Whether you are a novelist tracking manuscript length, a student hitting an essay word count, or a blogger sizing a post for SEO, this free word counter gives you the numbers writers actually need: words, characters, sentences, reading time, and manuscript pages, all live in your browser, with no signup and no upload.
What this counter shows
Word counters usually stop at "words." This one gives you the full picture writers actually need: not just the size of the draft, but how long it takes to read aloud, how many manuscript pages it fills, and where the natural breaks are.
- Words. The standard count. Whitespace-separated, matches Word and Google Docs.
- Characters and characters without spaces. For meta descriptions, headlines, social posts, anything with a hard cap.
- Sentences and paragraphs. Quick structural read on the prose.
- Lines. Useful for poetry, scripts, or anything where line count matters more than words.
- Reading time. 250 words per minute, the average for an adult reader.
- Speaking time. 150 words per minute, the average for clear paced delivery. TED talks land around this number.
- Manuscript pages. Publishing-industry standard, 250 words per page, used by agents and editors.
- A4 / Letter pages. Closer to 500 words per page, useful for single-spaced printed docs.
What writers use it for
Different parts of a writing life need different counts. Some common cases:
- Submissions. Agents and editors want manuscript page counts. 90,000 words is 360 manuscript pages, give or take.
- Hitting a contract minimum. A short story anthology that asks for 5,000 to 8,000 words has a hard ceiling. Paste, scan, done.
- Speech and presentation prep. A 20-minute talk lands around 3,000 words at speaking pace. The speaking-time counter tells you if you are over or under.
- Blog post sizing. Most blog posts that rank well sit between 1,200 and 2,500 words. The reading time counter tells you how long readers will spend.
- Twitter / Bluesky / SMS limits. The character counter handles hard character caps. Use the dedicated character counter if that is your main use case.
How the counts work
Word count
Words are split on whitespace. "It's" counts as one word. "Self-aware" counts as one word (no space). Em-dashes and hyphens stay attached to their words. This matches what Microsoft Word and Google Docs show.
Character count
Two values: with spaces (the most common ask, used by Twitter and most platforms) and without spaces (used by some style guides and translation pricing). Punctuation always counts.
Sentences and paragraphs
Sentences are detected by terminal punctuation followed by whitespace or end of text. Paragraphs are detected by blank lines between blocks. Standard prose works perfectly; very unconventional formatting can confuse either count.
Reading and speaking time
Reading time uses 250 words per minute, which is the long-running average for adult silent reading on standard prose. Slower for dense academic writing; faster for casual content. Speaking time uses 150 words per minute, the typical pace for clear paced delivery (TED talks average 150 wpm; news anchors run closer to 180).
Manuscript pages
The publishing standard is 250 words per page, assuming 12pt Courier or Times New Roman, double-spaced, 1-inch margins. An 80,000-word novel is 320 manuscript pages. A 100,000-word novel is 400. This is what agents and editors quote when they ask for "page count." For more detail, see the dedicated words per page calculator.
Beyond the count
A counter tells you the size of what you wrote today. It does not tell you whether you are going to finish the project, whether your pace is sustainable, or how this week compares to last month. That is what a tracker is for.
Authorlytica logs your daily session count in 10 seconds and shows the trend across weeks and months. Streaks, charts, pace projections, and a year-in-review. The counter on this page is one snapshot. The tracker turns a year of snapshots into a story.