A word counter is a tool that tallies the words, characters, sentences, and paragraphs in a piece of writing as you type or paste it in. Draft Counter does this instantly — type directly, paste your text, or upload a .txt, .docx, or PDF file and watch the numbers update in real time. It's built for anyone working against a length requirement: students hitting an essay minimum, copywriters staying inside a character limit, or bloggers keeping posts skimmable.
Most writing has a target length for a reason. Academic papers set minimums so ideas get proper development. Ad platforms and meta descriptions set maximums so your text doesn't get cut off. Knowing your count as you write — not after — makes it easier to hit the mark without a frantic rewrite at the end.
Reading time is estimated at roughly 200 words per minute, the average pace for adult silent reading. Speaking time uses about 130 words per minute, closer to a natural speaking pace for a presentation or speech. Both are estimates — actual time will vary with sentence complexity and your own pace.
Keyword density shows which words you repeat most often, excluding common connector words like "the" or "and." Writers use this to catch overused words, and anyone optimizing content for search can use it to check that a target keyword appears often enough — without being repeated so much that it reads awkwardly.
Enter a target word count and the progress bar fills in as you write, so you always know how much further you have to go. This is useful for essays, articles, or any writing task with a required length — no need to keep manually counting as you go.
Different kinds of writing come with different length expectations. Here's a quick reference for the most common ones people search for.
| Writing type | Typical length |
|---|---|
| Tweet / X post | Up to 280 characters |
| Instagram caption | Up to 2,200 characters, but 125–150 is where most engagement happens |
| Google meta description | About 150–160 characters |
| College application essay | 500–650 words (Common App caps at 650) |
| Cover letter | 250–400 words |
| Resume summary | 50–75 words |
| Blog post (SEO-focused) | 1,000–2,000 words |
| Short story | 1,000–7,500 words |
| Novella | 17,500–40,000 words |
| Novel | 70,000–100,000 words (varies by genre) |
| 5-minute speech | About 650–750 words |
500 words is roughly one page single-spaced, or two pages double-spaced, using a standard 12-point font like Times New Roman or Arial. It typically takes an average reader about 2–3 minutes to read aloud, or 15–20 minutes to write a first draft.
Both. The counter updates live with every keystroke, so you can watch your word and character totals change in real time whether you're typing directly, pasting in a finished draft, or uploading a file.
Yes. Click "Upload file" in the toolbar and choose a .txt, .docx, or PDF file. The text is extracted and loaded into the editor automatically, entirely in your browser — the file itself is never sent to a server.
No, unless you turn on Autosave. When Autosave is off, nothing you type leaves your browser or gets stored. When it's on, your text is saved locally in your browser's storage only, so you can pick up where you left off — it's never uploaded to a server.
Draft Counter splits text on whitespace, so any sequence of characters separated by a space counts as one word. Hyphenated words ("well-known") count as one word, and numbers count as words too.
It's based on an average adult silent reading speed of about 200 words per minute. Actual reading time varies with sentence complexity, vocabulary, and the reader's own pace, so treat it as a helpful estimate rather than an exact figure.
Yes. The layout and toolbar are built to work with tap input, not just a mouse, so every feature — including the case-conversion menu — works the same way on mobile as it does on desktop.