❓ Frequently Asked Questions – Character Counter
Does this count characters with or without spaces?
This tool shows both. The "Characters" stat counts every character including spaces, punctuation and line breaks. The "No Spaces" stat shows only visible characters excluding spaces. Most social media platforms like Twitter and Instagram count characters with spaces — so always use the Characters (with spaces) count when checking platform limits.
How does the readability score work?
The readability score is based on the Flesch Reading Ease formula: 206.835 − (1.015 × average words per sentence) − (84.6 × average syllables per word). Scores range from 0 to 100. Higher scores mean the text is easier to read. A score of 60-70 is considered standard and suitable for most general audiences. Below 30 is considered very difficult, like academic or legal text.
How is reading time calculated?
Reading time is estimated based on the average adult reading speed of 200-250 words per minute. The tool uses 200 WPM as a conservative baseline so the time is displayed as minutes and seconds. For speaking time (presentations, speeches), the typical rate is about 130 WPM, which the tool also shows in the Details tab.
What does keyword density mean?
Keyword density is the percentage of times a specific word appears in your text relative to the total word count. For example, if "marketing" appears 5 times in a 100-word text, its density is 5%. For SEO purposes, a keyword density of 1-3% is generally considered optimal — too high (keyword stuffing) can hurt rankings. The Keywords tab shows the top words by frequency along with their density percentage.
How does the SMS character counter work?
Standard SMS messages support 160 characters using GSM-7 encoding (basic Latin characters). If your message contains special characters, emojis or non-Latin scripts, SMS switches to UCS-2 Unicode encoding which limits each message to 70 characters. This tool's SMS platform indicator checks against the 160-character standard limit. If you're using Unicode characters, note the actual limit may be 70 characters per SMS segment.