Character Counter
Type or paste above and the counter tracks your characters live, both with spaces (what every platform limit measures) and without. Whether you're squeezing a post under X's 280 or keeping a meta description inside Google's display window, the reference table below has the limit you're writing against.
Character limits by platform
| Platform / field | Limit | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| X (Twitter) post | 280 | Spaces and punctuation count; links count as 23 |
| SMS text message | 160 | Per segment; longer texts split into multiple segments |
| Instagram caption | 2,200 | Truncated after ~125 characters in feeds until tapped |
| Meta description | ~155-160 | Not a hard limit; Google truncates the display |
| Page title tag | ~60 | Display truncation in search results, not a hard cap |
| YouTube title | 100 | Hard limit |
| LinkedIn post | 3,000 | “See more” folds the text after ~210 characters |
| Facebook post | 63,206 | Effectively unlimited for normal writing |
Limits change occasionally as platforms update their products; when a service shows you its own live counter, trust that number at the moment of posting.
With spaces or without?
Almost every real-world limit counts spaces: X, SMS, Instagram, and search-display budgets all measure the full string. The characters-without-spaces figure matters mainly for translation billing and certain academic counts. This counter shows both at once so you never have to guess which one a limit means.
Common questions
Do spaces count as characters?
Yes. Every platform limit on this page counts spaces, punctuation, emoji, and line breaks as characters. The counter above shows both totals: characters with spaces (what limits use) and without.
Why does my text split into multiple SMS messages?
A single SMS segment holds 160 characters (or just 70 if the text contains emoji or other non-basic characters). Longer messages are split into segments and rejoined on the recipient's phone; carriers may bill per segment.
Is the meta description limit really 160 characters?
It's a display convention, not a rule. Google typically shows about 155-160 characters before truncating with an ellipsis, so writers treat that as the practical budget. Nothing breaks if you exceed it; the extra text just isn't shown.