Character counter

Use this character counter to count visible characters and check social limits or SMS encoding. Review spaces and publishing limits. Drafts stay in your browser.

Free, no sign-up. Your text stays in your browser and is never uploaded.

This free character counter counts visible characters, words, sentences and paragraphs in 11 languages. It shows reading and speaking time, keyword density, social limits and GSM-7 or Unicode SMS segments. Each publishing limit links to its source, with unpublished limits labelled as guides. Your draft autosaves in this browser only; Clear removes it.

Your text stays in your browser and is never uploaded.

Draft autosaves only in this browser. Clear removes it. Other people using this browser can access it.

Paste from Word or Google Docs as plain text. Hidden paste artifacts are removed.

Estimates use 238.0 words a minute for reading and 183.0 for speaking. The fields are English reference rates, adjusted for the selected language.

Counted as characters you see

Counts

0 characters

Characters
0
Characters without spaces
0
Words
0
Sentences
0
Paragraphs
0
Reading time
0 s
Speaking time
0 s
Applied reading speed (words/min)
238.0
Applied speaking speed (words/min)
183.0
Lines
0
Code points
0
UTF-16 units
0

Most used words

Density is occurrences divided by all words, including numbers and links. Common function words for the selected language are hidden; URLs and emails are excluded from this list.

Your most used words appear here, without function words such as "the".

Limits

  • Page title in Google0 of 65

    65 leftApproximate guideGoogle title link guidance

    65 characters is our title guide. Google truncates by pixel width and sets no fixed character limit.

    Source checked on 2026-10-11

  • Meta description in Google0 of 160

    160 leftApproximate guideGoogle snippet guidance

    Google sets no fixed limit; about 160 characters usually show on desktop.

    Source checked on 2026-10-11

  • X post0 of 280

    280 leftX weighted countX character counting rules

    Weighted: links count 23, emoji and Chinese, Japanese or Korean characters 2.

    Source checked on 2026-10-11

  • LinkedIn post0 of 3,000

    3,000 leftCounted in UTF-16 unitsLinkedIn Help

    Source checked on 2026-10-11

  • Instagram caption0 of 2,200

    2,200 leftCounted in UTF-16 unitsInstagram Graph API reference

    Source checked on 2026-10-11

  • Instagram bio0 of 150

    150 leftCounted in UTF-16 unitsInstagram Help Center

    Source checked on 2026-10-11

  • TikTok caption (posting API)0 of 2,200

    2,200 leftCounted in UTF-16 unitsTikTok Content Posting API

    The limit TikTok publishes for captions posted through its API.

    Source checked on 2026-10-11

  • YouTube title0 of 100

    100 leftCounted in UTF-16 unitsYouTube Help

    Source checked on 2026-10-11

  • YouTube description0 of 5,000

    5,000 leftCounted in UTF-16 unitsYouTube Help

    Source checked on 2026-10-11

  • Google Business Profile description0 of 750

    750 leftCounted in UTF-16 unitsGoogle Business Profile Help

    Source checked on 2026-10-11

  • LinkedIn headline0 of 220

    220 leftCounted in UTF-16 unitsLinkedIn headline guidance

    Source checked on 2026-10-11

  • TikTok bio0 of 80

    80 leftApproximate guideTikTok profile help

    TikTok does not publish a universal bio limit. 80 is a conservative guide; check the counter in your account.

    Source checked on 2026-10-11

Limits and guides checked on 11 October 2026; see the sources and caveats above.

SMS

Encoding
GSM-7
Encoded units
0
Messages
0
Left in this message
160

One message holds 160 encoded units, or 153 per part when a long text is split. GSM-7 extension symbols use two units; Unicode uses UTF-16 units.

Every character fits the GSM alphabet.

How to use this tool

Characters as you see them
The main count uses graphemes, the characters a reader sees: a family emoji built from several code points, a flag or a letter with a combining accent each count once. Code points and UTF-16 units, the length most software stores, are shown too, because some platforms count those instead.
Platform limits
Each limit links to its platform source and check date. LinkedIn posts and headlines, Instagram captions and bios, and YouTube titles and descriptions have separate rows. TikTok does not publish a universal bio limit; 80 is a conservative guide, so check your account counter. X uses its published rules: most Latin text weighs 1, Chinese, Japanese and Korean characters weigh 2, an emoji weighs 2 and every link counts as 23. Bare domains count as links when they end in a common domain ending; an uncommon one is counted letter by letter. Platforms that publish no counting rule are counted in UTF-16 units, the safe side for emoji.
Search results and SMS
Google cuts titles and descriptions by pixel width, so 65 for a page title and 160 for a meta description are our approximate guides, not Google limits. SMS follows the GSM standard: 160 characters in one message or 153 per part when it splits, and 70 or 67 once a character outside the GSM alphabet forces Unicode. The page names the characters that forced it.

X character counting rules

Questions before you start

It depends on who counts. People see one character, and so does the main count here. Many systems store an emoji as two UTF-16 units or more: a family emoji can be 8 units long. X counts any emoji as 2. The page shows all three numbers.

Google sets no fixed limit and cuts snippets by pixel width, which depends on the device. About 160 characters usually shows in full on desktop, so the page uses that as an approximate guide. Google may also write its own snippet from the page text.

X weights characters. Most Latin letters count 1, Chinese, Japanese and Korean characters count 2, any emoji counts 2, and every link counts 23 whatever its length. This counter applies the same published rules, so a post with links or emoji can be shorter or longer than its plain character count.

One GSM message holds 160 characters. A single character outside the GSM alphabet, such as a curly apostrophe (’) or an emoji, switches the whole message to Unicode, which holds 70. Long messages are sent in parts of 153 or 67. The page names the characters that forced Unicode.

Your text is never uploaded or used for AI, and the text area is excluded from page analytics. These two counters share an autosaved draft in this browser only, restored after a reload. Clear removes it. Other people using the same browser can access the draft; private browsing or storage restrictions can prevent saving.

Related tools

  • Word counter

    Use this word counter to measure a draft in 11 languages. Review reading time and keyword density, then check publishing limits. Drafts stay in your browser.

  • Instagram font generator

    Use this Instagram font generator to compare 22 Unicode styles by family. Inspect unchanged letters, preview a name or bio and copy a styled or plain version.

  • Ad character counter

    Paste one line of ad copy into this ad character counter to check it against Google Ads, Microsoft Advertising, Meta, LinkedIn, X, TikTok and Pinterest at once, and see where each placement cuts it.

Can AI assistants find your business?

Clear writing helps people and assistants describe what you do. Run the free scan to check how your business appears in the assistant answers it tests.

Run the free AI visibility scan