🔢 Character Counter

Free online character counter

This character counter shows how long your text is, with and without spaces, and how many lines it has. It also tracks how many characters you have left for a social media post or a short bio. Paste your text or type directly, and the numbers update with every keystroke. It is handy for captions, usernames, product titles, SMS messages and SEO snippets.

Common character limits

• X (Twitter) posts: 280 characters for standard accounts.
• Instagram bio: 150 characters.
• SMS text message: 160 characters for plain text. Messages with emoji or non-Latin letters fit fewer characters per message, often 70.
• SEO page title: roughly 50 to 60 characters before search results may cut it off.
• SEO meta description: roughly 150 to 160 characters. Google shortens snippets by pixel width, so this is a guideline and not a strict rule.

Platforms change their limits from time to time, so check the platform if the exact number matters.

With spaces or without?

Most platforms count spaces as characters, so the "with spaces" number is the one to use for posts and messages. The "without spaces" number is useful for assignments and translation work where only visible letters are counted. Line breaks are included in the main count.

Tips for staying within a limit

• Put the most important words at the start, in case the end gets cut off.
• Replace long phrases with short ones: "use" instead of "make use of".
• Drop unnecessary adverbs and repeated words.
• Leave a few characters of margin in case a platform counts links or emoji differently.

Frequently asked questions

Do emoji count as one character?

Not always. Some emoji and special symbols are made of several code units, so this counter may count them as more than one character. Platforms also have their own rules, so leave a small buffer.

What is the difference between characters and words?

A character is a single letter, number, space or symbol. A word is a group of characters separated by spaces. Use the word counter if you need a word total.

Is my text private?

Yes. The counting runs in your browser, and nothing you type is sent to a server.