Free Character Counter
Count characters, words, sentences, paragraphs, and UTF-8 bytes. Live limit indicators across 20+ platforms — Twitter / X, Threads, Bluesky, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, Reddit, SEO, SMS and more — plus automatic SMS encoding detection (GSM-7 vs UCS-2).
SMS estimate
Microblogging
- Twitter / X post0/280
- Twitter / X bio0/160
- Threads post0/500
- Bluesky post0/300
- Mastodon post0/500
Visual / video
- Instagram caption0/2200
- Instagram bio0/150
- TikTok caption0/2200
- TikTok bio0/80
- YouTube title0/100
- YouTube description0/5000
- Pinterest pin description0/500
Long-form / professional
- Facebook post (ideal)0/80
- LinkedIn post0/3000
- LinkedIn headline0/220
- LinkedIn article title0/150
- Reddit title0/300
SEO & messaging
- Title tag (SEO)0/60
- Meta description (SEO)0/160
- SMS (single)0/160
- WhatsApp status0/700
- Discord message0/2000
Frequently asked questions
How is character count different from word count?
Character count is every individual character, including spaces and punctuation. Word count is the number of whitespace-separated tokens. Most platform limits (Twitter, Instagram, SMS, SEO meta tags) are measured in characters, not words.
Why does an emoji or accent break my SMS into multiple messages?
SMS uses one of two encodings. GSM-7 (the basic Latin alphabet plus a few extras) fits 160 characters per message. As soon as you add an emoji or character not in GSM-7, the message switches to UCS-2 encoding, which only fits 70 characters per message. The tool detects this automatically and shows both the encoding and the message count.
What is the difference between UTF-8 bytes and characters?
A Latin letter is 1 byte in UTF-8. Accented letters are 2 bytes. Most Asian characters are 3 bytes. Most emoji are 4 bytes. The byte count matters when you're working with database columns sized in bytes, REST API payloads measured in bytes, or older systems with fixed-size buffers.
Are my texts uploaded anywhere?
No. The character counter runs entirely in your browser. Your draft posts, confidential descriptions, or unpublished captions are never transmitted.
Live character count for tweets, Instagram captions, SMS, meta descriptions, and any input with a character limit. Color-coded warnings as you approach limits.
How to use
- 1Paste or type your text.
- 2Pick a platform preset (Twitter 280, Instagram 2200, SMS 160, meta 160, etc.).
- 3Counter changes color as you approach the limit (green / yellow / red).
- 4Word and sentence counts shown alongside.
Why use this tool
- Platform presets for all major char limits.
- Live color coding — no over-the-limit surprises after publish.
- Counts both with and without spaces (useful for tweets).
Real-world examples
Tweet draft
Write a tweet → see real-time '247 / 280' counter → trim or expand as needed.
SMS template
SMS preset → 160-char limit highlights when your message will split into multiple texts.
Meta description
Paste a meta description → green up to 155, yellow 155-160, red over → safe truncation point visible.