Free tool
Character Counter That Marks Exactly Where a Limit Runs Out
Type or paste your text and the count appears at once, with and without spaces. Choose a platform from the list and the characters past its limit turn red, so you know what to cut.
Text message
0
characters
Limits
Click a limit to mark it in your text: the part past it turns red. Each one is counted the way that site counts, checked 17 Oct 2026. Search title and meta description are guides, not limits.
Most used characters
Your text is counted in your browser and never sent anywhere. The text and your choices are kept on your own device so a reload does not lose them.
Cutting a line down to size
A character limit is a hard edge. A headline that is four characters too long gets cut off in a search listing, and a post that is over the limit will not send. This page is built for trimming: pick a limit and the box shows the overflow in red, so you can delete from the end or tighten a phrase in the middle and watch the mark shrink.
Choose Nothing, just count if you only want the numbers. Choose My own limit and type a number for any job the list does not cover, such as a button label or a form field with a cap set by a developer.
What the limits list covers
| Choice | How it is counted |
|---|---|
| X post | With X's own weighting, where links count as a fixed length and some characters count double |
| Bluesky post | By visible characters |
| Threads post | Emoji count by their stored size |
| Instagram caption, LinkedIn post, YouTube description | By visible characters |
| YouTube title, search title | The first line only |
| Meta description | By visible characters, as a guide |
| Text message | In message parts, see below |
The search title and meta description entries are guides, not rules. Google decides how much to show by width, so a line made of wide letters may be cut sooner than one made of narrow ones. The limits themselves are shown beside each choice on the page, so check there for the current numbers.
Text messages are counted in parts
The text message option works differently from the others. A long message is split into parts, and the tool shows how many parts your text would take and how full each one is. If your text includes a character outside the basic message alphabet, such as a curly quote or an emoji, the whole message switches to a different encoding that fits fewer characters, and the tool outlines the characters that caused the switch.
That outline is the most useful part when you write for a text campaign. Swap the curly quotes for straight ones and the part count often drops.
The other numbers in the side column
- Spaces and line breaks, the difference between the two main totals.
- Letters, digits and emoji, counted separately.
- Words, sentences, paragraphs and lines, using the same rules as the word counter, so both pages agree.
- Size in bytes, useful when a field is limited by storage and not by length.
- Most used characters, a short ranking of which characters repeat.
An accented letter or an emoji counts as one character, the way a person sees it, even when it is stored as several pieces.
Habits that save a rewrite
- Check the limit before you polish the wording, since a good sentence that does not fit has to be rewritten anyway.
- Put the key words at the start of a title or description, because the end is the part most likely to be cut.
- Test the final text, not a draft, as small edits near the end of writing can push you over.
- Keep a second version for each channel when limits differ, rather than trimming one text to the strictest limit.
Limits you meet while building a site
Titles, descriptions and button labels all have lengths that look fine in a design file and break on a real page. When we design a layout we test it against long and short text, since real content is rarely the length of the sample copy. Our web design and UI/UX service includes that kind of content-aware layout work.
Frequently asked questions
Are spaces counted as characters?
Yes in the main total, and the page also shows a second total without spaces. Line breaks are treated as spaces for that purpose.
Why does an emoji count as one character here?
The tool counts characters the way a reader sees them, so an emoji is one. Some platforms weigh it differently, which the platform choices in the list take into account.
How do I see which part is over the limit?
Choose a platform, or click one in the limits list. Everything past the limit is marked in red inside the box.
Why does my text message use more parts than I expected?
One character outside the basic message alphabet changes the encoding for the whole message. The tool outlines such characters so you can replace them.
Can I set my own limit?
Yes. Pick My own limit and enter a number. The text over that number is marked the same way.
Is anything stored?
The text and your selections are saved on your own device only, so a reload does not lose them. Nothing leaves the page.
Does it work for languages with accents or other scripts?
Yes. Accented letters and other scripts are counted as visible characters. For X, many non-Latin letters count double under X's own rules, and the tool follows that when you pick that platform.
More free tools
- Word counter: Count words, characters, sentences and reading time, spot repeated words and set a length goal.
- Meta title and description checker: Count characters and pixels, preview the result and check many pages at once.
- OG image size checker: Check a share image, preview the card, fit it to 1200 x 630 and write the tags.
- Case converter: Convert text to sentence, title, upper, lower or code case, with Chicago and APA title rules.
- Readability checker: Score English text with six readability formulas and highlight long sentences, hard words and passive voice.