# Character counter: with and without spaces

A character counter measures text length in letters, numbers, spaces and symbols. Type or paste your text to see live counts with and without spaces, plus words and lines. Typed or pasted text stays in your browser, where the count runs.

## How it works

1. **Paste or type your text**
   Drop in a caption, a post, a title or a whole essay. Include the exact wording and punctuation you plan to use. A file you upload is sent to our server once, only to read its text, and is not kept.
2. **Read the character count**
   Under Counts, the with-spaces figure includes spaces. The without-spaces figure leaves them out. Choose the figure your brief asks for.
3. **Check words and lines**
   The word and line counts sit next to the characters, so one look tells you whether a text fits a word limit as well.
4. **Compare with the limit you write for**
   Under Common limits, each limit shows how many characters you have left or how far over you are.
5. **Edit until it fits**
   Keep typing in the box. Every count updates as you edit, so you can trim a sentence and watch the remainder change.
6. **Copy the finished text**
   Copy the text back to where it belongs. Keep its spacing and punctuation intact when you paste.

## Free use

| Tool | Without an account | Free account |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Character counter | No cap | No cap |

## Questions

### How do I count characters in a text?

Paste your text into the character counter above and read the figures under Counts. Include the heading, punctuation and any spacing that belongs in your final draft. Next, choose the count specified by your brief and compare it with the target before copying your text elsewhere.

### What does characters without spaces mean?

Characters without spaces means the length of the text after excluding spaces between words. Letters, digits and punctuation still contribute to that total. This measure often appears in translation quotes and writing assignments. Use it when the brief explicitly requests it, rather than treating it as interchangeable with the full count.

### How many characters are in a word?

A word has as many characters as the letters and other symbols it contains. Short and long words contribute different amounts, so a word count alone gives no exact character total. Count the actual text when working to a character limit, especially if it includes punctuation, numbers or names.

### How are emoji, accented letters and newlines counted?

This counter counts characters the way you see them: an emoji counts once even when it is built from several parts, such as a flag, a family or a skin tone, an accented letter counts once whether it is stored as one character or as a letter with a separate accent, and a line break counts as one. Other platforms count some of these differently, X for one weights emoji and links, so check the destination's own count when a text sits close to the limit.

### How many characters can an X post have?

An X post allows 280 characters. X applies a weighted count with specific rules for links and Unicode text.

### What is the difference between a character counter and a word counter?

A character counter measures text at the letter, number, space and symbol level; a word counter measures words. Character totals suit captions and form fields, while word totals suit essays and articles. Blurwrite's word counter also adds reading time and keyword density, helping you review a longer draft beyond its length.

### Do spaces count as characters?

Yes, spaces count in the characters-with-spaces total. Blurwrite also shows characters without spaces, so you can follow a brief that excludes them. Use the measure your destination or assignment requests. Punctuation, letters, digits and symbols still contribute when spaces are excluded.

### Is the character counter free?

Yes, the Blurwrite character counter is free, with no cap and no account required. You can type or paste text to see characters with spaces, characters without spaces, words and lines. The free word counter also offers reading time, sentences, paragraphs and keyword density.

### Is my text stored or sent anywhere?

Typed or pasted text stays in your browser, where the count runs. If you upload a file, it is sent to our server only to read its text and is not kept. To keep a text in your browser, paste it instead of uploading the file.

### What is the difference between characters and letters?

Letters are alphabetic characters, while a character count also includes digits, punctuation, symbols and spaces when requested. A letters-only total would leave those other parts out. If your brief asks for characters, use the character total rather than counting only the alphabetic parts of your text.

- [This page on the site](https://blurwrite.com/character-counter)
- [Prices](https://blurwrite.com/pricing.md)
- [How accuracy is measured](https://blurwrite.com/accuracy)