Word Counter
Free online word counter. Words, characters, sentences, paragraphs, reading time, keyword density and Flesch readability score. No limits.
About the tool
What is the SBMM Word Counter?
The SBMM Word Counter is a free online tool that counts words, characters, sentences, and paragraphs in any text you paste, plus reading time, speaking time, Flesch Reading Ease score, Flesch-Kincaid grade level, and full keyword density across one, two, and three-word phrases. Every metric updates live as you type. Nothing leaves your browser.
A useful word counter does more than count words. Writers checking a brief, students hitting an essay target, marketers preparing ad copy, SEOs auditing on-page keyword density, and product managers writing release notes all need a different mix of stats from the same paste. This tool returns all of them in one view so the right number is always one glance away.
The readability scores (Flesch and Flesch-Kincaid) translate the prose into a school grade level so you know whether your draft matches the audience. Most blog content sits best at the eighth to ninth grade level, B2B white papers can run higher, marketing copy should sit lower. The keyword density tabs (single, bigram, trigram) flag any phrase used too often, which is the cheapest fix for keyword-stuffing warnings.
Step by step
How to use this tool in 3 steps
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Step 01
Paste your text
Drop any text into the editor: a draft article, a brief, an email, a script, ad copy, anything. There is no character cap on the free tier and nothing leaves your browser, so confidential drafts are safe to paste.
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Step 02
Live stats and readability
Word, character, sentence, and paragraph counts update live as you type. Reading time (at 200 words per minute) and speaking time (at 130 wpm) appear next to them. Flesch Reading Ease and Flesch-Kincaid grade level update on every keystroke.
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Step 03
Switch density tabs to spot stuffing
Click between the one-word, two-word, and three-word density tabs to see the top fifteen phrases by frequency. Rows above six percent density are flagged red as possible keyword-stuffing risk. Edit the draft, watch the scores update, ship the cleaner version.
Why this tool
Why use this tool
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Words, chars, sentences, paragraphs
Counts the four core text metrics live as you type, with and without spaces for characters. The character-with-spaces count is what Twitter, LinkedIn, and meta description limits use; characters-without-spaces is what some style guides care about.
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Reading + speaking time
Reading time at the standard 200 words per minute and speaking time at the 130 wpm conference-presentation rate so writers, podcasters, and speakers all see the metric that applies to their format.
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Flesch + grade level
Flesch Reading Ease (0 to 100, higher is easier) and Flesch-Kincaid grade level (US school grade equivalent) tell you whether the prose matches your audience. Most blog content reads best at the eighth to ninth grade level.
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Keyword density × 1 / × 2 / × 3
Single-word, bigram (two-word), and trigram (three-word) density across the top fifteen phrases. Switch tabs to spot the right grain of repetition. Rows above six percent density are flagged red as possible stuffing risk.
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100% on-device, nothing uploaded
Every metric is computed in your browser as you type. No text is sent to a server, no draft is logged, no analytics tracker fires per keystroke. Confidential drafts (briefs, scripts, NDA material) are safe to paste here.
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Free, no cap, no sign-up
Unlimited use, no daily cap, no email gate, no Pro paywall. The tool is exactly the same whether you paste a tweet or a 50-page draft. SBMM Pro adds version history and reading-level rewrites powered by AI.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
How does the word counter define a word?
The counter splits the text on whitespace runs and counts every non-empty token as a word. Standard apostrophes ("don't") count as one word; hyphenated terms ("self-driving") count as one word; URLs and emails count as one word each. This matches the definition every major word counter, including Microsoft Word and Google Docs, uses.
What counts as a sentence?
A sentence is detected by terminal punctuation (period, exclamation mark, question mark) followed by whitespace or end of text. Abbreviations like "Dr." or "U.S." can occasionally inflate the count by one or two; the impact on Flesch readability is negligible at any realistic length.
What is Flesch Reading Ease?
Flesch Reading Ease is a 0 to 100 readability score where higher means easier. The formula combines average sentence length and average syllables per word. Above 60 is comfortable for the general public, 30 to 60 reads as college level, below 30 reads as academic and is hard for most audiences.
What is Flesch-Kincaid grade level?
Flesch-Kincaid grade level translates the Flesch score into a US school grade equivalent. A grade-level reading of 8.0 means an average eighth grader can comfortably read the text. Most consumer blog content lands best between grades 7 and 9; B2B and academic writing usually runs higher.
How is keyword density calculated?
For each phrase length (one word, two words, three words), the counter sums the occurrence count per phrase, divides by the total word count of the text, and multiplies by 100. Phrases above 6 percent density are flagged red as possible keyword-stuffing risk. Stop words (the, a, and) are excluded from single-word density to avoid false positives. For Helpful-Content depth grading on the final draft, run it through our on-page audit once the draft is live.
Does this word counter work for languages other than English?
Word, character, sentence, and paragraph counts work for any language. Flesch and Flesch-Kincaid scores are calibrated on English text and produce unreliable results for other languages. Keyword density works for any language but the stop-word filter is English-only on the free tier.
Is my text saved or uploaded anywhere?
No. Every metric is computed in your browser using local JavaScript. Nothing is sent to a server, nothing is logged, nothing is cached. Confidential drafts, NDA material, briefs, and unpublished scripts are safe to paste here.
Why is the reading time different from another word counter?
Reading speed varies by source. We use 200 words per minute, which is the standard average for English prose published by most major readability calculators. Some tools use 250 wpm (closer to a fast reader) or 180 wpm (more conservative). Both are defensible; we picked 200 as the central case.