About the Word Counter
There is no text box on this page yet — the word counter is still under construction. When it opens it will show words, characters with and without spaces, sentences, paragraphs and an estimated reading time while you type, which is what you need when the target is a hard number: 280 characters for a post, about 155 for a meta description, 650 words for an essay. The counting will happen server-side, and your draft will be held only in memory for the length of that request.
How to count words and characters in text
Paste or type your text
Drop in a draft, an essay, a caption or an email. The counter reads whatever is in the box, including text pasted from a word processor, and updates as you keep editing.
Read the live counts
Words, characters with spaces, characters without spaces, sentences and paragraphs are all shown at once, so you never switch modes to find the one number you came for.
Check the reading time
Reading time is an estimate derived from the word count at a stated words-per-minute rate. Treat it as a range, since dense technical prose reads slower than a blog post.
Trim to your limit
Compare the count against the limit you are writing to, whether that is 280 characters for a post, about 155 for a meta description, or a fixed essay word count, then cut.
What the Word Counter does
Words and both character counts
Characters with spaces and characters without spaces are counted separately, because form fields, meta tags and message limits do not all measure a string the same way.
Sentences and paragraphs
Structure counts sit next to the raw totals, so you can spot the 60-word sentence making a paragraph unreadable instead of only seeing that the total looks about right.
Reading time estimate
A reading time figure with the words-per-minute assumption shown next to it, so the number is something you can check rather than a black box you have to take on trust.
Common limit targets
Planned presets for the limits people actually write to: social posts, meta descriptions, page titles, LinkedIn posts, abstracts and fixed essay word counts.
Free, no signup
No account, no paywall and nothing to install. Text you paste will be processed in memory on Zyff's servers and never stored, and the page will work the same on a phone.
Frequently asked questions
How many words are on a page?
Roughly 500 words per single-spaced page and 250 double-spaced, based on 12pt Times New Roman with one-inch margins. Font, size, spacing and margins move that number a lot, so a 1,000-word piece is about two single-spaced pages or four double-spaced. Check the exact format your instructor or client asked for.
What is the difference between characters with and without spaces?
Characters with spaces counts every character including spaces, tabs and line breaks. Characters without spaces counts only the visible ones. Which figure matters depends on where the text is going: message and social limits count spaces, while some translation and typesetting rates are quoted per character excluding them.
How is reading time calculated?
Reading time is the word count divided by an assumed reading speed. Silent reading of English prose is commonly estimated at 200 to 250 words per minute, so a 1,000-word article lands at four to five minutes. Speaking is slower, around 130 to 150 words per minute, which is why a script takes about twice as long to deliver as to read.
How many characters should a meta description be?
About 150 to 160 characters is the usual working range, though Google truncates snippets by pixel width rather than a fixed character count. Put the important words in the first 120 characters so the description still reads correctly if it gets cut. Google also rewrites descriptions often, so treat yours as a strong suggestion.
How many words is a 5 minute speech?
Roughly 650 to 750 words at a normal speaking pace of 130 to 150 words per minute. Slow down for a technical or emotional talk and 600 words can fill five minutes, while a fast conversational delivery can run past 800. Read the script aloud with a timer before you trust any word count.
Does a word counter count hyphenated words as one word?
Usually yes. Most counters split text on whitespace, so well-known counts as one word while well - known counts as three. The same rule means a number, a date or a URL each count as a single word, and two words joined by a dash with no spaces around it can be counted as one.
Is Zyff's word counter live yet?
No — there is nothing here to type into today. The counter is under construction and the page went up first so the work in progress is at least visible. Terms at launch: no charge, no sign-in, and no copy of your draft kept once the response is sent.