Character Counter
Free word counter online and character counter — paste or type your text to instantly count characters, words, lines, spaces, and numbers, and check your limit for any platform.
Platform Character Limit Checker
How to Use the Character Counter
Click inside the editor and start typing, or paste text from any source — a social media post, email, essay, product description, or SMS message. Every stat updates instantly as you type.
The large blue card at the top of the stats panel shows your total character count including spaces — the metric most platforms use for their limits. The count is also shown live in the toolbar.
The "Platform Character Limit Checker" section shows a progress bar and status for each major platform (Twitter/X, Instagram, LinkedIn, SMS, and more). Cards turn red when you exceed a limit, making it easy to spot exactly where you need to trim.
Clear wipes the editor for a fresh start. Copy copies your text to the clipboard with one click. Download saves your text as a plain .txt file — handy for keeping a local backup of your writing.
Common Platform Character Limits
| Platform | Character Limit | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Twitter / X | 280 | Per tweet |
| Instagram Caption | 2,200 | First 125 shown without "more" |
| Instagram Bio | 150 | Profile bio |
| LinkedIn Post | 3,000 | First 210 shown without "see more" |
| LinkedIn Headline | 220 | Profile headline |
| Facebook Post | 63,206 | Per post |
| YouTube Title | 100 | First 60–70 shown in search |
| YouTube Description | 5,000 | First 157 shown in search |
| SMS (GSM-7) | 160 | Single message; 153 per segment if multi-part |
| Meta Title (SEO) | 60 | Recommended for search engines |
| Meta Description (SEO) | 160 | Recommended for search engines |
For SEO meta titles, aim for 50–60 characters. For meta descriptions, aim for 150–160. Search engines will truncate longer values with an ellipsis, which can hurt click-through rates. Use the Character Counter while writing meta tags to stay in the sweet spot.
About This Free Character Counter Tool
Wordstopia's character counter is a free, browser-based tool that counts every character in your text — letters, numbers, spaces, punctuation, and symbols — instantly and accurately. It doubles as a word counter online, space counter, and number counter, giving you a complete breakdown of your text in one place.
Need to count my words for an essay limit? Check your word count online for a blog post? Use this as a word counter tool for social media captions or cover letters? Just paste your text — stats update instantly. Unlike a basic wordcounter, this tool also shows lines, paragraphs, sentences, and numeric digit counts, making it ideal for word counting tasks of every kind.
The built-in Platform Limit Checker gives you live visual feedback against the character limits of the most popular social media platforms and SEO fields — so you never have to mentally calculate whether your copy fits.
Your privacy is protected. All counting happens entirely within your browser using JavaScript. Your text is never uploaded to any server, stored in any database, or transmitted anywhere. When you close the tab, the text is gone.
This character counter is part of Wordstopia's free language and writing tools suite, alongside the Word Counter, Anagram Solver, Rhyme Finder, and many more resources for writers, students, and educators.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does "characters with spaces" include spaces, tabs, and line breaks?
Yes. The "Characters (with spaces)" count includes every character in your text: letters, numbers, punctuation, spaces, tab characters, and newlines. This matches the counting method used by most social media platforms and word processors like Microsoft Word and Google Docs.
What is the difference between "characters with spaces" and "characters without spaces"?
"Characters with spaces" is the total length of your text, counting everything including spaces. "Characters without spaces" removes all whitespace (spaces, tabs, newlines) before counting. Publishers and academics sometimes use the no-spaces figure for measuring the length of written content.
Does Twitter count characters differently for URLs and emojis?
Yes. Twitter/X automatically shortens all URLs to 23 characters using its t.co link shortener, regardless of the original URL length. Emojis count as 2 characters each on Twitter. Our counter shows the raw character count from your text, so keep these Twitter-specific rules in mind when writing tweets with links or emojis.
How is "lines" counted?
A line is defined as any text separated by a line break (pressing Enter/Return). An empty text area counts as 0 lines. A single line of text with no line breaks counts as 1 line. This matches the line-count behavior of most code editors and text processing tools.
Is this tool useful for SMS messages?
Yes. Standard SMS messages using GSM-7 encoding support 160 characters per message. If your message is longer, it is split into 153-character segments (with 7 characters used for linking the segments). The platform limit checker shows your progress against the 160-character SMS limit, so you can see exactly when you cross into a multi-part message.
Can I use this for SEO meta tags?
Absolutely. SEO best practice recommends keeping page titles under 60 characters and meta descriptions between 150–160 characters. Search engines truncate titles and descriptions that exceed these lengths, which can hurt click-through rates. Use the Character Counter while writing your meta tags to stay within the recommended ranges.
Is my text sent to any server?
No. All counting is done locally in your browser with JavaScript. Nothing you type or paste is ever sent to any server, stored in a database, or transmitted anywhere. The tool works entirely offline once the page has loaded.
Can I use this as a word counter online?
Yes — this tool works as both a character counter and a word counter online. The Words stat updates in real time as you type, making it easy to check your word count online for essays, blog posts, emails, cover letters, and more. It is completely free with no sign-up needed.
Does it work as a space counter or number counter?
Yes. The tool separately counts characters with spaces (total length) and characters without spaces, so you can use it as a space counter to see exactly how many spaces are in your text. It also counts numeric digits in a dedicated stat, making it a handy number counter for any text that contains figures, data, or statistics.
How do I count my words for a specific word limit?
Just paste or type your text into the editor. The Words stat shows your live word count instantly — no need to click anything. This makes it the fastest way to count my words for school assignments, university essays, grant applications, or any writing with a strict word limit. The word count updates with every keystroke.