Free online tool

Character counter

Type or paste text to count characters with and without spaces, and see at a glance whether it fits an X post, a text message, a meta title or description, or an Instagram caption, using each platform’s own counting rules. Emoji count as you see them, and your text stays in your browser.

Counted in your browser. Your text is never uploaded.

Counted in your browser. Your text isn’t uploaded or logged.

Change case:

Characters
0
Characters without spaces
0
Words
0
Sentences
0
Paragraphs
0
Lines
0
Average word length
0.0 characters
Unique words
0
Reading time
0 sec
Speaking time
0 sec

Reading time assumes 238 words per minute and speaking time 150.

Length limits

  • X (Twitter) post0 / 280 characters

    280 characters left

    How this is counted

    Uses X’s published counting rules (twitter-text v3): most Latin, Greek, Cyrillic, Arabic, Hebrew and Indic characters count 1; Chinese, Japanese and Korean characters and each emoji count 2; every link counts 23, however long. Premium accounts can post longer.

  • SEO meta title0 / 60 characters

    60 characters left

    How this is counted

    A guide, not a hard limit: Google cuts titles by pixel width (about 600 px), not characters. Around 50–60 characters usually shows in full; wide letters like W and M fit fewer.

  • SEO meta description0 / 160 characters

    160 characters left

    How this is counted

    A guide: Google shows roughly 150–160 characters on desktop and fewer on mobile, cuts by pixel width, and sometimes writes its own snippet instead.

  • SMS text message0 / 160 characters (GSM-7)

    160 characters fit in one message

    How this is counted

    Plain GSM-7 text fits 160 characters in one message, or 153 per part once it’s split. ^ { } [ ] \ ~ | and € count as 2. Any other character, such as an emoji or a curly quote, switches the whole message to Unicode: 70 characters, or 67 per part, with emoji counting 2. Some phones replace characters or use national alphabets, so treat this as a close guide.

  • Instagram caption0 / 2,200 characters

    2,200 characters left

    How this is counted

    Instagram allows 2,200 characters but doesn’t publish exactly how it counts them, so this counts characters as you see them (each emoji is 1). Only the first line or two show before “more”.

Your own limit

Top keywords

Your most used words will appear here, with how often each is used.

Density is each word’s share of all words. Numbers and links aren’t listed. The common-word filter covers English only.

How to count characters

  1. 1Type in the box, or paste the post, message or tag you want to check.
  2. 2Read the character count, with and without spaces.
  3. 3Check the limits panel: each bar fills as you type and turns red when you go over. Add your own limit if you need one.
  4. 4Edit until everything fits, then copy your text.

Features

  • Characters with and without spaces, counting emoji and accents as you see them
  • X post length with X’s weighting: links count 23, CJK characters and emoji count 2
  • SMS length with GSM-7 or Unicode detection and the number of messages
  • SEO meta title and description guides, and Instagram’s 2,200-character caption limit
  • Your own limit in characters or words
  • Free, no sign-up, and your text never leaves your browser

How the counts work

Counting rules differ between programs, so here is exactly what this counter does. Everything is worked out in your browser.

Words
Words are found with your browser’s Unicode word segmentation (Intl.Segmenter). Apostrophes keep words together (don’t, O’Neil), hyphenated words count once (well-known, COVID-19), and numbers such as 3.14 or 1,000 are one word. A web address (https://… or www.…) or an email address is one word. Otherwise dashes, slashes, @ and # separate words, and emoji and punctuation aren’t words. Chinese, Japanese and Thai, which don’t use spaces, are split into words with the browser’s dictionary.
Characters
Characters are counted as you see them (Unicode grapheme clusters), so 👍🏽, 🇬🇧, a family emoji and é typed with a combining accent each count as 1. A Windows line break (CR LF) is 1 character. “Without spaces” leaves out spaces, tabs and line breaks.
Sentences
A sentence ends at . ! ? or … (and their Chinese and Japanese equivalents) or at a line break. A full stop followed by a lower-case letter doesn’t end a sentence, so “e.g. this” is one sentence, but “Mr. Smith” is counted as two.
Paragraphs and lines
Paragraphs are blocks of text separated by at least one blank line. Lines counts every line, blank ones included.
Reading and speaking time
Reading time assumes 238 words per minute, the average silent reading speed for English non-fiction. Speaking time assumes 150 words per minute, a comfortable pace for a talk. Average word length is characters per word, not counting hyphens.
Unique words and keywords
Words are compared without case, so The and the are the same word. Keyword density is how often a word appears as a share of all words. Numbers, links and email addresses aren’t listed as keywords, and you can hide common English words such as the, and and of. Other languages’ common words are not filtered.
Older browsers
Browsers without Intl.Segmenter use a built-in fallback that gives the same counts for most text. For Chinese, Japanese and Thai it can only estimate words, and the page says so.

Private by design

Your text stays with you

Counting happens in your browser. Nothing you type or paste is uploaded, logged or used for analytics, so it’s safe for drafts, contracts and private messages.

Counts real text correctly

Emoji, flags and accented letters count as one character each, and Chinese, Japanese and Thai are split into words with your browser’s dictionary.

Fast with long documents

Short texts update on every keystroke. Long ones, even a whole book, are counted in the background so typing never stutters.

Frequently asked questions

Does the character count include spaces?

Both are shown. “Characters” includes spaces, tabs and line breaks, which is what most limits (X, SMS, meta tags, Instagram) use. “Without spaces” leaves out all whitespace, which some essay and translation briefs ask for.

How are emoji counted?

As you see them. Many emoji are made of several code points: 👍🏽 is a thumb plus a skin tone, 🇬🇧 is two regional letters, and a family emoji can be seven code points. This counter counts each as one character, as you’d expect. X and SMS count emoji differently, and the limits panel follows their rules.

How does X (Twitter) count characters?

X allows 280 “weighted” characters. Most Latin, Greek, Cyrillic, Arabic and Hebrew characters count as 1, while Chinese, Japanese and Korean characters and each emoji count as 2, so a post in Japanese fits about 140 characters. Every link counts as 23, because X shortens it. The panel uses X’s published rules; links typed without http:// are marked as an estimate.

How many characters fit in a text message?

160, if you only use the basic GSM-7 alphabet: letters, digits and common punctuation. Longer messages are split into parts of 153. A single emoji, curly quote or other special character switches the whole message to Unicode, which fits 70 characters, or 67 per part. The counter shows which encoding applies, which characters caused it, and how many messages you’ll send.

How long should a meta title and description be?

Aim for about 50–60 characters for a title and 150–160 for a description. Google actually cuts them by pixel width rather than character count, so these are guides: text with lots of wide letters fits fewer. Put the important words first in case they’re cut.

Is my text uploaded or stored?

No. Everything is counted by JavaScript in your browser, and your text is never sent to a server, logged or tracked. You can check by opening your browser’s network tab while you type. If you turn on “Remember my text on this device”, a copy is kept in your browser’s local storage on this device only; Clear or turning the option off deletes it.

Is it free?

Yes. There’s no sign-up, word limit or paid plan, and no adverts. The counting happens on your own device, so there are no servers to pay for. It works with very long documents too: a 1 MB paste is counted in the background in a second or two.

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