Character counter
Paste or type your text: characters with and without spaces update as you go.
Characters, spaces included
0
0 without spaces
The total shows here from the first keystroke.
Spaces and breaks
0
Lines
0
Words
0
Bytes (UTF-8)
0
0 UTF-16 units
SMS
0 SMS · GSM 7-bit
160 characters per SMS in GSM 7-bit
Character counter with and without spaces
This character counter gives, as soon as you paste or type a text, its number of characters with and without spaces in large type in the result box, plus its lines, words, size in bytes and the number of text messages it fills. Example: "Café à 3 € !" counts 12 characters with spaces and 8 without, and weighs 16 bytes in UTF-8, because é, à and € each take more than one byte. Type the limit of a form in the field at the top of the tool, such as 1,500 characters for a French job application or a CAF online form, and a gauge shows what is left. Three more gauges follow the limits of X (280), Instagram (2,200) and LinkedIn (3,000). Everything is worked out in your browser. The main limit: each platform may count emoji and line breaks its own way, so keep a small margin.
With or without spaces, and what a character is
The total with spaces counts everything that takes up room: letters, digits, punctuation, spaces, tabs and line breaks. It is the figure most forms and social networks ask for, and what French instructions mean by espaces compris. The total without spaces (sans espaces) removes every blank, non-breaking spaces and line breaks included; translators and copywriters paid per character in France often use it.
The counter counts characters the way you see them, as graphemes, using the Unicode Consortium's segmentation rules (annex UAX #29) built into your browser. An é typed as a letter plus a combining accent, a compound emoji (family, skin tone) or a flag each count as one. The size in bytes is that of the text encoded in UTF-8: an unaccented letter weighs 1 byte, an accented letter 2, the euro sign 3 and an emoji at least 4. To count words and reading time instead, use the word counter with reading time.
Character limits on X, Instagram and LinkedIn
X caps a post at 280 characters for a standard account, but not every character weighs the same: its developer documentation says Latin letters, punctuation and common symbols count as 1, any emoji as 2 whatever its complexity, a Chinese, Japanese or Korean character as 2, and any web address as 23, since t.co shortens it. The X gauge applies this weighted count, so it can exceed the plain character total.
LinkedIn states in its help centre that a post can hold up to 3,000 characters. For Instagram, Meta's API documentation sets a caption at 2,200 characters at most, with 30 hashtags and 20 mentions. Both gauges use characters with spaces; how each app counts emoji is not published, so keep a margin. For a page's meta description, Google says there is no length limit and the snippet is cut as needed for the device, which is why there is no gauge for it.
Text messages in France: 160 characters, or 70 with some accents
A standard SMS uses the GSM 7-bit alphabet and holds 160 characters. Beyond that, the message is split into parts of 153 characters, because each part keeps a few bytes to be stitched back together. If the text holds a single character outside that alphabet, the whole message switches to Unicode (UCS-2): 70 characters for one SMS, then 67 per part. An emoji then takes two positions.
This matters when you text in French. The GSM alphabet includes é, è, à, ù and ì, but not ê, â, î, ô, û, ë, ï, a lower-case ç or œ, nor the curly apostrophe phones often insert instead of the straight one. The signs €, [, ], {, }, \, ^, ~ and | sit in an extension table and count as two. How many messages you pay for then depends on your French mobile operator or sending platform. To fill a mock-up with text of the right length, try the lorem ipsum placeholder text generator.
Frequently asked questions
Why does an emoji count as 1 here but 2 on another site?
Many counters measure the internal JavaScript string length, where one emoji takes two units and a family or a flag many more. This counter splits text the way you read it, into graphemes following the Unicode UAX #29 rules, so an emoji, a flag or an accented letter typed with a combining accent counts as one. Platforms may still apply their own rule: X counts every emoji as two.
My French text message is short, so why is it billed as two SMS?
It probably holds a character missing from the GSM 7-bit alphabet: ê, â, ç, œ, a curly apostrophe or an emoji. The whole message then switches to Unicode, which allows 70 characters in a single SMS and 67 per part beyond that. The counter lists the characters responsible: swap the curly apostrophe for a straight one, or ê for e, to get back to 160.
A French application form allows 1,500 characters, spaces included: which total do I use?
The large figure, characters with spaces: it includes letters, punctuation, spaces and line breaks, which is what French forms mean by espaces compris. Type 1,500 in the limit field at the top of the tool and a gauge shows what is left, then how far over you are. Keep about ten characters of margin, as some sites count a line break as two characters.
Do line breaks count as characters?
Yes. A line break is one character in the total with spaces, like a space or a tab, and it is removed from the total without spaces. Most online forms count it the same way. In a text message it takes one position of the GSM alphabet. The counter also shows the number of lines, which helps when a text has to fit line by line.
Why is the size in bytes larger than the number of characters?
Because in UTF-8, the web's encoding defined by the WHATWG Encoding Standard, only basic characters such as unaccented letters, digits and common punctuation fit in 1 byte. An accented letter takes 2, the euro sign 3 and an emoji at least 4. A French text of 1,000 characters therefore often weighs 1,030 to 1,060 bytes, which matters for a database field limited in bytes.
Sources
- Unicode Consortium, UAX #29: Unicode Text Segmentation, page read on 27 October 2026.
- WHATWG, Encoding Standard, page read on 27 October 2026.
- W3C, Character encodings for beginners, page read on 27 October 2026.
- Google Search Central, How to write meta descriptions, page read on 27 October 2026.
- X Help Center, How to post, page read on 27 October 2026.
- X Developer Platform, Counting characters, page read on 27 October 2026.
- LinkedIn Help, Post and share updates, page read on 27 October 2026.
- Meta for Developers, Instagram Graph API, IG User Media (caption parameter), page read on 27 October 2026.
More tools: text and keyboard
- Word counterWords, sentences, paragraphs and reading time of a text.
- Password generatorA random password or passphrase, and how strong it is.
- Lorem ipsum generatorPlaceholder text in paragraphs, sentences or words, to copy.
- Typing speed testWords per minute and accuracy on an English or French text.
- All 75tools toolsPDF, images, QR codes, documents, calculators, timer and text.