Free Word Counter: Words, Reading Time & Price Estimate
Your results
On this page
Paste your draft to count words, characters, and reading time — plus what it's worth at your per-word rate. Built for writers, translators, and anyone who prices by the word. Everything runs in your browser; no text is sent anywhere.
Per-word rates vary wildly: $0.05–0.10 is entry-level content, $0.15–0.30 is professional, $0.50+ is specialist or technical. But per-word pricing punishes efficiency — a fast expert earns less per hour than a slow beginner at the same per-word rate.
Use per-word for quoting, but always check the implied hourly: (words × rate) ÷ hours = real hourly. If it is below your floor, the per-word rate is wrong — not your speed.
Word counts also anchor client conversations. Agreeing on the counting method before work starts — whitespace-split like this counter, or the client's CMS count — prevents the classic end-of-project dispute where their tool says 1,840 words and yours says 1,912. For SEO content, counts map to ranking ambition: thin 500-word posts rarely outrank comprehensive 2,000-word guides, so the count doubles as a scope agreement.
Test how hours and deadlines change the result.
Freelancer Word Counter: Key takeaways
- Reading time ≈ words ÷ 200 per minute; speaking time ≈ words ÷ 130 per minute.
- Professional per-word range: $0.10–0.30 for most niches; $0.30–1.00+ for technical, medical, and finance.
- 1,000 words takes 1–3 hours straightforward, 4–8+ with research — always check the implied hourly.
- Per-character rates (common in translation) usually exclude spaces — both counts are shown.
- Many writers quote per word but enforce a minimum project fee.
How the Freelancer Word Counter works
- Paste or type your text into the input.
- Words are counted by splitting on whitespace; characters are counted with and without spaces.
- Sentences are detected from . ! ? terminators; paragraphs from line breaks.
- Reading time assumes 200 words per minute; speaking time assumes 130 words per minute.
- Enter your per-word rate to see the estimated project price (words × rate).
- Divide the estimated price by your actual hours to find the implied hourly — the number that tells you whether the rate works.
- Translators: compare the per-character price against per-word quotes by dividing characters (no spaces) by 5 — the industry-standard "word" for character-based pricing.
Freelancer Word Counter: worked example
A 1,500-word draft at $0.15/word = $225 estimated price. Reading time: 7.5 minutes; speaking time: about 11.5 minutes. If it took you 3 hours including research, your implied hourly is $75/hr — check that against your floor rate.
Translation scenario: a 12,000-character (no spaces) document at $0.06/character = $720. At the 5-characters-per-word standard, that is 2,400 "words" — an effective $0.30/word. If it takes 10 hours, the implied hourly is $72/hr.
Raising your rate: at $0.10/word, a writer producing 800 words/hour earns $80/hr. To reach $100/hr at the same speed, the rate must rise to $0.125/word — a 25% increase that clients routinely accept when framed around the deliverable, not the hour.
Freelancer Word Counter: frequently asked questions
How many words are in a typical blog post?
In this word counter, 1,000–2,000 words is standard for SEO blog posts. Short posts run 500–800; in-depth guides go 2,500+. Reading time is roughly 200 words/minute.
What is a good per-word rate for freelance writers?
In this word counter, $0.10–0.30/word is the professional range for most niches. Technical, medical, and finance writing commands $0.30–1.00+. Beginners may start at $0.05–0.10 while building samples.
Should I charge per word or per project?
In this word counter, Per word is transparent for standard writing. Per project is better when research, interviews, or strategy are involved — the value isn't just words. Many writers quote per word but set a minimum project fee.
How long does it take to write 1,000 words?
In this word counter, 1–3 hours for straightforward content, 4–8+ with research and interviews. At $0.15/word ($150), 2 hours = $75/hr; 6 hours = $25/hr. Always check the implied hourly.
Do spaces count in character counts?
Usually not for pricing — per-character rates (common in translation) typically count characters without spaces. The counter above shows both.
How accurate is the word count?
It matches the standard method (whitespace-separated tokens) used by most editors and CAT tools, landing within a word or two of Word or Google Docs. Hyphenated compounds and numbers can count differently across tools — agree on the counting method with the client upfront.
What exactly counts as a word?
Anything separated by whitespace: "state-of-the-art" counts as one token here but three in some CAT tools; "2026" counts as a word; email addresses and URLs each count as one. For billing, what matters is not linguistic purity but the agreed method — put it in the contract.
Per-word or per-hour: which earns more?
It depends on your speed. Fast writers earn more per word; slow, research-heavy work earns more per hour. The honest test: track both for a month. If your implied hourly on per-word work consistently beats your hourly rate, per-word is winning — and raising the per-word rate is usually easier than raising the hourly one.
How do I raise my per-word rate with existing clients?
Announce it as a rate-card update with 30 days notice, tied to a calendar date (January 1 works well), not to a specific project. Grandfather one current project if needed, but apply the new rate to all new work. Clients expect annual adjustments — silence about rates reads as agreement to the old ones.