Character Counter
Count characters and bytes as you type, and clean up pasted text.
Most used words
Words are split on spaces. Common function words such as “the” are left out of the table.
Type some text to see the words you use most.
| Word | Count | Share |
|---|
Character Counter
Character Counter counts the characters and bytes in your text. Use it when you’re writing to a length limit or cleaning up text you copied from somewhere else.
It recounts as you type, and it finds invisible characters hiding in pasted text.
How to use
- Type or paste text into the box and the results update instantly.
- Pasted text can be cleaned with one click: remove spaces, line breaks, or symbols, then undo if you change your mind.
- If you have a length limit, set a target to see how many characters are left.
- Use Copy to take your text with you. If you clear it by accident, you can undo.
Key terms
With and without spaces
The count with spaces includes spaces and line breaks. The count without spaces leaves both out. A line break counts as 1 character.
Characters and bytes
A character is what you see on screen. A byte is how much storage it takes.
| Text (UTF-8) | Size |
|---|---|
| Most English letters, numbers, spaces | 1 byte |
| Accented letters and emoji | More than 1 byte |
| Line break | 1 byte |
Once your text passes 1 KB, the size is shown as well. Here, 1 KB is 1,024 bytes and 1 MB is 1,024 KB.
Why pasted text can count differently
Text copied from websites and documents can carry characters you can’t see, and they still add to your count.
- Zero-width spaces (U+200B)
- No-break spaces (U+00A0)
- Direction marks
This tool tells you how many it found and lets you remove them. Joiners inside emoji are kept, because removing them would break a family emoji into several separate ones.
How fast do people really read?
A meta-analysis of 190 studies and 18,573 readers put adult silent reading in English at 238 words per minute for non-fiction and 260 for fiction, well below the often-quoted 300. This tool uses 238.
Most adults read non-fiction at 175 to 300 words per minute, so treat the result as a guide.
FAQ
Do spaces count as characters?
It depends on the rule you are following, so this tool shows both. If the rule does not say, staying under the limit with spaces is the safe choice.
How are emoji counted?
Each visible character counts as one, including emoji made of several combined codes.
Is my text saved?
No. It is never saved or sent to a server, and it is gone when you close the page.
How is reading time estimated?
It uses the research average of 238 words per minute for silent reading, so treat it as an approximate value.
What does Remove symbols delete?
Punctuation, symbols, and emoji. Letters, numbers, spaces, and line breaks stay as they are.