Reading: 238 words/min average. Speaking: 130 words/min average presentation pace.
This free word counter gives you more than a word total. Paste or type any text above and it instantly calculates your word count, sentence count, paragraph count, character count, syllable count, estimated page count, Flesch reading ease score, sentence length breakdown, and both reading and speaking time — updated live as you type, with nothing saved or uploaded anywhere.
Unlike most free word counter tools that only show a single number, this one doubles as a lightweight readability checker, so writers, students, bloggers, and marketers can catch both length and clarity issues in one pass. Below, every metric is explained in detail — and if you want the full research behind any single number, we've linked the complete guide.
| Metric | What It Tells You |
|---|---|
| Word count | Standard whitespace-based count; contractions and hyphenated words count as one word each |
| Sentence count | Detected from periods, question marks, and exclamation points |
| Paragraph count | Detected from line breaks between blocks of text |
| Character count | Shown both with and without spaces, for platforms with hard character limits |
| Syllable count | Feeds directly into your Flesch reading ease score |
| Estimated pages | Calculated at 250 words per page, the standard manuscript format |
| Flesch reading ease score | 0–100 scale based on sentence length and syllables per word |
| Sentence length breakdown | Share of short, medium, long, and very long sentences in your text |
| Reading time | Calculated at 238 words per minute, the average adult silent-reading speed |
| Speaking time | Calculated at 130 words per minute, a typical formal presentation pace |
Every scan calculates your Flesch reading ease score using two inputs — average sentence length and average syllables per word — the same formula Rudolf Flesch published in 1948. A score of 60–70 is considered ideal for general web content, the same benchmark used in the Federal Plain Language Guidelines.
See benchmarks by content type, how the formula is calculated, and why Florida law requires insurance policies to score at least 45.
Read the Full Guide →Reading time is calculated at 238 words per minute, the average adult silent-reading speed for non-fiction confirmed by Brysbaert's 2019 meta-analysis of 190 studies and nearly 18,000 participants. Speaking time uses 130 words per minute, within the range Toastmasters International recommends for effective public speaking. If you're timing a speech specifically, budget extra time for pauses and audience Q&A.
See the research-backed sentence-length range that keeps readers engaged, and whether your target word count is actually too long.
Read the Sentence Length Guide →Yes — this free word counter requires no account, no email, and has no usage limit. Paste your text and every metric updates instantly.
No. Your text is processed in your browser for the live counts and is not uploaded or stored on our servers.
One count includes spaces, the other doesn't. Different platforms count characters differently — check which one applies before relying on either number for a hard limit.
It uses a standard rule-based syllable-counting algorithm that handles the vast majority of English words correctly. Uncommon words and proper nouns can occasionally be miscounted by one syllable, with negligible effect on your overall Flesch score.
Word, sentence, paragraph, and character counts work for any language using space-separated words. The Flesch reading ease score and syllable count are calibrated for English only.
Standalone numbers (like "2026") count as one word each. Standalone symbols and punctuation are not counted as words.
Also checking keyword usage in the same piece? Try our Free Keyword Density Checker for 1-gram, 2-gram, and 3-gram analysis of your text.