Text Tools

Count characters against the limit that matters

Nobody counts characters for fun — they count because something has a limit. So this shows the number and then shows it against the limits people are usually writing towards, with how much room is left in each.

0

Characters

0

Characters

no spaces

0

Letters

no digits or punctuation

0

Words

Against common limits

  • Meta description160 left of 160

    Google truncates by pixel width, so this is a guide

  • Title tag60 left of 60
  • X / Twitter post280 left of 280

    Links count as 23 whatever their length

  • Instagram caption2,200 left of 2,200
  • LinkedIn post3,000 left of 3,000
  • SMS (single message)160 left of 160

    Drops to 70 if any character is non-GSM

  • YouTube description5,000 left of 5,000
  • Facebook post63,206 left of 63,206

  • Runs in your browser
  • No account required
  • Free to use

How it works

01

One character means one symbol

An emoji counts as one here. Most counters report two, because they measure the UTF-16 storage units a browser uses rather than the characters a person sees — which makes “hi 👋” come out as 5 instead of 4. Accented letters and non-Latin scripts have the same problem and the same fix.

02

The limits are shown, not just the count

A bar per platform fills as you type and turns red when you go over, so you can see at a glance that the meta description fits but the title tag does not. That is the actual question being asked, and answering it takes a limit list rather than a number on its own.

03

Where the limits are approximate, it says so

Google truncates search snippets by pixel width, not character count, so 160 is a guide rather than a rule — a line of capitals runs out sooner. X counts any link as 23 characters however long it is. An SMS holds 160 characters only while every one of them is in the GSM set; a single emoji or curly quote drops the limit to 70. Those notes sit under the bars they apply to.

What it does

Eight limits, live

Meta description, title tag, X post, Instagram caption, LinkedIn post, SMS, YouTube description and Facebook post — each with characters remaining, counting down as you type and going negative when you overrun.

With and without spaces

Both, always. Academic and translation work is usually priced and limited on characters excluding spaces, while every platform limit counts them, and having to guess which a tool means is how you end up over.

A letters-only count too

Letters excluding digits, punctuation and spaces — useful when you are checking something against a rule about alphabetic content rather than total length.

Runs entirely in your browser

Nothing is uploaded. Drafts of posts, meta descriptions for unlaunched pages and message copy all stay on your machine, because this page makes no network requests at all.

Practical advice

Getting a better result

  • For a meta description, treat 160 as the ceiling and aim for about 150. Google measures pixels, so a description full of wide characters gets cut before a narrow one of the same length.
  • Title tags are cut around 60 characters in most desktop results. Front-load the words that matter so a truncation still reads sensibly.
  • If an SMS suddenly halves its limit, an emoji or a curly quote has pushed it out of the GSM character set. Replacing a “smart” apostrophe with a plain one often buys back 90 characters.
  • Links on X count as 23 characters no matter their real length, so a long tracking URL costs the same as a short one.

Questions

Things people ask

Do spaces count as characters?

On every platform limit, yes — a space is a character like any other. Both counts are shown because the exclusion matters elsewhere: translation and transcription work is often quoted per character without spaces.

Why does my emoji count as one here and two elsewhere?

Because most counters measure the way a computer stores text rather than the way a person reads it. An emoji usually needs two UTF-16 units of storage but is one symbol on screen. This tool counts symbols. Worth knowing: some platforms enforce their limits the storage way, so an emoji-heavy post can be rejected slightly sooner than the count here suggests.

Is the 160-character meta description limit exact?

No, and no tool can make it exact. Google truncates by the pixel width of the rendered text, so a description in wide characters is cut sooner than a narrow one of identical length. 160 is a reliable working ceiling, not a guarantee.

Who builds these

Free tools by day. Websites that earn their keep by trade.

KuConvert is built by KUDUY, a web design and development agency. From custom WordPress builds to SEO and e-commerce, everything they do is engineered to bring you more qualified traffic and turn it into revenue.

  • Fixed scope, no surprise invoices

    Most sites ship in four to eight weeks with the scope and the price agreed up front.

  • SEO from day one

    Search is designed into the build — structure, schema and Core Web Vitals — not retrofitted.

  • A team, not a ticket queue

    A project manager, a designer and a developer you can actually reach.

Need your whole site to load this fast?

Images are usually the heaviest thing on a page and the easiest win. KUDUY works on site speed, image delivery and Core Web Vitals for teams who would rather not do it by hand.

This tool runs entirely in your browser. Your files are never uploaded.