Character Counter
Count characters, words, sentences and reading time as you type — and see live whether your text fits an X post, an Instagram bio, a meta description or a single SMS.
Will it fit?
Counted live against the limits people actually write to. The number under each bar is how much room is left.
Social
Search & SEO
Messaging & email
What would you like to do next?
About Character Counter
Confileo's Character Counter tool counts characters as you type and shows live whether the text fits each platform limit. Everything runs in your browser, free and without signup, and your files are deleted automatically after processing.
Almost nobody counts characters out of curiosity. They count because something has a limit: a post that has to fit in 280, a bio capped at 150, a meta description that gets truncated in the search result, an SMS that becomes two messages and costs twice as much at 161. So this page does not stop at the number — it shows the count live against the limits people actually write to, with the room remaining on each one, which is the question behind the count.
What counts as one character is less obvious than it looks, and getting it wrong is why two counters can disagree about the same text. A program's default measure is the UTF-16 code unit, under which an emoji counts as two and a family emoji with skin tones can count as eleven. This page counts grapheme clusters instead — what a person would point at and call a character — using the browser's own Intl.Segmenter. For plain English the two agree exactly; for anything with emoji, accents or non-Latin script, the grapheme count is the one that matches what you see.
Alongside the character count you get characters excluding spaces, words, sentences, paragraphs, lines, and reading and speaking time. Characters-without-spaces is the measure some academic and translation work is priced on. Sentence counting treats a trailing fragment with no full stop as a sentence, because a writer would — a heading is a sentence even without a terminator.
The limits are grouped by where they apply. Social covers X, Instagram bio and caption, TikTok bio and caption, LinkedIn headline, About and post, and YouTube title and description. Search covers the page title Google will display at around 60 characters and the meta description at around 160 — both are really pixel-width limits, so treat those numbers as the safe line rather than a hard cut. The rest covers a single SMS segment at 160 and an email subject line, which most clients truncate around 60 on mobile.
Everything updates as you type, and nothing you paste leaves your browser. That matters more here than on most tools, because the text people count is often something they have not published yet — a draft post, a client's copy, an unsent message. There is no upload, no account and no server involved in the counting.
If your text is long enough that words are the unit you care about, the word counter is the same tool with the emphasis the other way round.
Quick facts
- Price
- Free — no paywall
- Signup
- Not required
- Max file size
- Up to 100 MB per file
- Your files
- Deleted automatically after processing
- Works on
- Any browser — desktop, tablet, mobile
- Watermark
- None on your output
How to use Character Counter
- 1Paste or type your text into the box.
- 2Read the character count, and the words, sentences and reading time alongside it.
- 3Check the limit cards to see how much room is left in a post, bio, meta description or SMS.
Why use Confileo
- ✓100% free with no daily limits, watermarks or hidden paywalls.
- ✓No signup or account required — start using it instantly.
- ✓Your files are processed securely and deleted automatically for full privacy.
- ✓Works in any browser on desktop, tablet and mobile — nothing to install.
- ✓Fast processing built to handle real, everyday document workloads.
Character Counter — Frequently asked questions
Do emoji count as one character?
Here they do. Most counters measure UTF-16 code units, under which an emoji counts as two and a family emoji with skin tones can count as eleven. This page counts grapheme clusters — what a person would call a character — so the number matches what you see. For plain English both methods agree exactly.
How many characters is a tweet?
280 for a standard X post. The live card shows how many you have left as you type. Instagram bios are 150, TikTok bios 80, LinkedIn headlines 220 and a single SMS segment 160 — go one character over that last one and it is billed as two messages.
How long should a meta description be?
Around 160 characters is the safe line, and a page title around 60. Both are really pixel-width limits rather than character counts, so treat those figures as a guide: a title of wide capitals truncates sooner than one of narrow lowercase letters.
Is my text uploaded anywhere?
No. All counting happens in your browser — there is no upload, no account and no server involved. That matters here because the text people count is usually something unpublished: a draft post, a client's copy, an unsent message.
Is this tool really free?
Yes. Every Confileo tool is free to use with no daily caps, no watermark on your output and no credit card required.
Do I need to create an account?
No. You can use the tool straight away without signing up or logging in.
Are my files safe and private?
Yes. Your files are processed for the task you requested and then deleted automatically — they are never shared or kept.
Does it work on my phone?
Yes. The tool runs in any modern browser, so it works the same on desktop, tablet and mobile with nothing to install.