Count only the words that matter for your grade.
Your text is processed locally in your browser. Nothing is uploaded, stored, or shared.
IB students writing an extended essay or ToK essay face strict word limits — exceeding the allowed count results in penalties. High school assignments also require precise word counts for grading. A reliable word counter removes uncertainty and helps students submit work that fully meets assessment rules.
Most university assignments specify a required word count. Whether it is a 1,000-word essay or a 5,000-word term paper, submitting outside the allowed range affects the grade. This tool gives an instant, accurate count so students can verify their paper before submission.
Graduate students work with strict word limits for theses, dissertations, research papers, and grant proposals. Even small deviations from required counts can lead to revisions, delays, or formal rejection. A precise word counter helps them stay compliant with academic requirements throughout multiple drafts.
Writers who produce essays, articles, and papers for clients need to deliver exact word counts. This tool provides a fast, detailed breakdown — words, characters, sentences, paragraphs — without manual recounting or reliance on word processor estimates.
Paste or type your text into the field at the top of this page. The counts of words, characters, lines, sentences, and paragraphs update on the page as you go. You do not need an account.
No. It counts all the text in the field. If your course excludes some parts from the limit, such as the reference list, paste only the parts that count.
It is often close, but it may not be identical. Each tool has its own rules for symbols, abbreviations, and citations. If your course names a tool for word counts, do the final check there.
A hyphenated word such as “well-known” counts as one word. So does a contraction such as “don’t” and a number written without spaces, such as “1,600” or “3.5”.
Each line of text starts a new paragraph, and empty lines do not count. A line that picks up mid-sentence, as text copied from a PDF often does, stays in the paragraph above. If a broken line starts with a capital letter, for example a name, it still counts as a new paragraph, so remove that break by hand.
No. It shows totals for the whole text, not how often each word appears.
Only with copied text. The tool does not open links or read pages by URL. Copy the text from the web page and paste it into the field: this word counter website counts only what is in the field.
Most essays come with a word limit. Our free essay word counter shows how long your text is at any point: when you plan, while you draft, as you cut, and right before you submit. Paste or type your text into the field above, and the numbers update on the page.
An essay word counter tells you how long a piece of writing is. You add your text, and the tool counts the words, along with four other measures of length and structure.
Length is often part of the grade. A teacher sets a range, a university sets a maximum, and IB essays have fixed limits. A text word counter takes the guesswork out of checking it.
The Writers Per Hour essay word counter is free. It works on desktop and mobile, and you do not need an account.
Start before you write. Split your limit across the parts of the essay: for a 1,500-word essay, that could be 150 words for the introduction, 1,200 for the body, and 150 for the conclusion. Then use the tool as a word counter calculator. Paste one section at a time and see whether it fits its share.
Three checks before you submit
While you draft, the count shows how much room is left. While you revise, it shows how much you still need to cut. At the final check, it confirms the total of the version you will hand in.
The tool does not know your course rules. It counts all the text in the field: the title, headings, quotations, in-text citations, footnotes, and the reference list, if you paste them.
Many courses leave some of these parts out of the limit, and the rules differ from one course to the next. Check your assignment brief first. Then paste only the parts that count.
The IB Theory of Knowledge essay has a limit of 1,600 words, and examiners stop reading at that point. To check it here, paste only the parts of the essay that count toward the limit.
What counts toward the 1,600 words
Counted: the main text of the essay and any quotations. Not counted: references (in the text, in footnotes, or in endnotes), the bibliography, acknowledgments, and any maps, charts, diagrams, annotated illustrations, or tables.
If in-text references stay in the pasted text, the counter includes them, so its total may be a little higher than the IB count. If you need help with the essay itself, see our TOK essay writing service and add the 1,600-word limit to your instructions.
Words come first, but the tool also works as a sentence word counter and shows the length of your text in characters, lines, and paragraphs.
How each number is counted
Word processors, course portals, and this text word counter do not always agree. Each one treats symbols, abbreviations, web addresses, and citations in its own way, so a small gap between them is normal. If your course names the tool it uses for word counts, do your final check there as well.
The counting happens on your device. Your text is processed locally in your browser and is not uploaded to a server, stored, or shared. Writers Per Hour never receives the essay you check, so you can use the counter on drafts you are not ready to show anyone.
The counter is just as useful when you did not write the first version yourself. If you pay for essay help at Writers Per Hour, you order pages, and the order form shows an approximate word count: about 250 words for each double-spaced page. Add your exact word limit to the instructions as well.
When the paper arrives, paste it into the counter and compare the total with your limit. The same check works for a paper from any college paper writing service or editor.
Continue working on your paper with free tools for planning, drafting, and formatting. Choose the tool that fits your next step.
Estimate how many pages your paper will take or convert a page target into a word count. Adjust the format to match your assignment requirements.
Convert words to pagesTurn your topic or assignment prompt into three focused thesis statement options. Compare different angles and choose a starting point for your argument.
Create your thesis statementFind sentences in your draft that may be hard for your readers to follow. See each flagged sentence with its word count and how many readability formulas flagged it.
Check your essay’s readability
