Word counter
Type or paste text to instantly count words, characters, sentences and paragraphs. Precise CJK + Latin mixed-text counting — everything runs in your browser, nothing is uploaded.
Count words, characters and reading time for free.
- Processed locally; nothing uploaded.
- File tools: PDF, DOCX and TXT.
- Chinese/Japanese characters individually; other words split at whitespace.
Type or paste text
Live Statistics
Keyword Analyzer
How word count treats punctuation and mixed scripts
Polish drafts with the word counter: get an instant word count and count words online without uploading your text.
- A fragment separated by whitespace counts as one word if it contains a letter or digit. Hyphenated words, contractions and 3.50 each count as one word.
- Chinese hanzi and Japanese kana are counted individually, even inside mixed Latin and CJK text. Korean uses space-separated words.
- Reading time uses 238 words per minute; speaking time uses 130. These are estimates, not a measurement of your own pace.
When to count words online for a submission
Check the word count after adding quotations; when you count words online, keep the same counting rules across revisions.
Students
Check essay and assignment word limits before you submit.
Writers
Track manuscript length, paragraph structure and reading time as you edit.
SEO teams
See content length, keyword repetition and structure in seconds.
Social media
Keep posts, captions and ads within platform character limits.
Count words in text, PDF and Word files
Character Counter
Count characters with or without spaces for posts, titles and ads.
Reading Time Calculator
Estimate silent-reading and speaking duration from your draft.
Counting Methodology
Review word, sentence, paragraph and time calculation rules.
Supported File Formats
Check available document formats and their parsing limits.
PDF Word Counter
Extract the text layer of a PDF and count its words locally.
DOCX Word Counter
Analyze text in a Word document without uploading the file.
TXT Word Counter
Open a text file and count its words and characters in your browser.
Batch File Counter
Compare counts across several documents in one place.
Words to Pages
Convert a word count to pages at different line spacings.
Words to Minutes
Look up reading and speaking time for common word counts.
Using a word counter to revise and compare drafts
Set the scope before checking a limit
For an essay, count the text your school actually includes in the limit. A title page, bibliography and figure captions may follow different instructions. Paste the main argument first, then count any additional sections separately. When editing a long article, compare the introduction and conclusion with the central sections. A total can show that a draft is too long, but it cannot tell you which argument needs more evidence. Keep a copy in your editor so you can revise and compare the same passage again.
Understand punctuation and mixed languages
The counter separates ordinary words at whitespace. A contraction such as don’t and a hyphenated expression such as well-known each remain one word. A number such as 3.50 also counts as one. Punctuation by itself adds no words. Chinese characters and Japanese kana are counted individually, including next to Latin text without spaces. This is a reproducible counting convention, not linguistic word segmentation. For a bilingual assignment, check whether the recipient wants words, Chinese characters or a separate total for each language before interpreting the result. Character totals use UTF-16 units rather than visible symbols. An emoji or a letter with a separate accent can occupy several units. For a strict form limit, check the destination’s own counter as well, because its counting convention may differ.
Compare the same passage in Word and Google Docs
If another editor gives a different result, first select exactly the same passage in both tools. Copying a whole document can introduce repeated headers, page numbers or line breaks that were absent from the original selection. A DOCX file is counted from its main document text; separate footnote and header files are not read. A PDF depends on its extractable text layer and may contain awkward line endings. Inspect the extracted preview before relying on the total. Then compare a short sample containing the punctuation or mixed writing that caused the difference.
Separate text privacy from browser storage
Counting runs on your device without sending the pasted text or document contents to a counting server. ZipCount does not save the draft for your next visit, so keep your own source file before closing the page. Local processing does not control your clipboard, browser extensions or other people using a shared computer. Avoid leaving a private draft visible after you finish. For a speech, keep a separate rehearsal copy: the estimated duration is a starting point, and a timed reading with pauses gives a more useful delivery plan.
Compare a selected passage before a whole document
Suppose an assignment includes the body and quotations but excludes the bibliography. Keep those parts as separate selections in your editor. Compare the included selection with ZipCount, then add any required captions as a separate check. If you copy the whole file first, a matching total can still hide an incorrect scope. For translation work, keep source and target totals in separate records and name the language of each. A longer translation is not automatically an error, because languages express the same idea with different numbers of words.
Use a small sample to locate a difference
Start a comparison with red blue: two whitespace-separated words, with one ordinary space between them. Then add a hyphenated expression, a number, a line break and an emoji one at a time. Watch which measurement changes at each step. An emoji affects the character total but is not an ordinary word by itself. A nonbreaking space can look identical to an ordinary space while behaving differently in another system. Copy the sample from the original source rather than retyping it, so you preserve the characters that caused the discrepancy.
Recheck the version that will actually be submitted
After editing, count the saved final version and keep its filename next to the result. A total of 990 words from an earlier draft does not establish that a revised 1010-word draft meets a 1000-word limit. Check whether comments, references and captions are included before cutting prose. For a form, paste the final text into the actual destination and inspect its own limit indicator. For a formatted document, check the rendered pages separately. A text count cannot establish that illustrations, tables or page breaks fit the required layout.
Word counter: common questions
How does the word counter calculate words?
Is my text saved or uploaded?
Does it support Chinese, Japanese and Korean?
Do spaces count as characters?
How is reading time calculated?
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