Character Counter
Count characters, words, sentences, and paragraphs in your text.
Character Limits
Writing Tips
- • Aim for 15-20 words per sentence for readability
- • Keep paragraphs to 3-4 sentences for online content
- • Meta descriptions should be 150-160 characters
- • Twitter posts perform best at 100-120 characters
About This Calculator
The Character Counter instantly counts characters, words, sentences, and paragraphs in your text. Whether you're crafting a tweet (280 characters), writing an Instagram caption (2,200 characters), optimizing a meta description (160 characters), or staying within an essay word limit, this tool gives you real-time feedback as you type or paste text. See both characters with spaces and without spaces—different platforms count differently.
Why does character count matter? Social media platforms enforce strict limits. Google truncates meta descriptions after 160 characters. SMS messages split at 160 characters (or 70 with emojis). Essay prompts demand exact word counts. Going over means your content gets cut off, split into multiple messages, or rejected entirely. This character counter helps you write precisely, ensuring every character works for you.
Over 2 million content creators, marketers, writers, and students use character counters monthly to craft perfect tweets, compelling meta descriptions, concise bios, and submissions that meet exact requirements. Stop guessing—know exactly where you stand as you write.
How to Use the Character Counter
- 1Type or paste your text into the input area for instant character counting.
- 2View live character count (with and without spaces) as you type.
- 3See word count, sentence count, and paragraph count updated in real time.
- 4Check against common platform limits displayed below the counter.
- 5Use the character limit selector to see how close you are to specific limits (Twitter, Instagram, etc.).
- 6Copy your text directly from the counter once you've hit your target length.
- 7Clear the input to start fresh, or edit directly within the tool.
- 8Use on mobile or desktop—the counter works on any device.
Social Media Character Limits (2026)
Platform-by-Platform Limits:
| Platform | Content Type | Limit | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Twitter/X | Tweet | 280 | Links count ~23 chars |
| Twitter/X | Bio | 160 | Display name: 50 |
| Twitter/X | DM | 10,000 | Premium users only |
| Caption | 2,200 | Shows "more" after 125 | |
| Bio | 150 | Include line breaks strategically | |
| Hashtags | 30 max | Combine with caption limit | |
| Post | 63,206 | But optimal is 40-80 chars | |
| Ad headline | 40 | Truncates at 40 | |
| Post | 3,000 | Hook in first 210 | |
| About section | 2,600 | Formerly Summary | |
| Headline | 220 | Key for searchability | |
| TikTok | Caption | 2,200 | Increased from 150 |
| TikTok | Bio | 80 | Very limited |
| YouTube | Title | 100 | Optimal 60-70 for display |
| YouTube | Description | 5,000 | First 100-150 visible |
| Pin description | 500 | First 50 shown | |
| Snapchat | Caption | 80 | Minimal text focus |
Best Practices:
- Just because you CAN use all characters doesn't mean you should
- Most engagement happens with shorter, punchier content
- Front-load important information before truncation points
SEO Character Limits
Meta Tags for Google Search:
| Element | Recommended | Max Display | Impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| Title tag | 50-60 chars | ~60 chars | High |
| Meta description | 150-160 chars | ~160 chars | Medium |
| URL slug | 50-75 chars | Varies | Medium |
| H1 heading | 20-70 chars | No limit | High |
| Alt text | 100-125 chars | N/A | Medium |
Google Search Display Widths:
- Desktop title: ~600 pixels (~60 characters)
- Desktop description: ~920 pixels (~160 characters)
- Mobile description: May be shorter due to screen width
SEO Title Best Practices:
- Put primary keyword first
- Include brand name at end (if space)
- Make it compelling, not just keyword-stuffed
- Stay under 60 characters to avoid truncation
- Use pipes (|) or dashes (-) as separators
Meta Description Best Practices:
- Include primary keyword naturally
- Write a compelling call-to-action
- Match searcher intent
- Unique for every page
- Stay under 160 characters
Example Title: "Character Counter - Free Online Tool | CalculatorJar" (53 chars)
Example Meta Description: "Count characters, words, and sentences instantly. Check Twitter, Instagram, and SEO limits. Free character counter with real-time updates." (142 chars)
SMS and Messaging Limits
SMS Text Message Limits:
| Content Type | Character Limit | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Standard SMS (GSM-7) | 160 chars | Latin alphabet |
| Unicode SMS (emojis) | 70 chars | Emojis trigger unicode |
| Concatenated SMS | 153 per segment | Multi-part messages |
| MMS | 1,600 chars + media | Includes images/video |
How Multi-Part SMS Works: When you exceed 160 characters, the message splits:
- Characters 1-153: Message 1
- Characters 154-306: Message 2
- And so on...
7 characters per segment are used for concatenation headers.
Unicode vs GSM-7:
GSM-7 (160 char limit): Standard ASCII characters, letters, numbers, common punctuation
Unicode (70 char limit): Emojis, special characters, non-Latin alphabets (Chinese, Arabic, etc.)
The Emoji Trap: A single emoji switches the ENTIRE message to unicode mode, reducing your limit from 160 to 70. A 150-character message with one emoji becomes a 2-part message.
Messaging App Limits:
| App | Limit |
|---|---|
| iMessage | 20,000 chars |
| 65,536 chars | |
| Messenger | 20,000 chars |
| Telegram | 4,096 chars |
| Signal | 6,000 chars |
Writing and Academic Limits
College Application Essays:
| Application | Word Limit | Character Approx |
|---|---|---|
| Common App | 650 words | 3,900 chars |
| Coalition App | 500-650 words | 3,000-3,900 chars |
| UC Personal Insight | 350 words each | 2,100 chars |
| Supplemental essays | Varies (150-500) | 900-3,000 chars |
Academic Writing Standards:
| Type | Word Count | Character Approx |
|---|---|---|
| Abstract | 150-300 | 900-1,800 |
| Short response | 250-500 | 1,500-3,000 |
| Standard essay | 500-1,000 | 3,000-6,000 |
| Long essay | 1,500-2,500 | 9,000-15,000 |
| Research paper | 3,000-8,000 | 18,000-48,000 |
| Thesis chapter | 5,000-10,000 | 30,000-60,000 |
| Dissertation | 10,000-80,000 | 60,000-480,000 |
Professional Writing:
| Document | Recommended | Characters |
|---|---|---|
| Email subject | 40-50 chars | 40-50 |
| Email body | 75-100 words | 450-600 |
| Cover letter | 250-400 words | 1,500-2,400 |
| Resume (per page) | 400-600 words | 2,400-3,600 |
| Headline | 6-12 words | 50-80 |
| Press release | 400-600 words | 2,400-3,600 |
| White paper | 2,500-5,000 words | 15,000-30,000 |
Words to Characters Conversion: Average word length: 5 characters + 1 space = 6 characters
- 100 words ≈ 600 characters
- 500 words ≈ 3,000 characters
- 1,000 words ≈ 6,000 characters
Characters With vs Without Spaces
Why Both Counts Matter:
Different platforms and requirements count characters differently:
Counts Spaces:
- Twitter (280 including spaces)
- SMS messages
- Most social media platforms
- Meta descriptions
- Word processors (default)
Doesn't Count Spaces:
- Some academic submission systems
- Chinese/Japanese character counts
- Certain contest submissions
- Some programming string limits
Example Difference: "Hello, how are you today?"
- With spaces: 26 characters
- Without spaces: 21 characters
- Difference: 5 characters (19% shorter)
The Space Strategy: When nearing a character limit:
- Remove double spaces after periods (save 1+ per sentence)
- Use contractions: "do not" → "don't" (saves 1 char)
- Use symbols: "and" → "&" (saves 2 chars)
- Abbreviate: "versus" → "vs" (saves 4 chars)
- Remove Oxford commas if style allows
Per Sentence Impact: A 15-word sentence typically has 14 spaces. In a 280-character tweet, spaces account for ~50 characters (18%).
Emojis and Special Characters
How Platforms Count Emojis:
| Platform | Emoji Count |
|---|---|
| 2 characters each | |
| 1 character (mostly) | |
| 1 character | |
| SMS (Unicode) | 2 characters, triggers 70-char limit |
| URLs | Varies by encoding |
The Twitter Emoji Catch: A 280-character limit with emojis:
- 278 text + 1 emoji = 280 ✓
- 278 text + 2 emojis = 282 ✗
Complex Emojis Count More:
| Emoji Type | Twitter Count |
|---|---|
| Simple (😀) | 2 |
| Skin tone modified (👋🏽) | 4 |
| Family/couple (👨👩👧) | 7-11 |
| Flag (🇺🇸) | 4 |
Special Characters:
| Character | URL Encoding | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Space | %20 | 3 chars in URLs |
| & | %26 | 3 chars in URLs |
| # | %23 | 3 chars in URLs |
| @ | %40 | 3 chars in URLs |
URL Shortening Impact: Twitter shows all URLs as 23 characters regardless of actual length. A 50-character URL and a 200-character URL both count as 23.
Character Counting for Developers
Programming String Lengths:
| Language/Database | Method | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| JavaScript | str.length | UTF-16 code units |
| Python 3 | len(str) | Unicode code points |
| Java | str.length() | UTF-16 code units |
| SQL VARCHAR | Varies | Bytes or characters |
| MySQL | CHAR_LENGTH() | Characters |
| PostgreSQL | LENGTH() | Characters |
UTF-8 vs UTF-16 Character Counting:
UTF-8 (Most Web):
- ASCII: 1 byte per character
- Most emojis: 4 bytes
- Chinese/Japanese: 3 bytes
UTF-16 (JavaScript, Java):
- Most characters: 2 bytes
- Emojis/rare chars: 4 bytes (counted as 2)
Database Field Sizing:
| Use Case | VARCHAR Size |
|---|---|
| Username | 50-100 |
| 254 (RFC standard) | |
| Tweet | 280 |
| Short text | 255 |
| Description | 500-1000 |
| Long text | TEXT type |
API Character Limits:
| API | Limit |
|---|---|
| Google Search Console | 70 title, 160 desc |
| Facebook Graph API | Varies by field |
| Twitter API v2 | 280 tweet, 10K DM |
| OpenAI GPT | Token-based (4-8K+) |
Readability and Character Optimization
Optimal Length by Context:
| Content Type | Optimal Length | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Headline | 60-70 chars | Full display in search |
| Tweet | 71-100 chars | Highest engagement |
| Facebook post | 40-80 chars | Short = more clicks |
| Email subject | 40-50 chars | Avoid mobile truncation |
| Instagram caption | 125-150 chars | Before "more" button |
| LinkedIn hook | 150-200 chars | Before "see more" |
Engagement vs Length Research:
- Tweets under 100 characters get 17% more engagement
- Facebook posts under 80 characters get 66% more engagement
- Headlines of 60 characters perform best in search
- Email subjects of 40-50 characters have highest open rates
Character-Saving Techniques:
Contractions:
- "I will" → "I'll" (save 2)
- "do not" → "don't" (save 1)
- "cannot" → "can't" (save 2)
Abbreviations:
- "number" → "no." or "#" (save 4-5)
- "versus" → "vs" (save 4)
- "et cetera" → "etc" (save 6)
- "for example" → "e.g." (save 8)
Symbol Substitution:
- "and" → "&" (save 2)
- "at" → "@" (save 1)
- "percent" → "%" (save 6)
- "dollars" → "$" (save 6)
Trimming Words:
- "in order to" → "to" (save 9)
- "at this point in time" → "now" (save 18)
- "due to the fact that" → "because" (save 12)
Pro Tips
- 💡Write your content first, then edit to fit character limits—it's easier than trying to write to a limit from scratch.
- 💡Front-load important information before truncation points ("see more" buttons, search result limits).
- 💡For SEO, put primary keywords early in titles and descriptions to ensure they're visible if truncated.
- 💡Test your content on the actual platform—character counts can vary from third-party tools.
- 💡Use contractions and abbreviations strategically when you're a few characters over limit.
- 💡For SMS marketing, avoid emojis to stay within 160 characters and prevent multi-part messages.
- 💡In Twitter, remember that all URLs count as 23 characters regardless of actual length.
- 💡Save character drafts locally—browsers and tools can lose your work if the page refreshes.
- 💡For Instagram, put hashtags at the end or in comments to keep captions clean.
- 💡Use the shorter form of words: "info" vs "information", "app" vs "application", "pic" vs "picture".
- 💡Check both character and word count for academic submissions—some specify characters, others words.
- 💡Complex emojis (families, flags, skin tones) count as 4-11 characters on Twitter—check before posting.
Frequently Asked Questions
Characters with spaces counts every character including space between words. Without spaces counts only letters, numbers, and punctuation. A 100-character sentence typically has 15-20 spaces, so "without spaces" is usually 15-20% shorter. Most platforms (Twitter, Instagram, SMS) count spaces. Some academic systems and Chinese text counters don't count spaces.
