Character Counter

What is a character count?

A character count is the total number of characters in a piece of text. Every letter, digit, punctuation mark, symbol, emoji, and space counts as one character. For example, “Hello world!” is 12 characters: 11 letters and punctuation marks, plus the space between the two words. Counting spaces or not is up to you — this tool shows both numbers.

Many platforms, forms, and apps limit how much text you can enter, and they usually measure the limit in characters rather than words. That is why checking your character count before you submit text can save you from truncated posts, rejected forms, and cut-off messages.

Common use cases

• SMS and messaging: a single SMS segment holds 160 characters (70 for messages written in Unicode scripts such as Chinese or Japanese).
• Social media: posts on X (Twitter) are capped at 280 characters, and profile bios are usually limited too (for example, 150 characters on Instagram).
• SEO snippets: meta titles are typically kept around 50–60 characters and meta descriptions around 150–160 characters so they display fully in search results.
• Online forms and applications: cover letters, abstracts, scholarship answers, and support tickets often enforce maximum character limits.
• App store listings and advertising: store descriptions, titles, and copy frequently have strict character budgets.

How to use this tool

1. Type or paste your text into the box above.
2. The character count updates in real time as you edit — nothing to click or submit.
3. The large number is your character count including spaces; the smaller figure shows the count without spaces, and a word count is included for reference.
4. Use “Clear text” to start over. All counting happens locally in your browser, so your text is never uploaded anywhere.