Character Counter
Count characters in a block of text, with and without spaces, as you type. Character limits are stricter than word limits and turn up everywhere — social media posts, form fields, meta descriptions and SMS messages all cut off at a specific count rather than a rough length.
How to count characters
- Paste or type your text into the box.
- Watch the character and word counts update live.
- Check whether you're within common limits shown below.
When you'd use this
- Social media posts — Platforms that cut off at a fixed character count.
- Meta descriptions — Search result snippets that get truncated past roughly 155 characters.
- Form fields — Application boxes that specify a maximum number of characters.
- Text messages — SMS splits into multiple messages past 160 characters.
Good to know
- Spaces are counted separately — Some limits include spaces and some do not, so both figures are shown and you can use whichever your form means.
- Every character counts — Punctuation, line breaks and emoji all take up space. Emoji frequently count as more than one character in systems that measure bytes.
- It updates as you type — No button to press — paste or type and the count follows immediately.
- Nothing is uploaded — The text stays in your browser and is never sent anywhere.
Frequently asked questions
What limits does this check?
SMS (160 characters), an X/Twitter post (280 characters) and a typical meta description (160 characters).
Does it count spaces?
The main count includes spaces; a separate figure shows the count without spaces.
Does the count include spaces?
Both figures are given, with and without spaces, because different limits mean different things. Check which one your form or platform is counting.
Why does my emoji count as two characters?
Many emoji are stored as more than one unit of text, and some — flags and skin-tone variants especially — take several. Systems that count in bytes will report more than you might expect.
What is a good length for a meta description?
Roughly 150 to 160 characters. Beyond that, search engines usually truncate the text with an ellipsis.