Character Counter
Count characters and check limits for social posts, SMS, titles and meta descriptions.
Platform limits
About this character counter
When space is limited, every character counts. This tool counts characters with and without spaces, letters, digits and lines, and compares your text against common limits for X (Twitter) posts, text messages, Google title tags, meta descriptions, Instagram captions and more.
It counts emoji and accented letters as single characters, the way people see them, rather than counting their underlying code units.
How to use the Character Counter
- Type or paste your text.
- Check the character counts.
- Use the platform table to see how many characters you have left — or how far over you are.
About character limits
Search engines don't cut titles and descriptions at an exact character count — they truncate by pixel width — so the 60 and 160 character guides are approximations. SMS messages that contain emoji or certain symbols switch to a different encoding with a 70-character limit per segment.
Worked example
"Free online tools that just work." is 33 characters including spaces and 28 without, leaving 247 characters in an X post.
Tips for better results
- Put the most important words at the start of titles and descriptions in case they're cut off.
- Use the word counter when the limit is in words rather than characters.
Frequently asked questions
Do spaces count as characters?
Yes, on almost every platform. The "without spaces" count is shown for forms that exclude them.
How long should a meta description be?
Aim for roughly 150–160 characters so it isn't cut off in Google results on desktop.
Last reviewed: October 2026 · Results are calculated in your browser.