Character Counter

Paste or type your text below to instantly count characters, words, and more.

What Is a Character Counter?

A character counter is a free online tool that calculates the exact number of characters in your text. Also known as a letter counter, it is essential when writing for platforms with strict character limits like Twitter/X, Google Ads, meta descriptions, or SMS messages where every character matters.

Our character counter online gives you an instant breakdown of characters (with and without spaces), letters, words, sentences, and lines - all in real time as you type. Count characters online free without any sign-up, downloads, or installation - counting happens in your browser, so we never send your text to our servers. Need word counts and reading time too? Switch to the word counter, or open the free online notepad for autosaved drafts that include both stats.

Character Limits for Popular Platforms

  • Twitter/X post: 280 characters
  • Instagram caption: 2,200 characters
  • Facebook post: 63,206 characters
  • LinkedIn post: 3,000 characters
  • YouTube title: 100 characters
  • YouTube description: 5,000 characters
  • Google Ads headline: 30 characters
  • Google Ads description: 90 characters
  • Meta title (SEO): 50-60 characters
  • Meta description (SEO): 155-160 characters
  • SMS message: 160 characters

Why Character Count Matters

Exceeding character limits means your text gets cut off or rejected entirely. For social media posts, every character counts when you're trying to convey a message concisely. For SEO, staying within meta description limits ensures search engines display your full description.

Professional writers, marketers, and social media managers use character counters daily to optimise their content for different platforms and audiences.

Frequently Asked Questions

How does the character counter work?

Type or paste your text into the text box. The counter updates instantly, showing total characters, characters without spaces, words, sentences, and lines.

What is the difference between characters and characters without spaces?

"Characters" counts every character including spaces, tabs, and line breaks. "Characters without spaces" counts only visible characters - letters, numbers, and punctuation.

What is the Twitter/X character limit?

Twitter/X has a 280 character limit for standard posts. Use our character counter to check your text fits within the limit before posting.

Can I use this as a letter counter?

Yes, our character counter works as a letter counter too. It counts every letter, number, space, and punctuation mark, and also shows the count without spaces if you only want to count letters and visible characters.

Need a Full Notepad?

Write, save, and organise your notes with our free online notepad. Or try our word counter and free to-do list.

Open Notepad