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Best Free WordPress Plugins for Word Count

12 plugins compared · Updated August 2026 · Word Count

All 12 Free only Premium only

Choosing a WordPress plugin for word count comes down to a few things: whether it is still actively maintained, whether real users rate it well, and whether it does the specific job you need without dragging the rest of the site down.

We ranked 12 plugins using our WPScore, which weighs the user rating (adjusted for how many people actually rated it), how many sites run it, how recently it was updated, and which WordPress version it is tested against. 12 of them have enough public data to be scored; the rest are listed below the ranked block, clearly marked, rather than being given a number we cannot justify.

How this list is funded. Some links here earn us a commission if you buy. It costs you nothing extra, and it does not move anything up the list — the order comes from the WPScore, which is calculated from public ratings, install counts and update history. See the method.

At a glance

  1. 1. Reading Time WP Best overall 85/100
  2. 2. Reading Time 77/100
  3. 3. Post Word Counter 74/100
  4. 4. Sortable Word Count Reloaded 73/100
  5. 5. Simply Excerpts 73/100
  6. 6. Limit Comments and Word Count 68/100
  7. 7. Post Admin Word Count 67/100
  8. 8. Just Writing Statistics 63/100
  9. 9. Article Word Count 63/100
  10. 10. Export Post Info 57/100
  11. 11. Timify 50/100
  12. 12. Dashboard Wordcount 49/100
1 Reading Time WP
Best overall Free by yingles

Reading Time WP

Reading Time WP creates an estimated reading time of your posts that is inserted above the content or by using a shortcode.

4.8★
from 20 ratings
20k+
active installs
Updated
Aug 2026
Tested to
WP 7.1
85

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org
2 Reading Time
Free by whiletrue

Reading Time

Reading Time shows the estimated reading time and puts an animated progress bar inside the post.

3.7★
from 3 ratings
200+
active installs
Updated
Aug 2026
Tested to
WP 7.1
77

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org
3 Post Word Counter
Free by doubledome

Post Word Counter

The Word Counter plugin offers a dedicated dashboard view that tracks the word count, post count, pages wordcount, and custom post types across your e …

4.5★
from 2 ratings
200+
active installs
Updated
Mar 2026
Tested to
WP 6.9.7
74

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org
5 Simply Excerpts
Free by A. Jones

Simply Excerpts

A simple plugin for exceprts that allows you to change the word count and to replace the elipsis (...) with text. Not compatible with all themes.

5★
from 2 ratings
500+
active installs
Updated
Feb 2026
Tested to
WP 6.9.7
73

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org
6 Limit Comments and Word Count
Free by artiosmedia

Limit Comments and Word Count

This plugin will limit the number of comments and the word count each user can add to a WordPress blog post, configurable by user role and time.

4.4★
from 9 ratings
40+
active installs
Updated
Dec 2025
Tested to
WP 6.9.0
68

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org
7 Post Admin Word Count
Free by Jon Bishop

Post Admin Word Count

Adds a sortable word count column to the admin post list for all public post types. Efficient, lightweight and built with modern best practices.

3.5★
from 6 ratings
2k+
active installs
Updated
May 2025
Tested to
WP 6.8.8
67

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org
10 Export Post Info
Free by apasionados

Export Post Info

This plugin exports posts Date published, Post title, Word Count, Status, URL and Category to a CSV file.

5★
from 13 ratings
1k+
active installs
Updated
Sep 2023
Tested to
WP 6.3.10
57

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org
11 Timify
Free by ThemeIM

Timify

With Timify, let your audience know about the last modified date, publish date, and reading time of your articles. You can also customize each setting …

5★
from 2 ratings
100+
active installs
Updated
Oct 2023
Tested to
WP 6.1.12
50

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org
12 Dashboard Wordcount
Free by ricardjorg

Dashboard Wordcount

Updates the Dashboard's At a Glance widget to show the total word count of all the published posts and age of this WordPress website.

5★
from 4 ratings
600+
active installs
Updated
Oct 2016
Tested to
WP 4.6.30
49

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org