To count characters, paste or type your text in the box above. The character counter shows characters with spaces, characters without spaces, words, sentences, paragraphs, lines and UTF-8 bytes as you type. Limit bars turn amber near and red over the limits for X, Instagram, SMS and more. Select Copy text when it fits.
How to count characters in your text
- Add your text. Type in the box or paste a draft. Counts update on every keystroke, and nothing is sent anywhere.
- Read the counts. Characters with spaces is the figure most platforms use. Characters without spaces, words, sentences, paragraphs, lines and UTF-8 bytes sit beside it.
- Check the limit bars. Each bar fills as you type and turns amber when you're close to the limit and red when you're over it.
- Set your own limit. Type a number into Custom limit for a form field, an ad headline or an assignment, then select Copy text. Clear empties the box.
Characters with spaces vs without spaces
Characters with spaces counts every letter, digit, punctuation mark and space. That's the number social networks, SMS and most web forms check against their limits. Characters without spaces leaves the spaces out, and is what some translators, editors and school assignments ask for.
An emoji or an accented letter counts as one character, because the counter counts what you see on screen (grapheme clusters). Many simpler counters count the hidden code units instead, so a single emoji can show up as 2 or more characters there. The UTF-8 byte count shows the storage size, which grows faster than the character count for anything outside basic English:
| Example | Characters | UTF-8 bytes |
|---|---|---|
| Plain letter (a) | 1 | 1 |
| Accented letter (é) | 1 | 2 |
| Chinese or Japanese character | 1 | 3 |
| Single emoji (smiley face) | 1 | 4 |
Bytes matter when a database column, an API or a file name limit is set in bytes rather than characters. For reading time, keyword density and readability rather than raw length, use the word counter.
Character limits for X, Instagram, SMS and more
These are the limits the counter tracks, so you don't have to look them up.
| Where | Limit | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| X (Twitter) post | 280 | Premium subscribers can post up to 25,000 |
| Instagram caption | 2,200 | Long captions are cut off with a "more" link in the feed |
| Meta description | About 155-160 | A guideline, since Google truncates by screen width |
| SMS text message | 160 | 70 when the text needs Unicode, such as emoji |
| YouTube title | 100 | Descriptions allow 5,000 |
| LinkedIn post | 3,000 | Includes spaces and line breaks |
Google says there's no fixed length for a meta description. It shortens the snippet to fit the device, so 155-160 characters is a safe target that usually shows in full on desktop.
Twitter character counter: why X sometimes counts more
X doesn't count every character as one. According to X's developer documentation, every link counts as 23 characters because it's shortened with t.co, every emoji counts as 2, and Chinese, Japanese and Korean characters count as 2 each. A post made only of emoji or Japanese text therefore tops out at 140 symbols.
The X post bar applies these rules for you, so its number can be higher than the Characters figure: each link counts as 23 however long the address is, and each emoji or CJK character counts as 2. Links are spotted when they start with http, https or www, or end in a common domain such as .com or .org, so an unusual address may be missed. Line breaks count too, so if a draft copied from a document is running long, remove line breaks and extra spaces first.
SMS character count: 160 or 70
A single SMS holds 160 characters when every character is in the GSM-7 alphabet: basic Latin letters, digits, common punctuation and a few accented letters. Add one emoji or a character outside that set, such as Cyrillic, Arabic or Chinese text, and the whole message switches to Unicode (UCS-2), which fits only 70 characters.
Longer messages are split into parts and rejoined on the phone. Each part loses a few characters to the joining header, so a multi-part GSM-7 message carries 153 characters per part and a Unicode one carries 67. Every part is usually billed as a separate message, which is why bulk senders keep an eye on this number.
Frequently asked questions
Do spaces count as characters?
Yes, on almost every platform. X, Instagram, LinkedIn and SMS all count spaces and line breaks. Use the characters without spaces figure only when someone asks for it specifically.
How many characters is an emoji?
This counter shows each emoji as 1 character and usually 4 or more UTF-8 bytes. X counts every emoji as 2, and an emoji forces an SMS into Unicode mode with a 70-character limit.
What is the Instagram caption character limit?
An Instagram caption can be up to 2,200 characters, including spaces, hashtags and emoji. Only the first lines show in the feed before the caption is cut off with a "more" link.
How do I count characters in Microsoft Word or Google Docs?
In Word, open the Review tab and select Word Count. In Google Docs, choose Tools, then Word count. Both show characters with and without spaces, or you can paste the text here to check it against platform limits.
Is there a letter counter that ignores spaces?
Characters without spaces is the closest count: it ignores spaces. It still includes digits and punctuation, so remove those first if you need letters only.
Is my text sent to a server?
No. The character counter runs entirely in your browser, and your text never leaves your device.