Letter Counter is a free online text analysis tool that instantly counts letters, words, characters, sentences, and paragraphs as you type or paste your content. Whether you're a student checking essay word counts, a content writer tracking productivity, a social media manager optimizing for character limits, or an SEO professional measuring meta descriptions, our letter and character counter provides real-time, accurate results with no registration required. Perfect for essays, blog posts, social media captions, resumes, and any writing project with length requirements—our tool helps you write confidently within any word limit or character restriction.
1. Type or paste your content into the text box above
2. Watch real-time statistics update automatically as you write
3. Review detailed metrics including word count, characters (with and without spaces), sentences, paragraphs, and reading time
For Students & Academic Writers: Professors enforce strict word count requirements, typically with ±10% tolerance. Missing minimums suggests insufficient research, while exceeding maximums can result in grade penalties. Our tool helps you meet exact requirements for essays, research papers, and college applications.
For Content Writers: Many writers are paid per word ($0.03-$0.15 typical rates), making accurate counts essential for invoicing. Track daily output goals and ensure client deliverables meet specifications from 250 to 5,000+ words.
For Social Media Managers: Different platforms have different limits and optimal lengths for engagement. Twitter performs best at 71-100 characters, Instagram captions get cut after 125 characters, and Facebook posts under 80 characters see 88% higher engagement.
For SEO Professionals: Google favors content of 1,000+ words for competitive keywords. Meta descriptions should be 155-160 characters, and title tags 50-60 characters to avoid truncation in search results.
Twitter/X: 280 character maximum, but 71-100 characters generates 36% more engagement
Instagram: 2,200 character limit for captions, but only first 125 characters show before "more" button
Facebook: 63,206 character limit, but posts of 40-80 characters get 88% higher engagement
LinkedIn: 3,000 character maximum, cuts off at 140 characters on feed with "see more"
TikTok: 150 character limit for video descriptions
YouTube: 5,000 character limit for descriptions, but only first 138-150 characters display without expansion
Meta Descriptions (SEO): 155-160 characters optimal (920 pixels on desktop, 680 on mobile)
Title Tags (SEO): 50-60 characters optimal (600 pixel width before truncation)
Do spaces count as characters?
Yes, most platforms and style guides count spaces as characters. Our tool shows both "characters with spaces" and "characters without spaces" so you can see both counts.
How accurate is this word counter?
Our tool uses industry-standard counting methods. Some variations may occur compared to Word or Google Docs due to different handling of hyphenated words, contractions, and special characters, but accuracy is within 1-2% for standard text.
Do hyphenated words count as one or two words?
Standard practice treats hyphenated words as single words (e.g., "well-known" = 1 word). Our counter follows this convention.
Why do different word counters give different results?
Variations occur due to different treatments of: hyphenated words, contractions (it's = 1 or 2 words?), numbers and symbols, multiple spaces, and line breaks. Our tool follows standard grammar conventions.
What's the ideal blog post length for SEO?
For competitive keywords, aim for 1,000-1,500 words minimum. Comprehensive pillar content should be 2,000+ words. However, quality matters more than length—focus on thoroughly answering the user's question.
How many words fit on one page?
Single-spaced: approximately 500 words per page. Double-spaced: approximately 250 words per page (standard for academic papers). Actual count varies by font, size, and margins.