Count characters, words, sentences for social media and SEO
A character counter tallies characters, words, sentences, and paragraphs in a block of text — with and without spaces. It's used to stay within limits on social platforms, SEO title tags and meta descriptions, form fields, and academic or professional word-count requirements.
Character count (no spaces) = Character count (with spaces) − number of space characters
| Calculation | Expression | Result |
|---|---|---|
| X/Twitter post limit | 280 characters | with spaces |
| Instagram bio limit | 150 characters | with spaces |
| SEO title display | ~50-60 characters | before truncation |
| Meta description display | ~150-160 characters | before truncation |
Most platforms count spaces as characters, including X/Twitter's 280-character limit and Google's meta description display length. This calculator shows both counts (with and without spaces) so you can check either.
Standard posts on X are limited to 280 characters, including spaces, punctuation, and links (links are counted as a fixed short length regardless of actual URL length).
There's no hard character limit, but Google typically displays around 50-60 characters (roughly 580 pixels) before truncating with an ellipsis. Keep the most important keywords near the start.
Aim for roughly 150-160 characters. Google may show more or less depending on the device and query, but descriptions longer than about 160 characters usually get cut off.
Word count is determined by splitting text on whitespace (spaces, tabs, line breaks) and counting the resulting chunks, so hyphenated words and contractions typically count as one word each.