Character Counter

Character counter for Twitter and X posts

X (formerly Twitter) caps free accounts at 280 characters per post. URLs always count as 23 characters regardless of actual length, while mentions, hashtags, and emojis count fully. Research shows tweets between 71 and 100 characters get the highest engagement, well below the 280 cap. Our live "Twitter / X" indicator turns amber at 252 characters (90 percent full) and red when you go over, so you know to trim before posting.

Character counter for SMS messages

A single SMS message holds 160 characters under GSM-7 encoding, the original 1985 mobile standard. Messages longer than 160 characters split into multiple parts, each carrying only 153 characters because 7 bytes are used for joining metadata. Using an emoji or non-Latin script switches the encoding to UCS-2 and drops the limit to 70 characters per message. The character counter shows your exact count so you can avoid surprise multi-part billing.

Character counter for SEO meta descriptions

Google displays the first 155 to 160 characters of a meta description on desktop and around 120 characters on mobile search results. Going over the limit causes truncation with an ellipsis, often cutting your call to action mid-sentence. Front-load your most important keywords and a click-worthy hook in the first 120 characters so mobile users see the punchline. The counter shows when you cross 155 with a colour change.

Character counter for Instagram captions

Instagram allows up to 2,200 characters per caption, but only the first 125 characters appear above the "more" button on mobile feeds. That makes the first 125 characters your highest-value real estate, where you hook viewers into tapping "more." The remaining 2,075 characters are for storytelling, hashtags (max 30), and calls to action. Track both numbers in the panel above.

Character counter for LinkedIn posts and articles

LinkedIn posts cap at 3,000 characters, with the first 200 visible before the "see more" link truncates. For maximum engagement, lead with a hook in the first 200 characters and use the remaining 2,800 for the meat of your post. LinkedIn articles (long-form) allow up to 125,000 characters, suitable for in-depth thought leadership. Both are tracked separately in our limits panel.

Character counter for resumes and bios

Professional bios on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok cap at 150 to 160 characters, forcing brevity that doubles as a personal headline. Resume "summary" sections are typically 50 to 100 words (300 to 600 characters), enough to state your role, expertise, and unique angle. The character counter helps you trim padding and keep every word doing work.

Character counter for YouTube titles and descriptions

YouTube titles cap at 100 characters, but the YouTube algorithm and search results truncate after 60 to 70 characters. Front-load your hook and primary keyword in the first 60. YouTube descriptions hold up to 5,000 characters, but only the first 157 characters appear above the "Show more" fold on desktop and 100 on mobile. Use the platform selector dropdown above to check both limits live.

Character counter for Facebook posts and ads

Facebook organic posts cap at 63,206 characters, but engagement studies show posts between 40 and 80 characters get the highest interaction rate. Facebook ads have stricter limits: headlines cap at 40 characters, primary text at 125 characters before truncation, and link descriptions at 30. The character counter helps you fit ad copy into the visible portion before any "see more" truncation kicks in.

Character counter for TikTok captions and Pinterest pins

TikTok captions cap at 2,200 characters but only the first 100 are visible in the feed before truncation. Pinterest pin descriptions cap at 500 characters, with the first 50 to 60 most visible on mobile. Both platforms reward concise, front-loaded copy with hashtags grouped at the end. Use the live indicator to stay within visible-portion limits, not just the hard cap.

Character counter for WhatsApp and Bluesky

WhatsApp status text caps at 700 characters, and individual messages have no practical limit. Bluesky, the decentralised social network, caps posts at 300 characters (slightly higher than Twitter's 280). Mastodon defaults to 500 characters per toot but server admins can raise this. The platform selector dropdown above includes all three, so you can write once and check every target audience instantly.

What is a character counter?

A character counter is a small piece of software that counts every typed character in a piece of text, including letters, numbers, punctuation, spaces, line breaks, and emojis. The simplest version uses the JavaScript .length property of a string, which works fine for plain ASCII but produces surprising results with emojis and combined Unicode characters. A good character counter tool also reports the character count without spaces, the word count, and the length against any limit you care about, so you get the full picture in one view.

People reach for a character count tool whenever text has to fit a fixed budget. That includes a tweet, an SMS, a meta description, a database field, a form input, or a scholarship essay with a strict cap. Instead of guessing, you paste the text and read the exact number. Because the count updates on every keystroke, you can edit down to the limit precisely rather than overshooting and trimming blind.

How to use this online character counter

Using the character counter is simple: type directly in the box above or paste text with Ctrl/Cmd + V, and every metric updates instantly. There is no calculate button and no signup. The main panel shows characters with spaces, characters without spaces, words, and lines, while the side panel shows how your character count compares to the limits for Twitter, Instagram, SMS, SEO meta tags, and more.

Because this is a character count online tool that runs entirely in your browser, your text is never uploaded or stored on a server. That makes it safe for drafts, client copy, and anything confidential. It also means the counter works offline once the page has loaded and stays fast no matter how much text you paste in.

Character count with and without spaces

Characters with spaces counts every keystroke including the space bar, tab key, and Enter (line break). Characters without spaces only counts visible printed characters. Most platforms (Twitter, Instagram, SMS) count spaces, and SEO tools usually count spaces too, so the "character count with spaces" figure is the one that matters for almost every social and search limit. Word processors often display both numbers side by side.

The character count without spaces is mainly useful for developers and for some academic word counts that traditionally exclude reference lists and footnotes. This tool shows both at once, so you never have to guess which figure a platform or assignment expects. Always check the target's spec, then read the matching number from the panel.

Character counter vs letter counter

People often search for a letter counter when they mean a character counter, and in everyday use the two overlap. A letter counter, strictly speaking, counts only alphabetic characters, while a character counter counts everything: letters, digits, punctuation, spaces, and symbols. For social media and SEO limits, the character count is what platforms enforce, because every digit, hashtag, and space takes up room in the budget.

This tool works as both a letter counter and a char counter. The main figure is the total character count, which is what Twitter, Instagram, and SMS measure, and the without-spaces figure gets you close to a pure letter and symbol count. If you only need to know how many letters are in a name, a word, or a short phrase, paste it in and read the count instantly.

Symbol counter and character length

A symbol counter and a character counter measure the same thing from different angles: the total number of symbols, which includes letters, numbers, punctuation marks, spaces, and emojis. When you need the character length of a string for a database column, an API field, or a form validation rule, this is the figure to read. The counter reports it live, so you can trim a value until it fits a varchar(255) field or any other cap exactly.

Character length matters beyond databases. Usernames, URL slugs, product titles, and reference codes all have maximum lengths, and exceeding them causes silent truncation or a rejected submission. Use the counter as a character checker before you save: paste the value, confirm the length is under the limit, and you avoid surprises later.

How emojis affect character count

Emojis are deceptively complex. A simple emoji like ❤ is 1 visible character but may be 1 or 2 UTF-16 code units. A skin-tone emoji like 👋🏽 is 1 visible character but 4 code units. The "family of four" emoji 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 is 1 visible character but uses 11 code units joined by zero-width joiners. The character counter offers a "grapheme mode" that counts visible characters (matching what Twitter and Instagram show) or a "code unit mode" for developers.

Character count vs word count

Character count is the right metric for constrained surfaces: tweets, SMS, meta descriptions, bios, headlines, ad copy. Word count is the right metric for long-form writing: essays, articles, reports. The two diverge fast in heavily-punctuated text. A 280-character tweet might be 40 to 60 words. A 1,500-word blog post is roughly 8,000 to 10,000 characters with spaces.

This page doubles as an online word counter, so you do not need a separate tool to count words and characters. Both totals update together as you type, which is handy when an assignment caps the word count but a platform caps the character count. When you need deeper writing stats like sentences, paragraphs, and reading time, the linked Word Counter covers those.

How to check character count in Microsoft Word and Google Docs

Microsoft Word and Google Docs both have a built-in character count, it is just tucked away. In Word, open the Review tab and click Word Count, or look at the status bar at the bottom of the window; the dialog shows characters with spaces and characters without spaces. In Google Docs, open the Tools menu and choose Word count, or press Ctrl+Shift+C, then tick "Display word count while typing" to keep it visible.

The catch with both is that the character count is hidden behind a menu and does not check platform limits for you. Pasting your text into this online character counter is faster for quick checks, and it tells you in real time whether the text fits Twitter, a meta description, or an SMS, which Word and Docs do not.

Why character count limits matter

Every short-form surface enforces a character count limit, and going over it has a cost. On Twitter the post simply will not send. In an SEO meta description, Google truncates the text with an ellipsis and your call to action disappears. In SMS, crossing 160 characters splits the message into multiple billed parts. In ad platforms, an over-length headline is rejected before it can run.

Knowing the limit is only half the job; hitting it precisely is the other half. This tool shows your current character count next to the cap for each platform and changes color as you approach it, so you can write right up to the edge with confidence. That turns the limit from a guessing game into a clear, visible target.