About Essay Word Counter
An essay word counter checks your draft against the length your teacher, exam board or application asks for. Paste the essay in, type the limit into Word goal, and the bar shows how many words you have written and how many are left. It is free, needs no sign-up and runs in your browser, so nothing you enter is uploaded.
This page starts with a goal of 1,000 words, and you can change it to any number. The bar turns red the moment you pass the limit and says how many words you are over, so you know exactly what to cut.
Before you count, delete anything the limit does not include. Many courses exclude the title, the reference list and appendices, while others include quotations and footnotes. Count the version the marker will count, then leave a small margin, because another tool may disagree by a few words.
How to use Essay Word Counter
- Type in the box or paste your text. The counts update as you edit, with no button to press.
- Read the tiles above the box: words, characters, characters without spaces, sentences, paragraphs, reading time, speaking time and pages.
- Enter a number in Word goal to track a target. The bar shows the percentage, how many words are left, or how many you are over.
- Scroll to Keyword density and pick 1-word, 2-word or 3-word phrases. Leave Ignore common words ticked to hide filler such as "the" and "and".
- Edit your text and watch the numbers change. Use Clear to empty the box. Your text is kept in this browser so a reload does not lose it.
Features
- Live counts for words, characters, characters without spaces, sentences, paragraphs and lines.
- Reading time at 238 words per minute and speaking time at 150.
- Page estimate for single spacing (500 words a page) and double spacing (250).
- A word goal with a progress bar that turns red when you pass the target.
- Keyword density for 1, 2 and 3 word phrases, with an option to ignore common words.
- Longest word, average word length and average sentence length.
- Counts characters as people see them, so an emoji or a Bangla conjunct letter counts once.
- Handles Chinese, Japanese, Thai and other scripts written without spaces, and treats the Bangla danda as the end of a sentence.
- Text is saved in your browser only, so you can come back to it.
Worked examples
A 1,000 word essay goal with 920 words written gives 920 of 1000 words (92%), 80 to go
Go over and the same line reads, for example, "1040 of 1000 words (104%), 40 over".
Essay lengths in time and pages
| Words | Reading time | Pages (single) | Pages (double) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 250 | 1 min 3 sec | 0.5 | 1 |
| 500 | 2 min 6 sec | 1 | 2 |
| 1000 | 4 min 12 sec | 2 | 4 |
| 1500 | 6 min 18 sec | 3 | 6 |
| 2000 | 8 min 24 sec | 4 | 8 |
| 3000 | 12 min 36 sec | 6 | 12 |
Privacy: how it works
- The counting runs in your browser tab. Your text is not sent to Ulkaa or to any other server.
- The text box is saved to your browser local storage so a refresh does not wipe it. That copy stays on your device. Press Clear, or clear site data, to remove it.
Tips
- Count only what the limit counts. If an essay limit excludes the title, references or a bibliography, delete them from the box first.
- Aim a little under a hard word limit, because a different tool may count a few more.
- For a spoken piece, use the speaking time and read the text aloud once. Pauses, slides and questions make real talks longer than the number shows.
- Use the 2-word and 3-word keyword views to spot a phrase you repeat without meaning to.
Frequently asked questions
Is it really free?
Yes. There is no price, no trial and no credit card. Ulkaa Tool does the work with your own device, so there is no server bill to pass on to you.
Do I need an account?
No. There is no sign-up and no login. Open the page and use it. An Ulkaa account is not needed for anything on this tool.
Does it run in my browser?
Yes. Your text are processed by code running in your browser tab, on your own device.
Is my data uploaded?
No. Your text are never sent to Ulkaa or to anyone else. You can check this yourself by watching the Network tab in your browser developer tools while you use the tool.
Do citations and the reference list count towards an essay word limit?
It depends on the course. Many exclude the title page, reference list and appendices but include in-text citations and quotations. Read the assignment brief, and delete the parts that do not count before you check the total.
Is it bad to be a little over or under the word limit?
Many markers allow about 10 percent either way, but some penalise any excess, so check your own rules. Staying just under the limit is the safe choice.
Why is my count different from Microsoft Word?
Tools disagree on dashes, slashes and symbols. This counter keeps a hyphenated word whole and ignores a lone symbol. Word may also count footnotes or text boxes differently, depending on its settings.
More Word Counter pages
- Word CounterPaste or type your text to see words, characters, sentences, reading time and more, live.
- Words to Pages ConverterPaste your text to see how many pages it fills, or use the table to convert a word count.
- How Many Pages Is 500 Words?See how 500 words fits on a page, then count your own text.
- How Many Pages Is 1000 Words?See how many pages 1000 words fills, then count your own text.
- Sentence CounterPaste your text to count its sentences and see the average sentence length.
- Paragraph CounterPaste your text to count paragraphs, lines, sentences and words.
- Reading Time CalculatorPaste your text to see how many minutes it takes to read.
- Speaking Time CalculatorPaste your speech or script to see how long it takes to say.