Get an instant word count, character count, reading time estimate, and keyword density analysis with this free word counter online — paste your text and every metric updates in real time as you type, with no button to press and nothing sent to any server.

Beyond a simple word count, the tool analyzes paragraph structure, average sentence length, complex word percentage, and the top keyword phrases in your text — making it useful for writers targeting SEO word counts, developers writing documentation, or students managing essay length requirements.

How to Use the Word Counter

Paste or type your text into the input area — metrics update instantly with every keystroke.
Read your stats in the panel on the right — words, characters, paragraphs, reading time, and more.
Check keyword density in the bottom section to see which words and phrases appear most frequently.
Export or copy — click Copy Analysis to copy a full summary, or Export Report to save it as a .txt file.

Save drafts between sessions using the draft manager, or undo/redo edits with the history controls.

Metrics Explained

Words: Total number of words, split by whitespace boundaries.
Characters: Total character count including spaces and punctuation.
No Space Count: Characters with all whitespace removed — relevant for SMS and Twitter limits.
Paragraphs: Blocks of text separated by blank lines.
Average Sentence Length: Words divided by number of sentences (split at ., !, ?).
Complex Words: Words with 3 or more syllables — a readability proxy based on the Gunning Fog index.
Reading Time: Estimated minutes at 200 words per minute (technical reading pace).
Keyword Density: Top most frequent meaningful words and phrases (requires 30+ words; stop words excluded).

Common Use Cases

SEO and blog writing: Most SEO guides recommend 1,500–2,500 words for long-form articles that rank well. Paste your draft here to track progress toward your target word count and monitor keyword frequency as you write.
Academic essays and assignments: Universities often specify minimum or maximum word counts for essays and reports. Real-time tracking lets you stay within limits without constantly copy-pasting into a word processor.
Technical documentation: Long documentation pages can overwhelm readers. Use the reading time estimate to gauge whether a page should be split into multiple sections, aiming for under 10–12 minutes per page.
Social media and ad copy: Twitter limits posts to 280 characters; Google Ads headlines to 30 characters. The character count (with and without spaces) tells you exactly where you stand.
Legal and compliance documents: Regulations sometimes require disclosures to meet minimum length thresholds. This tool confirms compliance quickly without loading a full word processor.
Checking keyword density for SEO: Google's guidance generally suggests keyword density below 2–3% to avoid over-optimization. The density table shows your top phrases and their percentage, so you can rewrite before publishing.

Frequently Asked Questions

How is reading time calculated?

Reading time is estimated at 200 words per minute, which reflects a technical or focused reading pace rather than casual skimming (typically 250–300 wpm for leisure reading). The lower rate is intentional — it gives a conservative estimate that works better for instructional content, documentation, and dense technical writing.

What is keyword density and why does it matter?

Keyword density is the percentage of times a specific word or phrase appears in your text relative to the total word count. For example, if "javascript" appears 10 times in a 500-word article, its density is 2%. Google's guidelines don't specify an exact target, but densities above 3–5% for a single phrase are generally considered over-optimization, which can hurt rather than help rankings.

Does the tool count contractions as one word or two?

Contractions like "don't", "it's", and "we're" are counted as one word each. This is consistent with how most professional word counters, academic style guides, and publishing standards handle contractions.

Why does the keyword density only show for 30+ words?

Short texts produce statistically unreliable frequency data. With fewer than 30 words, any single word may appear to have high density purely by coincidence. The threshold ensures the keyword ranking reflects meaningful patterns in the text rather than noise.

What counts as a complex word?

A word with 3 or more syllables. This metric comes from the Gunning Fog readability index — a widely used formula that uses complex word percentage to estimate the years of formal education needed to understand a text. Higher complex word counts indicate denser, harder-to-read content.