IndexFlow
Free Character Counter

Character Counter with Platform Limits

Live character count with Twitter, meta description, Instagram, LinkedIn, and SMS limits.

0

Characters

0

No spaces

0

Letters

0

Digits

0

Punctuation

0

Words

0

Lines

0

UTF-8 bytes

Platform Limits

Twitter/X post0 / 280
Meta description0 / 160
Title tag0 / 60
Facebook post (truncated)0 / 477
LinkedIn headline0 / 220
Instagram caption0 / 2200
YouTube description0 / 5000
SMS0 / 160

What You Get

Live Character Count

Updates instantly with separate counts for letters, digits, punctuation, lines, and bytes.

Platform Limit Bars

See live progress bars for Twitter, meta tags, Instagram, LinkedIn, SMS — color flips red at limit.

UTF-8 Byte Count

Critical for SMS (160-byte limit) and database VARCHAR(N) sizing.

Includes Punctuation Breakdown

Spot overuse of exclamation marks or quotes that can hurt readability.

Privacy First

Runs in your browser. Nothing transmitted, logged, or stored anywhere.

SEO Length Check

Make sure your title tag is under 60 chars and meta description under 160 — Google truncates beyond that.

Why Character Limits Matter

Almost every platform truncates content at a fixed character or pixel limit. Run over and your message gets cut mid-sentence — losing the call-to-action, the brand name, or the punchline.

For SEO, the two limits that matter most are title tags (50-60 chars) and meta descriptions (140-160 chars). Going over means Google cuts your text in search results — and the part it cuts is usually your brand name. See exactly how it'll look with our SERP Preview Tool.

Once your content is published with the right character counts, make sure Google actually indexes it with IndexFlow's Index Checker.

Frequently Asked Questions

What's the maximum character count for a meta description?

Google displays approximately 160 characters of a meta description on desktop and slightly less on mobile (~120). Anything beyond gets truncated with '…'. The tool flags red when you cross the limit.

Why are characters and bytes different?

Standard ASCII characters (a-z, 0-9, punctuation) take 1 byte. Accented characters, emoji, and non-Latin scripts can take 2-4 bytes in UTF-8. SMS providers charge per byte, not per character — that's why a single emoji can split your SMS into multiple parts.

Why does Twitter say I have fewer characters than this tool?

Twitter counts URLs as 23 characters regardless of actual length, and emoji as 2 characters. Our raw count shows the actual character total — useful for content where Twitter's special handling doesn't apply.

Is my text saved anywhere?

No. The tool runs entirely in your browser. Your text never leaves your device — safe for confidential drafts.

What's the ideal title tag character count for SEO?

Aim for 50-60 characters. Google truncates at roughly 580 pixels (which works out to 50-60 chars on average), and shorter titles often have better click-through rates.

Get Your Pages Indexed by Google

Perfect character counts mean nothing if Google never indexes your page.