Character counter
See every character count you need, live, with the limits that matter.
- 100% free
- No sign-up
- Runs in your browser
How to use Character counter
- Type or paste your text
- Watch the limit bars
- Copy the counts
- Characters
- 0
- An emoji counts as one
- Without spaces
- 0
- Words
- 0
- Lines
- 0
- Sentences
- 0
- Paragraphs
- 0
- Bytes
- 0
- Size in UTF-8
- Code units
- 0
- What most form limits count
Paste text, open a file, or drop one here
Next: Word counter · Text case converter · Remove duplicate lines
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How to use Character counter
Type or paste your text
Write in the box, paste text or open a .txt file. Every count updates as you type.
Watch the limit bars
Bars for an X post (280), a meta title (60), a meta description (160), an Instagram caption (2,200) and an SMS fill up and turn red when you go over.
Copy the counts
Copy all the numbers as a short list to paste into a brief, a ticket or a message.
Why use Utils365
Counts like people read
An emoji such as 👍🏽 or a family emoji, or a letter with an accent, counts as one character, not two or seven.
SMS that’s right
See whether a text message goes as GSM-7 (160 characters) or Unicode (70), how many parts it takes, and which characters forced Unicode.
Bytes and code units too
UTF-8 bytes for database fields and APIs, and UTF-16 code units, which is what most form length limits count.
Nothing uploaded
Your text is counted in your browser and never sent anywhere.
Frequently asked questions
Do spaces count as characters?
Usually, yes. X, Instagram, meta descriptions and SMS all count spaces and line breaks. The Without spaces count leaves out spaces, tabs and line breaks, which some essay and form limits ask for.
How many characters can an SMS have?
160 characters if every character is in the GSM-7 alphabet. One emoji or a character such as ç or a curly quote switches the whole message to Unicode, which allows only 70. Longer messages are split into parts of 153 (GSM-7) or 67 (Unicode) characters.
Why do €, [ and { count as two in an SMS?
They are in the GSM extension table, which is sent as an escape code plus the character, so each takes two of the 160 places.
How long should a meta title and description be?
Google cuts titles by width, at around 50–60 characters, and descriptions at around 150–160 characters on desktop. Keep the important words near the start.
Why does my emoji count as 2 somewhere else?
Many programs count UTF-16 code units, and most emoji take two. A family emoji like 👨👩👧 is 8 code units but one character. This page shows both: Characters and Code units.
How many bytes is a character?
In UTF-8, English letters and digits take 1 byte, accented Latin letters 2, Chinese and Japanese characters 3, and most emoji 4. The Bytes tile adds them up for you.
Does the X count match X exactly?
Not quite. X counts every link as 23 characters and Chinese, Japanese and Korean characters as two each, so use the bar as a guide before you post.