TextCountify is a free social media character counter that checks your post, caption or bio against the limits on X, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube and more. Paste your text, pick a platform and see how many characters you have left. There is no signup, and your text stays in your browser.
Social media character limits run from about 80 characters for a Snapchat caption to 63,206 for a Facebook post. X allows 280 (25,000 on Premium), Bluesky 300, Threads 500, Instagram 2,200, LinkedIn 3,000 and YouTube descriptions 5,000. TikTok is 2,200 through its API and 4,000 in the app. What readers see before "see more" is usually much shorter, so your first line matters more than the limit.
Need the full details for one network? Each platform has its own counter, with every field and limit explained.
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Here are the limits for all 12 platforms in one place, next to the point where each feed cuts your text off. The last column tells you how far to trust each number. Checked October 2026.
| Platform | Post or caption limit | Visible before "more" | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| X (free) | 280 | Full post | Published |
| X (Premium) | 25,000 | About 280, then "show more" | Published limit, observed fold |
| 2,200 | About 125 | Published limit, observed fold | |
| 3,000 | About 140 mobile, 210 desktop | Published limit, observed fold | |
| TikTok | 2,200 via API, 4,000 in app* | Roughly 55 to 100, about 1 to 2 lines | API published, in-app reported |
| 63,206 | About 125 to 480, line based | Reported, Meta publishes none | |
| YouTube | 5,000 (description), 100 (title) | About 100 to 157 characters | Published limit, observed fold |
| 800 (Pins and ads), 100 (title)** | Not shown in feeds; organic Pins show it up close | Published | |
| Snapchat | About 80 (caption) | Not applicable | Reported |
| Threads | 500 | About 100 to 175, line based | Published limit, observed fold |
| Bluesky | 300 graphemes | Full post | Published |
| 300 (title), 40,000 (text post) | Varies | Reported | |
| Discord | 2,000 (4,000 with Nitro) | Not applicable | Published |
Published means the platform documents the number in its own help pages, API reference or schema. Observed means a feed fold that people have measured, which changes with device and screen size. Reported means many sources agree but the platform itself publishes nothing. Bio, username and other profile limits are on each platform page.
*TikTok does not state an in-app limit in its help pages. The 2,200 figure comes from its Content Posting API, and 4,000 is reported for captions typed in the app.
**Pinterest's Pin specs and ad specs pages both say to enter up to 800 characters for a description, and 100 for a title. Many third-party guides, and one Pinterest marketing page, still say 500, which appears to be the older limit. The same Pinterest pages state that descriptions do not appear in the home feed or search feed, and ads do not show them at all.
The tightest limit is Snapchat captions at about 80 characters. Among the big public post formats, X comes next at 280 on a free account, then Bluesky at 300 and Threads at 500. At the other end, Facebook posts reach 63,206, Reddit text posts 40,000 and X Premium posts 25,000. Mastodon is a special case because each server sets its own limit, with 500 as the usual default.
A big ceiling does not mean a big audience. Every one of those long posts still gets folded behind "see more" after a few lines.
A limit is only half the story. The other half is what counts as one character. Plain letters, digits and punctuation count once almost everywhere. Emoji, links and styled text are where platforms disagree.
| Platform | How it counts | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| X | Weighted count | Every link costs 23 characters. Most emoji cost 2. Many Chinese, Japanese and Korean characters cost 2. Attached media costs 0. |
| Bluesky | Graphemes, plus a byte cap | 300 graphemes and 3,000 bytes, whichever you hit first. One emoji is one grapheme. The official app shortens long link text before counting, while apps that use the API count a link exactly as typed. |
| Characters | 2,200 per caption, with up to 5 hashtags per post or reel since December 2025. | |
| TikTok | UTF-16 units (API) | Video captions 2,200. Photo posts allow a 90 character title and a 4,000 character description. The in-app counter may differ, so test before relying on it. |
| YouTube | Characters and bytes | Titles are 100 characters. The API rejects descriptions over 5,000 bytes, so emoji and non-Latin text use the space faster. |
Emoji are where counts differ most. A rocket emoji is one symbol on screen but 2 UTF-16 units. A family emoji is 1 grapheme, 7 code points and 11 UTF-16 units. Bluesky counts it as 1 and X counts it as 2. Bold and italic letters pasted into posts are special Unicode characters, so on X each one counts as 2 and on Bluesky each counts as 1. For counts of emoji, spaces and bytes in any text, use the Character Counter.
A quick heads up: a plain character count and a platform's own count can differ for emoji, links and styled text. When you are close to a limit, use the table above and leave a little headroom. For rules on one network, see the X character counter, the Bluesky character counter, the YouTube character counter or the TikTok character counter.
Every feed has two numbers. The first is the most you can post. The second is how much readers see before the feed folds your text behind "see more." The second number is the one that decides who actually reads your post.
Instagram shows about 125 characters of a caption. LinkedIn shows about 140 on mobile and 210 on desktop, usually 3 lines on a phone and 5 on a computer. Facebook folds long posts anywhere from roughly 125 to 480 characters depending on the device. TikTok captions sit over the video, so only a line or two shows. On YouTube, search results show roughly the first 100 to 157 characters of a description.
Here is the catch. Almost no platform publishes these fold points. LinkedIn, Meta and TikTok all leave them out, so every number above is observed rather than official, and it shifts with screen and line breaks. A hook split into one short line at a time can fold early because it runs out of lines before it runs out of characters. Put the strongest sentence first, then check a long post on a phone.
Knowing the cap is easy. Knowing what works is harder, because the studies do not agree. Treat these as starting points to test, not rules.
| Platform | Ranges reported | Why it is not one number |
|---|---|---|
| X | 71 to 100, 240 to 259 | Different studies, different years and accounts |
| Instagram caption | 80 to 150, or 138 to 150 | Vendor studies, mostly engagement on short captions |
| 700 to 1,200, or 1,300 to 2,000 | Older studies favored longer posts | |
| TikTok | 150 to 300 | Search and keywords matter more than raw length |
| 220 to 232 | One research source, tied to search | |
| 40 to 80, 100 to 250, or 300 to 500 | Personal posts and Pages behave differently |
The one rule that holds everywhere is simple: earn the click in the first line.
If the same idea is shared on several networks, work from the tightest limit upward. It saves a lot of trimming.
Yes, and platforms rarely announce it. X moved from 140 to 280 characters in November 2017, offered 4,000 to paying subscribers in 2023, and now allows 25,000 on paid plans. TikTok captions are reported to have grown from 300 to 2,200 and then 4,000. Threads added its 10,000 character text attachment in 2025. That is why old cheat sheets contradict new ones, and why every table on this page carries a date.
Each number is checked against the platform first: help pages, API references and technical schemas. A figure from a platform document is tagged Published. A feed fold that people have measured is tagged Observed. A number that many sources repeat but the platform never states is tagged Reported. Where a platform publishes nothing, that is stated instead of guessing.
The date at the top shows when the table was last checked. Spotted something that looks wrong? Report it on the contact page.
Counting happens in the browser. Text is not sent to a server. If Recent texts is used, the last five drafts are saved in the browser's local storage until cleared. A share link places the text inside the link itself, so use it only for text that is safe to share.
Quick answers about TextCountify and social media character limits.
X allows 280 characters (25,000 on Premium), Bluesky 300, Threads 500, Instagram 2,200, LinkedIn 3,000, Facebook 63,206 and Pinterest 800 for pin descriptions. YouTube allows 100 for titles and 5,000 for descriptions, Reddit 300 for titles, Discord 2,000 and Snapchat about 80 for captions. TikTok is 2,200 through its API and 4,000 in the app. The table above shows how reliable each number is.
Snapchat captions are the shortest at about 80 characters, which is widely reported but not published by Snapchat. Among major public post formats, X is next at 280, then Bluesky at 300. Facebook is the highest at 63,206, a widely cited figure that Meta does not publish. Reddit post bodies reach 40,000 and X Premium reaches 25,000.
Feeds fold long text behind a "see more" link long before the maximum. Where the fold falls depends on the device, screen width and line breaks, and most platforms do not publish it. Roughly 125 characters show on Instagram, and LinkedIn shows about 140 on mobile and 210 on desktop.
No. X counts every link as 23 characters and most emoji as 2. Bluesky counts graphemes, so an emoji is 1, and its official app shortens long link text before counting. Other networks differ, so check each platform page.
Both are true in different places. TikTok's Content Posting API caps a video caption at 2,200, which is what many scheduling tools follow. The 4,000 figure is reported for captions typed in the app, but TikTok's help pages do not state it. If posts are scheduled, stay under 2,200.
There is no single answer, because studies disagree. Short posts often win on X and Facebook, while LinkedIn and TikTok reward longer ones when the first line earns the click. Start inside the visible fold, then test what the audience does.
Irregularly, and platforms rarely announce it. X moved from 140 to 280 in 2017 and its paid limit has grown since. TikTok's caption limit is reported to have grown from 300 to 2,200 and then 4,000, and Threads added a 10,000 character text attachment in 2025.
Every figure is tagged as Published, Observed or Reported. Published means the platform documents it in its help pages, API reference or schema. Observed means a feed fold that people have measured. Reported means many sources agree but the platform publishes nothing. The table carries the date it was last checked.
No. Counting happens in the browser and text is not sent to a server. If Recent texts is used, the last five drafts stay in the browser's local storage until cleared. A share link puts the text inside the link itself, so only create one for text that is safe to share.
Yes. TextCountify is free, with no signup, no account and no premium tier.
