Social Media
Social Media Character Counter
Write once and see how it lands everywhere. This counts your text against seventeen real limits at the same time — X posts, Instagram captions and bios, TikTok, LinkedIn headlines, YouTube titles, Threads, Bluesky, Pinterest and more — and applies each platform's own rules rather than a single naive count. X's weighting is implemented properly, so links count as 23 characters and emoji count as two, and anything over the limit gets a one-click trim that respects word boundaries.
Limits by platform
Why the counts differ between platforms
No two platforms count the same way. X weights characters: ordinary Latin text costs one, but emoji, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and most non-Latin scripts cost two, and every link counts as exactly 23 no matter how long the URL is. Everywhere else counts code points, where an emoji is one character. This page applies each rule properly, which is why the same text can be 280 on one row and well under on another.
The limit is not the target
What matters more than the hard cap is the point at which your text is cut off in the feed. Instagram hides everything past about 125 characters behind more, LinkedIn past about 210, and Facebook past roughly 480. YouTube allows a 100-character title but search results clip it near 70. Put the hook and the point in front of those thresholds and treat the rest as detail for people who have already decided to read on.
Emoji, flags, and skin tones
A single emoji you see on screen can be several characters underneath. A flag is two, a skin-toned wave is two, and a family emoji can be seven joined together. That is why this page shows a visible characters figure alongside the raw count whenever the two disagree — the raw number is what the platform's limit measures, and the visible number is what your reader sees.
Writing to fit
When a post runs over, the Trim button on that row cuts it to the limit at a word boundary, without splitting an emoji in half. For a link-heavy post on X, remember the 23-character rule works in your favour: shortening a URL saves you nothing, so use the full, trustworthy link. And if a thought genuinely needs more room, a thread reads better than a post trimmed until it no longer makes sense.
Frequently asked questions
Why does X count my post differently from other tools?
X weights characters rather than counting them. Ordinary Latin text costs one, but emoji and CJK scripts cost two, and every link counts as exactly 23 characters however long the URL is. This page implements that weighting, so the number here matches what X itself shows rather than a plain character count.
Do links really count as 23 characters on X?
Yes. Every URL is replaced by a fixed-length shortened form, so a long link and a short one cost exactly the same 23 characters. Shortening a URL before posting therefore saves nothing and only makes the link look less trustworthy — post the full address.
How are emoji counted?
Most platforms count code points, so a plain emoji is one character. X counts them as two. A single emoji you see on screen can also be several underneath: a flag is two, a skin-toned gesture is two, and a family emoji can be seven joined together. When the raw and visible counts differ, both are shown.
What is the Instagram caption limit?
2,200 characters, but only about the first 125 appear before the More link, so the part that has to earn the click is much shorter than the cap. Instagram bios are limited to 150 characters, which is counted separately on its own row here.
Is my text sent anywhere?
No. Every count is calculated by your browser as you type, with no network requests, no storage, and no logging. The page keeps working offline, which makes it safe for unpublished campaigns and client drafts.