# Word Count: Count the words on a page and see how long it takes to read

> Word Count is a free browser extension for Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari that shows a page's reading time, word count and reading progress. It sends nothing anywhere.

- URL: https://velocitylabs.io/extensions/word-count/

Browser extension

# Word Count

Count the words on a page and see how long it takes to read.

## What it does

A ring fills as you scroll and counts down the minutes left, next to the word, sentence and character counts and the time it takes to read aloud. Select some text to count just that. It counts the article itself, not the menus and comments around it, and handles languages written without spaces.

**It can:**

- Read the page you're on, after you click its button

 ![](https://velocitylabs.io/images/extensions/word-count.svg)
## Get Word Count

Coming soon to Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari.

Free. Works in Brave, Vivaldi, Arc and other Chromium browsers through the Chrome Web Store.

## Screenshots

- ![An article about sourdough with the Word Count panel showing a 3 minute read, a ring with 2 minutes left, and counts for speaking time, sentences and characters.](https://velocitylabs.io/images/extensions/word-count/1-reading-progress.webp)
- ![A highlighted passage, with the panel adding a count for just the selection.](https://velocitylabs.io/images/extensions/word-count/2-selection.webp)
- ![The panels minimized to small pills at the bottom of the page, Word Count's showing 1 minute left.](https://velocitylabs.io/images/extensions/word-count/3-minimized.webp)
- ![The Word Count panel in light mode.](https://velocitylabs.io/images/extensions/word-count/4-light-mode.webp)

## How to use it

1. Click **Word Count** in your browser’s toolbar. Its panel shows the reading time and counts.
2. Scroll, and the ring fills as you read. Minimized, the panel keeps the minutes left.
3. Select some text to count just that, or switch between the article and the whole page.

**Always on for a site.** To have Word Count start by itself on a site you use a lot, turn on "Always on for this site" in its panel. Each panel has \_ to minimize it and × to turn it off.

## Privacy

Word Count collects no data. It has no analytics, no accounts and no servers, and its pages block every network request (a Content Security Policy of `connect-src 'none'`), so it can't send anything anywhere. Anything it reads stays in your browser.

- **Only after you click.** Installing it gives it no access to any website. It can see a page only after you click its toolbar button on that page, and only that tab.
- It asks for `activeTab` and `scripting` only, to count the words on the tab you clicked on.
- It stores nothing, not even settings.
- **"Always on" is one site at a time.** If you turn it on, your browser asks you to confirm, naming the site, and it covers that site only. Nothing is granted at install, and you can turn it off from the panel or in your browser's extension settings.
- **Nothing hidden.** In Chrome and Edge, the "Always on" confirmation is a page websites can load, so a site could tell that Word Count is installed, though its address changes every session to make that hard. It reveals nothing else. In Firefox and Safari the confirmation opens in a small window instead, and no site can load any part of it.

Links from the extension to this site don't tell us which page you came from. If you write to us below, we get only what you send, and use it only to answer you.

Last updated November 13, 2026.

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