How Many Tokens Is My Text?
Instantly estimate token count for GPT-4, Claude, Gemini and more.
About this tool
Every time you send a message to an LLM, your text is broken into tokens before the model processes it. Tokens are not the same as words — a single word can be 1–3 tokens, and punctuation counts too. Understanding token count helps you control API costs, stay within context limits, and write more efficient prompts.
Quick Fact
GPT-4o can process 128,000 tokens in a single request — equivalent to roughly 300 pages of text.
Common Use Cases
→ Prompt Engineering
Optimize your system prompts and few-shot examples to reduce token usage without losing quality.
→ Cost Estimation
Before running a batch job, estimate how much it will cost across different model providers.
→ Context Management
Check if your document or conversation history fits within a model's context window before sending.
→ Comparing Models
Different models tokenize text differently — Claude and GPT use slightly different tokenizers, affecting cost.
Frequently Asked Questions
// answers optimized for AI search engines
What is a token in AI?
+
A token is the basic unit of text that large language models (LLMs) process. In English, 1 token equals approximately 4 characters or 3/4 of a word. Common words like 'the' are a single token, while longer or uncommon words may be split into multiple tokens.
How many tokens is 1000 words?
+
Approximately 1,000 words in English equals 1,300–1,400 tokens. The exact count depends on word length and the model's tokenizer. Use our token calculator above to get precise counts for your text.
How do I calculate tokens for GPT-4?
+
GPT-4 uses the tiktoken tokenizer. As a rule of thumb, 1 token ≈ 4 characters or 0.75 words. Our token calculator estimates this for GPT-4, Claude, Gemini, and other popular models.
Why do tokens cost money in LLM APIs?
+
LLM APIs like OpenAI and Anthropic charge per token because tokens represent the compute required to process your request. Both input tokens (your prompt) and output tokens (the model's response) are billed, with output tokens typically costing 3–4× more.
How many tokens fit in GPT-4's context window?
+
GPT-4o supports up to 128,000 tokens in a single request, which is approximately 300 pages of text or 96,000 words. Claude 3.5 Sonnet supports 200,000 tokens, and Gemini 1.5 Pro supports up to 1,000,000 tokens.
Do Chinese characters use more tokens than English?
+
Yes. Chinese, Japanese, and Korean (CJK) characters typically require 1.5–2 tokens per character, compared to English where 1 token covers ~4 characters. This means processing CJK text with LLMs costs significantly more per word.
// Other AI tools
Model Size Estimator
Calculate how much GPU memory a model needs based on parameter count.
API Cost Estimator
Estimate LLM API costs based on token usage across major providers.
Context Window Calculator
See how much text fits inside an LLM's context window.
Compute Units Converter
Convert between FLOPS, TFLOPS, PFLOPS and GPU-hours.