This counts every character including spaces, which is how almost every platform counts. The second figure excludes spaces, which is what per-character pay rates use. Below the box you can see how many characters you have left on twelve different platforms, updating as you type.
Counted the way each platform counts, live as you type.
Most platforms count every character, spaces included. A tweet of "hi there" is eight characters, not seven.
The exception is paid work. Translators, transcribers and some publishers quote per character excluding spaces, which is why both figures are shown above. If someone asks for a character count without telling you which one they mean, they almost always mean with spaces.
| Thing | Counts as | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| A letter or digit | 1 | — |
| A space | 1 | Included by every social platform |
| A line break | 1 or 2 | Some systems count it as two |
| A simple emoji 🙂 | 2 | Stored as a surrogate pair |
| A flag or family emoji 👨👩👧 | up to 11 | Built from several joined characters |
| An accented letter é | 1 | But it switches SMS to the 70-character mode |
That emoji row is why a short message can suddenly not fit. One family emoji can eat eleven characters of your 280.
A plain text message holds 160 characters using the basic GSM alphabet. Add one emoji, one accented letter, or a curly quote, and the whole message switches to Unicode encoding — which cuts the limit to 70 characters per part. That is why a short birthday text with a single 🎂 arrives as two messages.
The caption limit is 2,200 characters, but the feed truncates after roughly 125 with a more link. Anything you need read has to be in that first line and a half.
X replaces every link with a shortened one internally, so a 10-character link and a 200-character link both count as 23. Do not shorten links yourself to save space — it does nothing.
How many characters is a tweet? 280 for a free X account. Every link counts as 23 characters no matter how long it actually is.
Do spaces count as characters? Yes on every social platform. The only common exception is paid translation and transcription work, which is usually quoted per character excluding spaces.
Why does one emoji use two characters? Most emoji are stored as a surrogate pair, which is two units. Compound emoji like a family or a flag are built from several joined characters and can cost up to eleven.
How many characters can an Instagram caption be? 2,200, but only about the first 125 show before the More link, so put what matters first. An Instagram bio is capped at 150.
Does this tool store my text? No. Everything is counted in your browser. Nothing is uploaded and no account is needed.