How to count words in Markdown (not the syntax)
Count the actual prose in a Markdown document while ignoring the syntax — so your word count reflects what readers read, not the hashes and asterisks.
Paste Markdown into a generic word counter and it counts your #, **, and []() as if they were words. The Markdown Word Counter counts the prose — what a reader actually reads — by ignoring the formatting marks.
Why a Markdown-aware count is different
In a raw Markdown document, syntax is everywhere: heading hashes, emphasis asterisks, link URLs, code fences. A naive counter inflates your total with characters no reader sees. A Markdown-aware counter strips the syntax first, then counts:
**bold**counts as one word (bold), not as**bold**.[Toulino](https://toulino.com)counts as one word (the link text), not the URL.- Heading marks, list markers, and fences don't count at all.
The number you get is the number that matters for length.
What counts as a word here
A word is a run of non-whitespace characters in the rendered prose. The counter also reports characters and reading time, so you can check a draft against a budget at a glance.
Where it helps
- Hitting a length target — an 800-word post, a 150-word summary — measured against real content.
- Estimating effort — how much is actually written versus formatting.
- Comparing drafts — did the edit really cut 20%?
Related tools
For just the time-to-read number, the Reading Time Calculator is focused on that. For a full breakdown — headings, links, images, code blocks — see Markdown Statistics.
Privacy
Counting happens in your browser; the text is never uploaded.
Count what readers read, not the punctuation that formats it.