Count Words and Characters
Track a word total and a character total together, with a word goal, when a brief sets both a length and a hard cap.
Count Words and Characters is a browser-based text tool on TextToolsBase. Track a word total and a character total together, with a word goal, when a brief sets both a length and a hard cap. To use it, paste or type your text and view the result directly in your browser — no signup and nothing to install.
Some briefs pin you on two numbers at once: a word range to hit and a hard character cap not to break, and a single counter rarely shows both clearly.
Count Words and Characters keeps the word total and the character total side by side, with a word goal gauge, so you can fix whichever one is failing without losing the other.
How to use Count Words and Characters
- Set a word goal for the length you are aiming at.
- Paste your draft and read the word total against the goal, with the character total beside it.
- Adjust the text until the words fit the goal and the characters stay within the cap.
Use cases
- Marketplace listings with both a word guide and a character ceiling.
- Ad copy that must hit a message and stay inside a character limit.
- Academic abstracts capped on words but checked on characters too.
Good to know
Words and characters move independently: trimming a long word cuts characters but not the word count, while deleting short words cuts both. Word tokens are runs of letters and numbers, and characters are grapheme clusters, so the two totals answer different questions.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between the word count and the character count?
Words are whole tokens of letters and numbers; characters are every visible symbol including spaces. A change can move one total without the other.
Can I track a word goal and a character cap at the same time?
Yes. Set a word goal for the gauge and keep an eye on the character total shown beside it.
Do spaces count toward the character total?
Yes, the main character figure includes spaces; a no-spaces figure is shown as well.