Social media character counter
Type or paste your post once and see how it fits every network's limit — X, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, Threads, Facebook, Pinterest, and YouTube. Updated for 2026.
X counts links as 23 characters and most emoji as 2 — the X row applies both rules automatically, so it can differ from the raw count.
Social media character limits in 2026
Every platform draws the line somewhere different — and several limits changed in the past two years. Here are the current caption and post limits this counter checks against:
| Platform | Post / caption limit | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| X | 280 characters | Premium allows 25,000, but the timeline still truncates at 280. Links always count as 23 characters. |
| Threads | 500 characters | Longer thoughts can be split into a thread. |
| 2,200 characters | Only the first ~125 characters show in feed before "… more". | |
| 3,000 characters | Raised from 1,300 in 2024. Roughly the first 200 characters show before "see more". | |
| TikTok | 4,000 characters | Bio is just 80 characters; comments are 150. |
| 500 characters (description) | Pin titles cap at 100 characters; only ~40 are visible in feeds. | |
| 63,206 characters | Posts between 40–80 characters tend to earn the most engagement. | |
| YouTube | 5,000 characters (description) | Titles cap at 100 characters; ~60 display in search results. |
Why the visible cutoff matters more than the limit
Staying under the hard limit keeps your post publishable — but the visible cutoff decides whether anyone reads it. Instagram folds captions after roughly 125 characters, LinkedIn after about 200, and X truncates long Premium posts at 280 in the timeline. Front-load your hook: the first sentence has to earn the tap on "more".
How X really counts characters
X doesn't count characters the way your keyboard does. Every link is wrapped in t.co and billed at a flat 23 characters, no matter how long the URL is. Most emoji count as 2. This counter applies both rules to the X row, so what you see here is what X will accept.
Write once, publish everywhere
A 600-character caption fits Instagram and LinkedIn but dies on X and exceeds Threads. If you cross-post, you have two options: write to the lowest limit, or customize per platform. A scheduler like Zilfu lets you compose once and tailor the text per network before publishing to all of them in one go — free for up to 2 accounts.
Frequently asked questions
Depends on the platform. X counts most emoji as 2 characters. Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn generally count them as one. This tool counts emoji as one character everywhere except the X row, which applies X's weighting.
Yes — on every platform, hashtags and @mentions count like any other text, including the # and @ symbols.
Yes, each line break counts as one character on every major platform. This counter includes them.
X Premium subscribers can publish up to 25,000 characters, but the timeline still shows only the first 280 with a "Show more" link — so the 280 rule is still the one to write for.
Yes — no signup, no limits. Everything runs in your browser; your text never leaves your device. It's built by Zilfu, a social media scheduler with a free plan.
Counted. Now schedule it.
Zilfu shows live per-platform character counts right in the composer — then publishes to every network at once. Free for 2 accounts, no credit card.