Add bold and italic text, count characters, and preview the "โฆsee more" cut.
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Social media character counter
Platforms don't count alike. X counts every link as 23 characters, Bluesky shortens links before counting, and YouTube counts bytes. Paste your post once to see where it fits and exactly where it gets cut.
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- No sign-up
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Social media character counter
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Three steps
How it works
Write or paste your post.
Check the count for each platform. Select one to highlight the text that runs past its limit.
Trim the highlighted text, then copy your post.
GuideReviewed
Why every platform counts your post differently
Contents
Not every platform counts characters the same way
Most platforms count characters the way most software does, but a few have rules of their own. X gives every link a fixed weight of 23 characters, and counts each emoji, and each letter from scripts such as Chinese, Japanese, and Korean, as 2. Bluesky counts characters as you see them and shortens links before counting. YouTube limits descriptions by bytes, so one emoji can use 4 of its 5,000.
LinkedIn, Instagram, and Pinterest don't say how they count emoji or styled letters, so this counter counts them as 2 or more to keep you under. Threads counts each emoji by its size in bytes, usually 4, and TikTok's posting API counts most emoji as 2.
Character limits by platform
Each limit below comes from the platform's own help pages or developer documentation, checked in October 2026.
- X: 280 characters, or 25,000 with X Premium.
- LinkedIn post: 3,000 characters.
- Instagram caption: 2,200 characters.
- Threads post: 500 characters.
- TikTok: 2,200 characters for a video caption posted from a scheduling tool. Photo posts allow a 90-character title and a 4,000-character description.
- Bluesky post: 300 characters.
- YouTube description: 5,000 bytes.
- Pinterest description: 800 characters.
Write for the first lines, not the limit
A limit is a ceiling, not a target. Most feeds show only the first few lines of a post before a "more" link, so lead with the point and put links and hashtags at the end.
When one post goes to several platforms, write the shortest version first, usually for X or Bluesky, then add detail for LinkedIn and Instagram. That's easier than cutting a long post down at the last minute.
Questions, answered
What people ask before they use the Social media character counter.
X shortens every link, so each one counts as 23 characters, however long or short it is. This counter does the same.
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From Ampere
It fits. Now make it worth reading.
Ampere is an AI marketing agent that drafts posts for LinkedIn, X, Instagram, TikTok, and more from your saved Brand memory, each written for its platform and ready for your review.
No card required