Character counter, with and without spaces
Paste or type text and see the number of characters with spaces, without spaces, in UTF-8 bytes and in code points as you write. The limits on the right show what fits where.
- Characters
- 0
- Without spaces
- 0
- Words
- 0
- Lines
- 0
- UTF-8 bytes
- 0
- Code points
- 0
- Spaces and breaks
- 0
Character limits
- Links count 23, emoji and CJK count 2280 available
- characters3,000 available
- 0 hashtags of 30, 0 @ tags of 202,200 available
- characters100 available
- Plain text: 1 byte per character5,000 available
- One segment160 available
- Your own limityour target0 / 500characters500 available
The same text, counted five ways
| Text | What it is | Characters | Code points | UTF-8 bytes | On X | SMS units |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| hello | Plain letters | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 (GSM-7) |
| café | Accented letter | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 (GSM-7) |
| €5 | Euro sign | 2 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 3 (GSM-7) |
| [ok] | Square brackets | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 6 (GSM-7) |
| “hi” | Curly quotes | 4 | 4 | 8 | 4 | 4 (UCS-2) |
| 😀 | Emoji | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 2 (UCS-2) |
| 👨👩👧 | Family emoji (5 code points) | 1 | 5 | 18 | 2 | 8 (UCS-2) |
| 日本 | Japanese | 2 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 2 (UCS-2) |
SMS units are GSM-7 septets or, when a character is outside GSM-7, UTF-16 units of the UCS-2 encoding. On X, links count 23 and emoji 2.
What counts as a character?
Every letter, digit, space, punctuation mark, line break and emoji you can see. A letter with an accent counts once even when it is stored as a letter plus a separate accent mark, and an emoji made of several parts, such as a family or a flag, counts once too. This is how most people and most text boxes count.
Characters with spaces or without spaces: which one do I need?
With spaces, almost always. Every platform limit on this site counts spaces and line breaks. The count without spaces is for translation quotes, some publishing contracts and forms that say so explicitly.
What are UTF-8 bytes and code points for?
They are how computers store text, and a few limits use them. YouTube caps a video description at 5,000 bytes, not characters: plain English letters take 1 byte, accented letters 2, many symbols 3 and emoji 4. Code points are the units Unicode assigns; an emoji family is one character but several code points. Databases and APIs often limit fields by one of these two.
Why does the same text show different counts on different platforms?
Because platforms count in different units. X counts emoji and Chinese, Japanese or Korean characters as 2 and links as 23. A text message counts some symbols, such as the euro sign and square brackets, as 2. The meters on this page apply each platform’s published rule, so you can see the difference before you post.
Questions about the character counter
Does a line break count as a character?
Yes. A line break is one character here, as on the platforms. A Windows line ending (two control codes) is counted as one break, because it shows as one. Several empty lines in a row add one character each, so a post with lots of spacing uses more of its limit than it seems.
How many characters is a tweet?
Up to 280, as X counts them: links count 23 each and emoji 2. Use the tweet length checker for a post-by-post breakdown.
How many characters can a LinkedIn post have?
LinkedIn Help says posts can contain up to 3,000 characters. Longer text can go into a LinkedIn article instead.
How long can an Instagram caption be?
Meta’s Instagram Platform reference gives a maximum of 2,200 characters, 30 hashtags and 20 @ tags for a caption. The meter counts all three.
Can I set my own character limit?
Yes. Open “Set targets” above the limits and type any number of characters or words: a form field, an ad headline, a product name. The bar turns amber at 90 percent and red when you go over.
More counters
- Word counterWords, characters, sentences, readability and every limit at once.
- SEO title lengthTitle and meta description width in pixels, with a results preview.
- Tweet lengthAn X post counted the way X counts: links 23, emoji 2.
- SMS counterGSM-7 or UCS-2, segments, and the characters that cost you.
- Reading timeReading and speaking time at a pace you choose.
- Keyword densityTop words and phrases, and how often your keyword appears.
Sources and limits
- Counting characters
Posts can contain up to 280 characters; most characters count 1 and some count 2; every URL counts 23; every emoji counts 2; length is measured after NFC normalization.
X Developer Platform. Opened on .
- twitter-text config v3.json
The weighting table behind the count: default weight 2, and weight 1 for code points 0–4351, 8192–8205, 8208–8223 and 8242–8247.
X (twitter/twitter-text on GitHub). Opened on .
- Post and share updates
“Posts can contain up to 3,000 characters.” Longer text can be published as an article.
LinkedIn Help. Opened on .
- IG User Media reference
For the caption of a post published through the API: “Maximum 2200 characters, 30 hashtags, and 20 @ tags.”
Meta, Instagram Platform. Opened on .
- Videos resource
Title: maximum 100 characters. Description: maximum 5000 bytes. Both may contain any valid UTF-8 character except < and >.
YouTube Data API. Opened on .
- TS 23.038: Alphabets and language-specific information
The GSM 7-bit default alphabet and its extension table (^ { } \ [ ~ ] | € and page break), reached through an escape code. Read in the v19.0.0 text mirrored at whatthespec.net.
3GPP. Opened on .
- TS 23.040: Technical realization of the Short Message Service
Up to 140 octets of text per message (clause 3.1, read in a mirror of v19.0.0): 160 GSM-7 or 70 UCS-2 characters. The 153 and 67 per part of a concatenated message, after its header, are the values commonly given; we did not reach that clause.
3GPP. Cited reference: we could not open the full text, so the value is the one commonly reproduced from it.
Platforms change their limits without notice and some count emoji or links in ways they do not document. Treat every meter as a check before you post; the platform’s own editor has the last word. Nothing you type leaves your browser.