Everyday Utilities

Character
Counter

Count characters, words, sentences, and paragraphs as you type. See instantly how your text measures up against Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, and SMS character limits — with live progress bars and remaining counts for every platform.

Your Text

Characters

No Spaces

Words

Sentences

Paragraphs

Platform Character Limits — live progress

📖 How to Use the Character Counter

Paste or type your text

Click the large text box and paste your content with Ctrl+V (Cmd+V on Mac), or type directly. All counts update instantly as you type — no need to click anything. Use the Paste button to pull from clipboard, or Sample to load example text and see how the tool works.

Read your counts

The five boxes at the top show: Characters (total including spaces), No Spaces (characters only, no whitespace), Words, Sentences (ending in . ! or ?), and Paragraphs (blocks separated by blank lines). All update in real time as you edit.

Check platform limits

The platform cards below the stats show your text's character count against each platform's limit. The progress bar fills as you approach the limit. Green remaining = you're within the limit. Red remaining = you've exceeded it and need to shorten. Each card notes important platform-specific rules (like Twitter counting URLs as 23 chars).

Edit to fit

If you're over a platform's limit, edit your text in the box directly — the count drops in real time so you can trim precisely. The platform cards update with every keystroke. When the remaining count turns green, you're within the limit. Use Clear to reset, or Copy to copy the text once you're happy with it.

Platform-specific tips: Twitter counts every character including spaces and punctuation. URLs are always counted as 23 characters regardless of actual length (Twitter wraps them via t.co). Emojis typically count as 2 characters on Twitter. LinkedIn's 3,000-character limit applies to posts; comments are 1,250. Instagram captions show only the first 125 characters before a "more" link — front-load your key message. SMS messages over 160 characters are split into multiple messages and billed separately by most carriers.

Platform Character Limits Reference

Platform / Context	Limit	Notes
Twitter / X post	280	URLs count as 23 chars; emojis as 2
Twitter / X bio	160	Profile bio field
LinkedIn post	3,000	First 210 chars shown before "see more"
LinkedIn headline	220	Shown prominently on profile
LinkedIn summary	2,000	About section
Instagram caption	2,200	Only ~125 chars visible before "more"
Instagram bio	150	Profile bio
Facebook post	63,206	Posts truncated at ~477 chars in feed
SMS (standard)	160	160 per segment; multi-segment billed separately
SMS (Unicode/emoji)	70	Drops to 70 per segment when non-GSM chars used
YouTube title	100	~70 chars visible in search results
YouTube description	5,000	First 157 chars shown before "show more"
Meta description (SEO)	160	Google truncates around 155–160 chars
Page title (SEO)	60	Google shows ~50–60 chars in results
Email subject line	78	Most clients show 40–60 on mobile
TikTok caption	2,200	First 100 chars shown; hashtags within limit

Why character count matters more than word count for social

Word count is useful for long-form writing (essays, articles, reports) where reading time matters. But social platforms enforce character limits — not word limits — so character count is what determines whether your post will be cut off or rejected. A single long word takes up as many characters as three short ones. Emojis, hashtags, @mentions, and URLs all consume characters. Always check character count before publishing to any platform with a strict limit.

Twitter's URL and emoji rules

Twitter automatically wraps all URLs through its t.co shortener, counting them as exactly 23 characters regardless of the original URL length. So "https://www.example.com/very/long/path" counts as 23, not 38. Emojis count as 2 characters each on Twitter because they use Unicode characters outside the Basic Multilingual Plane. A tweet with one emoji effectively has 278 characters of text space. Hashtags and @mentions count normally — each character including the # and @ symbol.

SMS character limits explained

A standard SMS using the GSM-7 character set (basic Latin letters, numbers, and common punctuation) has a 160-character limit per message segment. If you use any character outside GSM-7 — including most emojis, accented letters, or non-Latin scripts — the message switches to Unicode encoding, dropping the limit to 70 characters per segment. Messages over the limit are split into multiple segments and sent together, but most carriers bill each segment separately. Keep texts under 160 chars (or 70 with emojis) to send as a single message.

SEO character limits and why they matter

Google doesn't cut off pages with long titles or descriptions — it truncates what it shows in search results. Meta titles over ~60 characters are cut with "…" in search results, potentially hiding your key phrase or call to action. Meta descriptions over ~155 characters are similarly truncated. These aren't hard technical limits — your page still works — but truncated results get lower click-through rates. Write your most important content in the first 55 characters of titles and 145 characters of descriptions.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does it count spaces as characters? ▾

Yes — the main "Characters" count includes spaces, tabs, and all whitespace. This matches how most social platforms count characters (Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram all count spaces). The "No Spaces" count excludes all whitespace and is useful when you specifically need to count only text characters — for example, when filling out a form that says "50 characters maximum, not including spaces." Both counts update simultaneously so you always have both available.

How is the word count calculated? ▾

Words are counted by splitting the text on whitespace (spaces, tabs, newlines) and counting non-empty segments. Hyphenated words like "well-known" count as one word. Numbers like "2024" count as one word. Punctuation attached to words (like the period after "sentence.") is counted as part of that word token — the period doesn't create a separate count. Empty lines and multiple consecutive spaces are ignored. This matches the standard word counting behavior of Microsoft Word and Google Docs.

Why does my LinkedIn post get cut off before the limit? ▾

LinkedIn shows a "see more" link after approximately 210 characters in the feed, even though the full post limit is 3,000 characters. This means users on mobile or in their feed see only the first ~210 characters before they have to click to expand. For maximum engagement, put your hook or most important message in the first 210 characters, then provide detail below. This tool shows the full 3,000-character limit, but the note on the LinkedIn card explains the visible preview cutoff.

What's the difference between this and the Word Counter? ▾

The Word Counter on ToolStack focuses on long-form writing metrics — word count, reading time, reading level, keyword density, and sentence complexity. This Character Counter focuses on short-form platform content — it's built specifically around social media and messaging character limits, with live progress bars for every major platform. Use the Word Counter for blog posts, essays, and documents. Use the Character Counter when writing social media posts, SMS messages, SEO metadata, or any content with a strict character limit.

How to Use the Character Counter

Count characters for Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, SMS, and other platforms with live limit indicators.

Select your platform

Choose Twitter/X, Instagram caption, LinkedIn post, SMS, or custom limit. The counter immediately shows your remaining characters for that platform.

Paste or type your text

Characters update in real time as you type. The counter shows characters, words, and sentences simultaneously.

Watch the colour indicator

Green means you're within the limit. Yellow is a warning. Red means you've exceeded the limit and need to trim.

Use the trim suggestions

If you're over the limit, the tool highlights the longest sentences — usually the best candidates for shortening or removing.

Switch platforms to compare

Paste the same text and check multiple platforms to see where you have room to expand and where you need to cut.

💡

💡 Twitter counts URLs as 23 characters regardless of length (t.co shortening). Instagram allows 2,200 characters in captions but only shows the first ~125 before 'more'.

CharacterCounter

Why character count matters more than word count for social

Twitter's URL and emoji rules

SMS character limits explained

SEO character limits and why they matter

Character
Counter