Character limits for social media, SMS and search
Most platforms cut off or refuse text that is too long, and the limits are different everywhere. The list below covers the limits people check most often. Platforms do change them, so treat the numbers as a guide and trust the app if it says otherwise.
To check a draft, paste it into the Word Counter. It shows Characters (including spaces), Characters (no spaces) and Words as you type, all in your browser.
Common limits
- X (Twitter) post: 280 characters for standard accounts. X counts every link as 23 characters, and counts emoji and Chinese, Japanese or Korean characters as 2 each. Paid accounts can post longer text.
- Instagram caption: 2,200 characters. Only the first line or two show before the "more" link, so put the point first.
- Instagram bio: 150 characters.
- LinkedIn post: 3,000 characters. LinkedIn headline: 220 characters.
- YouTube video title: 100 characters. YouTube description: 5,000 characters.
- Facebook post: 63,206 characters, although only the first few lines show in the feed.
- SMS text message: 160 characters per message using the standard GSM alphabet, or 70 if the message contains any emoji or other special character. Longer texts are split into parts of 153 or 67 characters.
Google titles and meta descriptions
Google does not publish a character limit for search results. It shortens titles and descriptions by pixel width, so a title of roughly 50 to 60 characters and a meta description of roughly 150 to 160 characters usually shows in full on desktop. Wide letters such as W and M use up the space faster than narrow ones such as i and l, and Google sometimes rewrites the snippet anyway.
How our counter counts characters
It helps to know this when you are close to a limit:
- Characters counts every letter, digit, space, punctuation mark and line break.
- Characters (no spaces) leaves out spaces, tabs and line breaks.
- Most emoji count as 2 characters, and combined emoji, such as a family made of several people, can count as 8 or more. That matches X for single emoji but is stricter than some other apps.
- Accented letters such as é usually count as 1.
- Links count at their full length. On X a link always counts as 23, so a long link can make our total look higher than X's.
Tips for staying under a limit
- Write the full version first, then cut repeated words, filler such as "really" and "very", and long phrases such as "in order to".
- Move hashtags and links to the end, where a cut-off hurts least.
- For SMS, avoid emoji and curly quotes if you want 160 characters per part instead of 70.
Check a post against a character limit
- Open the Word Counter and paste your post.
- Read the Characters total, which includes spaces and line breaks, and compare it with the limit above.
- Shorten in the box and watch the count change, then copy the text back to the app.
Related tools and guides
FAQ
- How many characters can a post on X have?
- 280 for standard accounts. Links count as 23 characters and emoji as 2. Paid accounts can post longer text.
- What is the Instagram caption limit?
- 2,200 characters. The bio limit is 150 characters.
- How long can a LinkedIn post be?
- 3,000 characters.
- How long should a meta description be?
- Roughly 150 to 160 characters usually shows in full on desktop. Google trims by pixel width, not by an exact character count.
- Why does an emoji count as 2 characters?
- Most emoji are stored as two units of text, and the counter counts those units. Combined emoji count more. X also counts a single emoji as 2.
- Is my text uploaded?
- No. The counting runs in your browser as you type.