Character counter
Count characters with and without spaces and see at a glance whether your text fits an X post, Instagram caption or bio, TikTok caption, LinkedIn post, text message or Google title.
- 100% free
- Runs in your browser
- No uploads
Your text is saved in this browser only, so it's still here if you reload.
Characters
0
Counted as you see them: an emoji or accented letter is 1.
- Without spaces
- 0
- Words
- 0
- Sentences
- 0
- Lines
- 0
- Bytes (UTF-8)
- 0
Limits
- X post0 / 280
280 left
Weighted like X counts it: links are 23, emoji and Chinese, Japanese or Korean characters are 2. Premium accounts can post longer.
- Bluesky post0 / 300
300 left
Bluesky counts graphemes, the same way as this tool.
- Threads post0 / 500
500 left
Longer text can go in a text attachment.
- Instagram caption0 / 2,200
2,200 left
Only the first lines show before "more".
- Instagram bio0 / 150
150 left
- TikTok caption0 / 4,000
4,000 left
In the app. Captions posted through TikTok's API are limited to 2,200.
- LinkedIn post0 / 3,000
3,000 left
- YouTube title0 / 100
100 left
- YouTube description0 / 5,000
5,000 left
- Google title (guide)0 / 60
60 left
Google cuts titles by width (about 600 pixels), which is usually 50 to 60 characters. Not a hard limit.
- Meta description (guide)0 / 160
160 left
Google shows roughly 155 to 160 characters on desktop and fewer on phones, and may rewrite it. Not a hard limit.
Text message (SMS)
0 / 160Standard (GSM-7) encoding · empty
Long messages are sent in parts of 153 standard or 67 Unicode characters, and each part is billed as one SMS.
- Runs on your deviceEvery tool works directly in your browser. No files are uploaded.
- Your privacy mattersYour files never leave your device, so there's nothing for us to store.
- No limitsUse any tool as much as you need. No daily caps, no waiting.
- Completely freeNo signup and no trial to cancel. Ads keep the tools free.
How to check a character limit
- Type or paste your text. The counts and every limit update as you type.
- Find the platform in the list. Each limit shows how many characters are left, or how many you're over, with the bar turning red when you go past it.
- Fix text messages. If a curly quote or dash pushes an SMS into Unicode, press the replace button to swap in plain characters.
Character limits and how they're counted
| Field | How it's counted | Limit |
|---|---|---|
| X post (standard account) | Weighted: links 23, emoji and CJK characters 2 | 280 |
| Bluesky post | Characters as you see them | 300 |
| Threads post | Characters | 500 |
| Instagram caption / bio | Characters | 2,200 / 150 |
| TikTok caption (in the app) | Characters | 4,000 |
| LinkedIn post | Characters | 3,000 |
| YouTube title / description | Characters | 100 / 5,000 |
| SMS | GSM-7 septets, or UTF-16 units for Unicode | 160 / 70 per message |
Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn and YouTube don't publish exactly how they count emoji. This tool counts each visible emoji as one character, which matches what you see; an app's own counter can differ by a character or two on emoji-heavy text, so leave a little room.
How SMS length works
A text message carries 140 bytes. With the standard GSM 7-bit alphabet that's 160 characters. A few characters (€, [, ], {, }, \, ^, ~ and |) live in an extension table and take two slots each. Anything outside the alphabet, such as an emoji, a curly quote or accented letters like á and ê, switches the message to Unicode, where only 70 characters fit.
Longer messages are split into parts. Each part loses a few characters to the header that tells the phone how to join them: 153 standard or 67 Unicode characters per part. So a 161-character message costs two texts, and a 100-character message with a single emoji in it costs two instead of one.
Tips
Front-load the important part. Instagram and TikTok show only the start of a caption before “more”, and Google shows only the start of a title, so put the key words first.
Database and form limits. Many websites check length in bytes or code units rather than visible characters. The UTF-8 byte count helps when a form rejects text that looks short enough.
Frequently asked questions
Why does X say my post is longer than the character count?
X weighs characters. Letters from most European and many other scripts count 1, but emoji and Chinese, Japanese and Korean characters count 2, and every link counts as 23 however short or long it is. The X row in the limits list uses those same rules, so it matches what X shows.
Do emoji count as one character or two?
On screen an emoji is one character, and that's how the main count and most limits here treat it, even for emoji built from several code points such as a family or a flag. X counts every emoji as 2. In an SMS an emoji forces Unicode encoding and takes 2 of the 70 available units.
Why does one curly apostrophe make my text message cost twice as much?
A standard SMS uses the GSM 7-bit alphabet, which has straight quotes but not curly ones. One character outside that alphabet switches the whole message to Unicode, which fits 70 characters per message instead of 160. Text pasted from a word processor often has curly quotes and long dashes; the replace button swaps them for plain ones.
Are spaces and line breaks counted?
Yes. Every platform listed here counts spaces and line breaks towards its limit, so the main count includes them. The count without spaces is shown separately for forms and assignments that ask for it.
Is 60 characters a hard limit for title tags?
No. Google cuts titles by pixel width, roughly 600 pixels on desktop, so a title of wide capital letters gets cut sooner than one with narrow letters. Around 50 to 60 characters usually fits. Meta descriptions are shown up to about 155 to 160 characters on desktop, and Google may write its own instead.