Paste your essay into the box and every count updates as you type. Adjust the words-per-page setting to match your assignment brief and the page estimate follows immediately.
It depends on formatting. A typical double-spaced page in 12pt Times New Roman with one-inch margins holds around 275 words, and a single-spaced page around 550, so the counter shows both estimates rather than one misleading number.
It counts everything in the box, so paste only the part your word limit applies to. Most departments exclude the reference list and sometimes long quotations, so check your handbook and paste accordingly.
Sentences are split on full stops, question marks and exclamation marks, with common abbreviations such as e.g. and Dr. handled so they do not create false sentence breaks.