Free · No sign-up · Runs in your browser
Free Word Counter.
Type, paste or open a Word or PDF file for an instant word count, characters with and without spaces, and how long it takes to read or say out loud. Grammar and spelling check, thesaurus, readability, writing goals, and social media and UCAS limits are built in. Nothing you write ever leaves your device.
Not uploaded — nobody sees it Grammar check & thesaurus Opens Word & PDF files No sign-up, no word limit
Drop your file to count it
Grammar & spelling
Checks spelling, grammar and style right here on your device.
Checked by Harper, an open-source grammar checker that runs inside this tab. The first check downloads it (about 8 MB), then it’s cached. Your text is never sent anywhere.
Thesaurus
Double-click a word in your text, or type one above. Click a synonym to swap it in.
Synonyms come from WordNet (licence). The word list is downloaded to your browser and looked up there, so your text isn’t sent anywhere.
Read aloud
Reads the text you’ve selected, or all of it. Hearing your words is a great way to catch mistakes.
Talk to type
Your device has dictation built in, and it types straight into the box above. Click in the box, then:
- Windows 10 & 11: press Windows + H and start talking.
- Mac: choose Edit › Start Dictation in the menu bar, or press the microphone key (F5).
- iPhone & iPad: tap the microphone on the keyboard.
- Android: tap the microphone on your keyboard.
- Chromebook: press Search + D (turn on Dictation in Accessibility settings first).
Dictation is handled by your device, not by Altto — we never hear or record anything.
Settings
0 words 0 characters Saved on this device
0Words
0Characters
0Chars (no spaces)
0Sentences
0Paragraphs
0Pages (single / double spaced)
0Lines
0Unique words
0Syllables
0Avg. word length
0Avg. sentence (words)
0Avg. sentence (characters)
0Longest sentence (words)
0Shortest sentence (words)
0Publisher words
—Reading level
0 minReading time
0 minSpeaking time
0 minHandwriting time
Writing goal
Set a goal for an essay, article, speech or application and watch your progress.
Readability
— Add a few sentencesWe’ll show the Flesch reading-ease score and school level.
All reading scores
| Add a few sentences to see them. |
Sentence flowmixing short and long sentences keeps readers with you
—Write a few sentencesWe’ll score how varied your sentence lengths are.
Fits on…character limits, checked live
Keyword densityclick a word to find it, × to hide it
Your most-used words and phrases will appear here.
Editchanges the text you’ve selected, or all of it
Clean up:
Typing speed
0:000 words a minute0 words typed
Press Start and type — you’ll see your speed in words a minute. Set a time limit for a writing sprint.
Writing logkept in this browser
Saved in this browseronly on this device — never uploaded
Your text is never uploaded — it’s counted and checked right here on your device. Files you open are read in this tab too. It never reaches a server, so we never see it, copy it or store it.
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Word counter: quick facts
Count words, characters and reading time, and check your writing.
Updated
- Price
- Free, no sign-up.
- Counts
- Words (the way Word and Google Docs count), characters, sentences, paragraphs and pages.
- Times
- Reading time at 238 words per minute, speaking time at about 130.
- Tools
- Grammar check, thesaurus, readability, keyword density, social media limits and read aloud.
- Opens
- Word, PDF, OpenDocument, RTF, HTML and text files.
- Privacy
- Your text and files stay in your browser and are never uploaded.
How it works
How to count the words in your text
Type, paste or open a file and every count updates as you go, alongside reading time, readability and social media limits. Grammar check, thesaurus and read aloud are one click away.
- 01
Type, paste or open a file
Anything from a tweet to a full manuscript, or a Word, PDF or text document.
- 02
Read the live stats
Words, characters, sentences, reading level and 15 more counts update as you type.
- 03
Polish it and hit your goal
Check grammar, swap words with the thesaurus, hear it read aloud and track your writing goal.
Tips
Tips for hitting your word count
Getting the count right is often about knowing what counts, not just counting.
- Paste only what countsIf titles, quotations or references don’t count towards your limit, paste just the body of your text so the number matches the one your marker or editor will use.
- Set a goal for long piecesFor an essay or report with a target, set a Writing goal so you can see how far you have to go while you draft, instead of stopping to check.
- Listen before you sendRead aloud uses your device’s own voices. Hearing a draft is one of the quickest ways to catch missing words and clumsy sentences that your eyes skip over.
- Leave room below social limitsSome platforms count links and emoji differently from a plain character count, so aim a little under the limit shown if a post has to fit exactly.
Like every Altto tool, this runs on your device — nothing you add is uploaded. How Altto works
238
words a minute is the average adult silent reading speed used for the reading time estimate, taken from a large 2019 review of reading studies.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
How each count is worked out, and what the extra tools do. Wondering how long your text is on paper? See how many words fit on a page.
How are words counted?
The same way Word and Google Docs count them: anything between spaces that contains a letter or number is a word, so “well-known” and “don’t” count as one word and a lone dash doesn’t count at all. In Chinese and Japanese, each character counts as a word, and emoji count as one character each.
Does it check grammar and spelling?
Yes. Press Grammar check and Harper, an open-source grammar checker, looks for spelling, grammar, punctuation and style problems right inside this browser tab, with one-click fixes. The first check downloads it (about 8 MB), then it’s cached. It works in UK, US, Australian, Canadian and Indian English, and your text is never sent anywhere.
Is there a thesaurus?
Yes. Double-click a word and press Thesaurus, or type a word into it, to see synonyms grouped by meaning. Click one to swap it in; Altto keeps the word’s form, so “walked” becomes “strolled”. The word list comes from WordNet and is downloaded to your browser, so your text isn’t sent anywhere.
Can I count the words in a Word document or PDF?
Yes. Click Open file or drop the file onto the text box. Word (.docx and older .doc), OpenDocument (.odt), PDF, RTF, HTML and plain-text files are all read right here in your browser, so the file is never uploaded. Scanned PDFs have no text to count; for those, try our PDF to Word converter, which can read scans.
How are reading, speaking and handwriting time calculated?
Reading time uses 238 words per minute, the average adult silent reading speed found by a large 2019 review of reading studies. Speaking time uses about 130 words per minute, a comfortable pace for a talk or presentation. Handwriting time assumes 68 letters a minute, the average adult copying speed. You can switch each to slow or fast in Settings.
How is the reading level worked out?
The Reading level count uses the Dale–Chall formula, which compares your words with about 3,000 words most 10-year-olds know, alongside sentence length. The Readability panel also shows the Flesch reading-ease score (0 to 100, higher is easier) with a rough UK school year, plus Flesch–Kincaid, Gunning fog, SMOG, Coleman–Liau and Automated Readability scores, and lists any sentences over 25 words so you can shorten them. Scores only work for English text.
What are publisher words and the sentence flow score?
Publishers often count a “word” as six characters, including spaces, because it measures how much room text takes up on a page. The sentence flow score shows how varied your sentence lengths are: a mix of short and long sentences reads better than a run of similar ones. Tick “Highlight my sentences by length” to see each sentence shaded by its length.
What does keyword density show?
Your most-used words, or two- and three-word phrases, with how often each appears as a share of your total words. Common words like “the” and “and” are left out unless you tick “Include common words”. Click a word to find it in your text, or × to hide it. It’s a quick way to spot repetition or keyword stuffing.
How many words is a 5-minute speech?
About 650 words at an average speaking pace of 130 words a minute. As a guide: 1 minute is about 130 words, 2 minutes about 260, 3 minutes about 390, 10 minutes about 1,300 and 20 minutes about 2,600. Paste your speech in and the speaking time shows straight away; switch to a slow (110) or fast (160 words a minute) pace in Settings.
What is the UCAS personal statement character limit?
4,000 characters including spaces, shared across the three answers, and each answer needs at least 350 characters (UCAS, for 2026 entry onwards). Paste all three answers in together to see the 4,000 check under “Fits on”, then paste each one on its own to check it reaches 350. Copy the text from the same place you will paste it into UCAS from, as line breaks count too.
Does the character count include spaces?
Both are shown: Characters counts every letter, number, space and line break, and Chars (no spaces) leaves the spaces and line breaks out. Most limits, including UCAS, X and Instagram, count spaces; some essay and form limits don't, so check which one you've been given.
Which character limits does it check?
X (Twitter) 280 (counted the way X does: every link is 23 characters and each emoji 2), Bluesky 300, Threads 500, Instagram captions 2,200 and bios 150, TikTok captions 4,000, LinkedIn posts 3,000, Facebook ad text 125 (before it’s cut off), YouTube titles 100 and descriptions 5,000, Pinterest descriptions 500, Google title tags about 60 and meta descriptions about 160 characters, the UCAS personal statement (4,000 characters including spaces), and how many texts an SMS will take. You can also set your own limit in characters or words.
How are sentences and paragraphs counted?
A sentence ends with a full stop, question mark or exclamation mark, but not after abbreviations like “Dr.” or “e.g.”, decimals like 3.5 or web addresses; a line break also ends a sentence. Each non-empty line counts as a paragraph, the same as Word.
Can it read my text aloud?
Yes. Read aloud uses your device’s own voices, with speed and pitch controls, and reads the text you’ve selected or all of it. Hearing your writing is one of the best ways to catch mistakes. Some browsers also offer online voices; those are labelled, because they send the text to your browser’s voice service.
Does it save my text?
Only on your own device, if you want it to. With “Keep my text” ticked, your text is saved in this browser so it’s still here if you close the tab, and an earlier version is kept every few minutes. You can also save named documents in the “Saved in this browser” panel. Untick the box to remove your text and its earlier versions, and delete documents from the list when you’re done. Nothing is ever sent anywhere.
How many words is a page?
Roughly 500 words for a single-spaced page or 250 words for a double-spaced page, at a standard 12pt font — though the exact number shifts with font, margins and spacing. See the full word count guide for typical lengths by document type.
Why does another word counter give a different number?
Counters disagree over hyphenated words, numbers, dashes and web addresses. Altto counts the way Word and Google Docs do, so it should match them. If a limit is strict, check with the counter your university or publisher uses, and leave yourself a little room.
Do essay word limits include references and footnotes?
It depends on your university or course. Many leave out the reference list or bibliography but count in-text citations, and the rules for footnotes, headings and tables vary. Check your handbook, then paste in only the parts that count.
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