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Character counter

Count characters with and without spaces as you type, and watch the bars for X, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, Google and SMS fill up so you know before you post.

0Characters
0Without spaces
0Words
0Lines
0Bytes (UTF-8)

How to use it

  1. Type or paste your text.
  2. Watch the count and the bars. A bar turns red when you go over that limit.
  3. Trim until it fits, then copy.

Character limits worth knowing

WhereLimit
X (Twitter) post280 characters (longer for Premium)
Instagram caption2,200 characters; about 125 show before “more”
Instagram bio150 characters
LinkedIn post3,000 characters
YouTube title100 characters
Google search titleAbout 60 characters before it is cut
Meta descriptionAbout 160 characters before it is cut
SMS160 characters, or 70 with emoji or non-Latin letters

How many words is that many characters?

English words average about 5 to 6½ characters each once the space after them is counted, so divide characters with spaces by 5 for short words and by 6½ for long ones. Paste your text above for the exact number.

Characters with spacesAbout this many words
28045 to 55
50075 to 100
1,000150 to 200
1,500230 to 300
2,000300 to 400
3,000460 to 600
4,000615 to 800

Why an emoji can count as two

This counter counts what you see: an emoji, a flag or an accented letter is one character. Some platforms count differently. X counts most emoji as two, and SMS switches to a different encoding as soon as there is one emoji or a letter outside the basic set, which cuts a message from 160 to 70 characters. The SMS bar here switches to 70 when that happens.

Bytes

Databases, file names and some APIs limit bytes, not characters. In UTF-8, English letters are one byte, accented letters two, most Asian scripts three and emoji four. The byte count shows the real size.

Last checked October 2026.

Questions

Do spaces count as characters?
Yes, on almost every platform, including X, Instagram and SMS. The counter shows both numbers, with and without spaces.
How many words is 1,000 characters with spaces?
About 150 to 200 words in English, depending on how long the words are. Paste the text to see the exact count of both.
How many characters can a tweet have?
280 characters for most accounts. Links count as 23, and most emoji count as two.
How long should a meta description be?
Around 150 to 160 characters. Google cuts longer ones, so put the important words first.
Why does my SMS split at 70 characters?
One emoji or special letter switches the message to Unicode encoding, which allows 70 characters instead of 160.
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