Character Counter

The limits that actually matter

Where	Limit	Why it matters
X post	280	Hard cut-off — you cannot post over it.
SMS	160	Past this it splits and you are billed for two.
Meta description	~160	Google truncates the rest in results.
Title tag	~60	Truncated with an ellipsis beyond this.

Why counting matters more than it sounds

A meta description that runs long is not rejected — it is silently cut mid-sentence in search results, which reads as carelessness to anyone deciding whether to click. A 161-character SMS costs twice as much as a 160-character one, which matters at volume.

Characters and words are different measures and it is easy to check the wrong one. Word limits belong to essays; character limits belong to anything that has to fit a box.

Spaces count

Every limit above counts spaces. The count without spaces is shown too, because some academic and legal requirements are stated that way — but for X, SMS and search results it is the with-spaces number that governs.

Frequently Asked Questions

Yes — free, no sign-up, and it counts as you type.

Yes. Everything runs in your browser after the page loads - nothing you type is sent anywhere. It is the same code our mobile app uses, compiled to run on the web, so the two can never disagree with each other.

Yes. X, SMS, meta descriptions and title tags all count spaces. The without-spaces figure is shown as well, because some academic and legal word limits are defined that way.

Google truncates by pixel width, not by character count, so a line of wide letters is cut sooner than a line of narrow ones. Around 160 characters is the practical guide.

Usually more than one. Many emoji are built from several code points, and SMS in particular charges considerably more for them.

No practical limit — it runs in your browser, so the constraint is your device rather than a server.

The limits that actually matter

Why counting matters more than it sounds

Spaces count

Frequently Asked Questions

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