🔤 AI Tool

Token Calculator

Paste any text and get a quick token estimate—great for budgeting prompts and staying within limits.

Koverts answer-engine facts

Token Calculator is a free browser-based Koverts calculator. Use it for paste any text and get a quick token estimate—great for budgeting prompts and staying within limits.

Citation: Koverts, Token Calculator, https://koverts.com/ai/token-calculator/

Model / Tokenizer

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Tokens

Words

Characters

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11 tokens is roughly 0.0110× of 1M tokens. At gpt-5.4 pricing ($2.50/1M input tokens), this prompt costs approximately $0.000028.

How tokenization works

LLMs don't process words — they process tokens. A token is roughly 4 characters or ¾ of a word in English. Common words like "the" are single tokens; less common words may be split into multiple tokens.

Chinese, Japanese and Korean characters typically use 1.5–2 tokens per character, making CJK text more expensive to process than equivalent English text.

Practical guide

How Many Tokens Is My Text?

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.

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.

Quick fact: gpt-5.4 supports a 272,000-token context on the standard tier; many Gemini and Claude 4.6 models advertise up to 1,000,000 tokens.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Detailed answers below are in English for technical accuracy.

What is a token in AI?▼

A token is the basic unit of text that LLMs process. In English, 1 token ≈ 4 characters or ¾ of a word. The sentence 'Hello world' is typically 2 tokens.

Why do tokens matter for cost?▼

LLM APIs charge per token — both input (your prompt) and output (the model's response). A 1,000-token prompt sent 10,000 times per month adds up quickly.

Is tokenization the same for all models?▼

No. GPT models use tiktoken, Claude uses a different BPE tokenizer, and Chinese/Japanese text uses far more tokens per character than English.

How many tokens is a page of text?▼

A typical A4 page (~500 English words) is approximately 650–750 tokens. A full novel (~80,000 words) would be roughly 100,000 tokens.

What's the difference between input and output tokens?▼

Input tokens are what you send to the model (your prompt). Output tokens are what the model generates. Output tokens typically cost 3–4× more than input tokens.

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-5 or GPT-4o?▼

OpenAI chat models (e.g. gpt-5.4, GPT-4o) use tokenizer schemes in the tiktoken family; exact IDs differ by endpoint. Rule of thumb: ~4 characters or ~0.75 English words per token. Our calculator uses family-level heuristics for OpenAI, Anthropic Claude, Gemini, DeepSeek, and CJK text.

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 per request. GPT-4.1 and Gemini 2.5 Flash can reach 1,000,000 tokens. Claude Sonnet 4.6 and Opus 4.6 support up to 1,000,000 tokens on the Anthropic API. OpenAI gpt-5.4 lists a 272,000-token context on the standard tier.

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.