- Free tools
- Word Count Checker
FREE WORD COUNT CHECKER
Word Count Checker: count words and readability
A free word count checker. Paste or type your text to count words, characters, sentences and paragraphs, estimate reading and speaking time, and get a readability grade. Everything updates as you type. No signup, nothing leaves your browser.
- Words, characters, sentences
- Reading time and readability
- No signup required
COUNTS
Your text
Counted in your browser. Nothing is uploaded.
Counts and readability
Paste text to see how easy it is to read.
HOW IT WORKS
Count, then read the readability grade
A word count checker does more than tally words. It shows how long your text takes to read, how dense the sentences are, and whether the writing is plain enough for your audience. Pair it with the Keyword Density Checker to balance length against keyword focus.
Paste your text
Drop in an article, a meta description draft or a product page. Every count updates instantly as you edit.
Read the numbers
Words, characters, sentences, paragraphs, reading time and speaking time appear side by side, with no rounding surprises.
Check readability
The Flesch reading ease score and grade level tell you whether the writing is plain English or too dense, so you can simplify before publishing.
WHAT THIS TOOL MEASURES
Every number you need before you publish
One pass gives you the raw counts, the time estimates and the readability scores that writers, students and SEOs check against a brief.
Words and characters
Live word count plus characters with and without spaces, so you can hit a brief or stay inside a field limit.
Sentences and paragraphs
See how many sentences and paragraphs you have, and the average words per sentence, a quick signal of dense writing.
Reading and speaking time
Reading time at 200 words per minute and speaking time at 130, handy for scripts, talks and video.
Flesch reading ease
A 0 to 100 score for how easy the text is to read, with a plain-language label from very easy to very difficult.
Grade level
The Flesch-Kincaid grade estimates the school grade needed to read your text, so you can match it to your audience.
Unique words
How many distinct words you used, a quick check on repetition and vocabulary range across the piece.
CHECKER VS GUESSING
Write to the brief, not to a feeling
Counting in your head or eyeballing length leads to padded or thin content. A word count checker gives you the real numbers and a readability grade, so edits are based on data, not a guess.
| What you get | This Checker | Word processor | Guessing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Live word and character count | ✓ As you type | Yes | No |
| Reading and speaking time | ✓ | Rarely | No |
| Readability score | ✓ Flesch | Buried in settings | No |
| Grade level | ✓ | Sometimes | No |
| Nothing uploaded | ✓ In browser | Varies | ✓ |
| Check content across a whole site | ✓ With SiteAuditLint | No | No |
Thin pages hurt rankings. The free SiteAuditLint desktop app flags low word counts and missing content across every page in one crawl.
FAQ
Word count checker questions
What is a word count checker?
A word count checker counts the words, characters, sentences and paragraphs in your text and estimates reading time. This tool also calculates a readability grade so you can see how easy the writing is to read.
Is this word count checker free?
Yes. It is free with no signup and runs entirely in your browser, so the text you paste is never uploaded. It works offline once the page has loaded.
How is reading time calculated?
Reading time is the word count divided by a reading speed of about 200 words per minute, which is a common average for silent adult reading. Speaking time uses roughly 130 words per minute.
What is the Flesch reading ease score?
Flesch reading ease is a 0 to 100 score based on sentence length and syllables per word. Higher is easier: 60 to 70 is plain English for a general audience, while below 30 reads as very difficult.
Does the word count match Microsoft Word or Google Docs?
It is very close. Small differences can appear with hyphenated words, numbers and punctuation, since each tool splits words slightly differently, but the totals line up for normal prose.
Why does word count matter for SEO?
Word count is not a direct ranking factor, but content needs enough depth to answer the query fully. Use the count as a guide against competing pages, not a target to pad toward.
Check one page here. Audit content depth across every page with SiteAuditLint.
Thin and duplicate content is easy to miss page by page. The free desktop crawler flags low word counts, duplicate copy and empty pages across your whole site.
Download SiteAuditLint