0No spaces
0Words
0Sentences
0Paragraphs
0Lines
Platform limits10 platforms · live
Twitter / X postlimit 280
0 / 280280 left
SMSlimit 160
0 / 160160 left
Meta descriptionlimit 160
0 / 160160 left
SEO title (<title>)limit 60
0 / 6060 left
Instagram captionlimit 2,200
0 / 2,2002,200 left
Instagram biolimit 150
0 / 150150 left
LinkedIn postlimit 3,000
0 / 3,0003,000 left
YouTube titlelimit 100
0 / 100100 left
YouTube descriptionlimit 5,000
0 / 5,0005,000 left
Facebook postlimit 63,206
0 / 63,20663,206 left
Character Counter
Live counts as you type · 10 platform limits tracked · Runs in your browser · no upload
What is a character counter (and why limits matter)
Count characters as you type, with and without spaces, and watch the live platform-limit tracker for Twitter/X, SMS, SEO titles and meta descriptions, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube and more. Everything runs in your browser; your text never leaves your device. Free, private, no sign-up.
Where a word counter tracks how much you've written, a character counter tracks how much will fit. Every social platform, search snippet, SMS gateway and form field has a hard ceiling. Go one character over and the platform either truncates, splits the message into two billed parts, or rejects the submission outright.
- Live count of characters with and without spaces (the metric most platforms use)
- Live tracker for the 10 limits writers hit daily: Twitter/X, SMS, SEO title and meta description, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook
- Counts Unicode code points so emoji = 1, not 2 (UTF-16 units)
- Strips zero-width and ideographic spaces before counting
Quick answer
Most platforms count characters with spaces. Use the big number at the top of the tool for that. The without-spaces total is next to it for the rare style guides that demand it.
Platform character-limit cheat sheet
The same limits the live tracker uses, in one scannable table. Numbers are platform hard caps; practical engagement often drops off well before the ceiling.
| Platform / field | Limit | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Twitter / X post | 280 | Per-post limit (Premium tier extends to 4000; free accounts stay at 280). |
| SMS | 160 | Single GSM-7 segment. Going over splits into multiple billed messages. |
| Meta description | 160 | Google typically truncates desktop snippets at ~155-160 characters. |
| SEO title (<title>) | 60 | Google truncates the SERP title around 55-60 characters on desktop. |
| Instagram caption | 2,200 | Hard caption cap; only the first ~125 characters show before the More tap. |
| Instagram bio | 150 | Profile bio cap. URLs in the bio also count against this. |
| LinkedIn post | 3,000 | Per-post body; only the first ~140 characters show in-feed before See more. |
| YouTube title | 100 | Video title hard cap. Aim for ~60 to stay readable in search results. |
| YouTube description | 5,000 | Description box hard cap. Only the first ~157 characters appear above the fold. |
| Facebook post | 63,206 | Per-post hard cap. Practical engagement drops off well before this. |
Built for character-limited writing
One counter, all the limit checks. Switch between platforms by scanning the bars; no copy-paste round-trip.
Live counts
- Characters (with spaces)Big
- Characters (no spaces)
- Words · sentences · paragraphs · lines
- Avg word length · unique words
Limit tracking
- Twitter / X post280
- SMS · meta description160
- SEO title60
- Other platforms+6
Why character ≠ word
- Spaces & punctuation are characters
- Emoji count as 1 (Unicode code point)
- Some platforms strip whitespace
- Twitter counts URLs as 23, always
How to use the character counter
Three steps. No sign-up, no setup, nothing to install.
- 1
Paste or type
Drop your draft into the box. Counting starts on the first keystroke and stays live as you edit.
- 2
Scan the limits
Watch the platform bars. Bars turn gold past 80% and coral when you're over. The remaining count flips to over.
- 3
Trim and copy
Edit until every bar you care about sits in mint or gold, then hit Copy to grab the cleaned text.
Who built this
Same team behind the Word Counter and the upcoming Sentence Counter. Every counter on this site runs entirely in your browser.
The WordCounters team
Linguists, editors & engineersA small team of writers and engineers shipping privacy-first text tools. The counter logic is open source; everything runs client-side. Limits are kept current against each platform's public documentation.
Frequently asked
Direct answers; mirrored in this page's FAQ JSON-LD so AI answer engines can cite them cleanly.
How is a character counted?
We count Unicode code points, so an emoji like 🧠 counts as 1 character even though it's two UTF-16 units under the hood. Zero-width and ideographic spaces are stripped before counting. Every visible keystroke, punctuation mark, line break and emoji contributes to the total.
Does this count spaces?
Both totals are shown side-by-side: with spaces and without spaces. Most platforms (Twitter/X, SMS, meta descriptions) count spaces; use that number. Some style guides count only non-whitespace characters; use the no-spaces total for those.
What is the Twitter / X character limit?
280 characters per post for free accounts. X Premium subscribers can post up to 4,000 characters, but anything over 280 is collapsed behind a Show more link in feeds. URLs are counted as 23 characters by Twitter's own counter regardless of actual length; this tool counts the literal string.
How long should a meta description be?
Aim for 150 to 160 characters. Google typically truncates desktop snippets around 155 to 160 characters and mobile around 120. The tracker warns past 150 and turns red past 160 so you can see at a glance whether you'll be cut off.
Why does my character count look different from another tool?
Different tools count differently. Some count UTF-16 units (so an emoji is 2), some count graphemes (so a flag emoji is 1 even though it's multiple code points), some strip whitespace by default. We count Unicode code points (what most platform docs mean by character) and surface the with-spaces number first.
Is my text uploaded anywhere?
No. The counter runs entirely in your browser. We don't upload, log, or send a single character to any server. Your text is held in your browser's per-tab session storage so a refresh doesn't lose your work, and it clears the moment you close the tab. The page itself is static HTML; the counter is a small client-side script. Closing the tab is the only privacy guarantee you ever need.
Try the rest of the tools
Same brutalist console, same privacy promise. Pick a counter: