# Character, Word, Token: The 3 Units That Determine Your Bill — and Their Surprising Differences

> Source: https://sukruyusufkaya.com/en/learn/token-ekonomisi/karakter-kelime-token-farki-bpe-tokenization
> Updated: 2026-05-14T14:44:10.450Z
> Category: Token Ekonomisi & LLM Cost Optimization
> Module: Module 1: Token Anatomy — What's Inside a Token?
**TLDR:** A token is the basic unit through which LLMs see text. Character count, word count, and token count give very different results for the same text. By the end of this lesson, you'll estimate 'how many tokens is this paragraph?' from memory with <10% error.