaking: the averages a 2019 review of 190 reading studies found for adults reading English non-fiction silently and reading aloud. A fast reader or a slow speaker will differ; the reading time calculator lets you set your own pace.
Questions about the word counter
Is my text saved or sent anywhere?
No. The counting runs in your browser, and the text stays in the page while it is open. It is not sent to a server, put in the address bar or stored, so a reload clears it. Copy your draft somewhere safe before you close the tab.
Does the counter include spaces in the character count?
The page shows both: characters with spaces and characters without spaces. Platforms that state a character limit count spaces and line breaks, so the figure with spaces is the one to compare with a limit.
How are emoji counted?
An emoji counts as one character in the main count, even when it is built from several code points, such as a family or a flag. X counts every emoji as 2, and SMS needs 2 units for most emoji; their meters show that.
What is a good Flesch Reading Ease score?
Higher is easier. The bands usually given with the formula put 60 to 70 at standard prose and 90 to 100 at very easy. For social posts and marketing copy, a score of 60 or more is a common aim. The score is an estimate for English text and says nothing about whether the writing is good.
Can I count words in another language?
Yes for words and characters in any language: accents are handled, and Chinese, Japanese and Korean characters count as one word each. Syllables and readability scores are built for English, so ignore them for other languages.
Why does my word processor show a different number?
Tools disagree on a few cases: hyphenated words, numbers, URLs and dashes. This page counts a hyphenated word as one, a number as a word, and a dash between spaces as nothing. The difference is usually a handful of words in a long text.
More counters
- Character counterCharacters with and without spaces, bytes, and platform limits.
- SEO title lengthTitle and meta description width in pixels, with a results preview.
- Tweet lengthAn X post counted the way X counts: links 23, emoji 2.
- Thread splitterA long text cut into numbered posts that each fit X.
- SMS counterGSM-7 or UCS-2, segments, and the characters that cost you.
- Reading timeReading and speaking time at a pace you choose.
- Keyword densityTop words and phrases, and how often your keyword appears.
Sources and limits
- Counting characters
Posts can contain up to 280 characters; most characters count 1 and some count 2; every URL counts 23; every emoji counts 2; length is measured after NFC normalization.
X Developer Platform. Opened on .
- Post and share updates
“Posts can contain up to 3,000 characters.” Longer text can be published as an article.
LinkedIn Help. Opened on .
- IG User Media reference
For the caption of a post published through the API: “Maximum 2200 characters, 30 hashtags, and 20 @ tags.”
Meta, Instagram Platform. Opened on .
- Videos resource
Title: maximum 100 characters. Description: maximum 5000 bytes. Both may contain any valid UTF-8 character except < and >.
YouTube Data API. Opened on .
- TS 23.040: Technical realization of the Short Message Service
Up to 140 octets of text per message (clause 3.1, read in a mirror of v19.0.0): 160 GSM-7 or 70 UCS-2 characters. The 153 and 67 per part of a concatenated message, after its header, are the values commonly given; we did not reach that clause.
3GPP. Cited reference: we could not open the full text, so the value is the one commonly reproduced from it.
- Influencing your title links
“While there’s no limit on how long a <title> element can be”, the title link is truncated “as needed, typically to fit the device width.”
Google Search Central. Opened on .
- How many words do we read per minute? A review and meta-analysis of reading rate
Average adult silent reading in English: 238 words per minute for non-fiction and 260 for fiction; reading aloud: 183 words per minute.
Marc Brysbaert, Journal of Memory and Language (2019). Cited reference: we could not open the full text, so the value is the one commonly reproduced from it.
- A new readability yardstick
The Reading Ease formula: 206.835 − 1.015 × words per sentence − 84.6 × syllables per word.
Rudolf Flesch, Journal of Applied Psychology 32 (1948). Cited reference: we could not open the full text, so the value is the one commonly reproduced from it.
- Derivation of new readability formulas for Navy enlisted personnel
The Flesch–Kincaid grade level: 0.39 × words per sentence + 11.8 × syllables per word − 15.59.
Kincaid, Fishburne, Rogers and Chissom, Naval Technical Training Command (1975). Cited reference: we could not open the full text, so the value is the one commonly reproduced from it.
- A computer readability formula designed for machine scoring
The Coleman–Liau index: 0.0588 × letters per 100 words − 0.296 × sentences per 100 words − 15.8.
Meri Coleman and T. L. Liau, Journal of Applied Psychology 60 (1975). Cited reference: we could not open the full text, so the value is the one commonly reproduced from it.
- SMOG grading: a new readability formula
The SMOG grade, from the number of words of three or more syllables in 30 sentences.
G. Harry McLaughlin, Journal of Reading 12 (1969). Cited reference: we could not open the full text, so the value is the one commonly reproduced from it.
Platforms change their limits without notice and some count emoji or links in ways they do not document. Treat every meter as a check before you post; the platform’s own editor has the last word. Nothing you type leaves your browser.