Character Counter
Runs entirely in your browser
Count characters as you type and check your text against common limits. Everything happens directly in your browser.
How to use Character Counter
- Type or paste your text into the box.
- See your character count update instantly.
- Pick a limit to check your text against, such as an X post or SMS message.
Features
- Live character count, with and without spaces.
- Word and sentence counts.
- Built-in presets for common character limits, plus a custom limit.
- 100% client-side — your text never leaves your browser.
Example
This sample social post is 158 characters long:
Just shipped a new feature to production after three weeks of testing. Huge thanks to the whole team for the late nights and code reviews. On to the next one!Characters: 158 · No spaces: 129 · Words: 30 · Sentences: 3. Checked against the SMS preset (160), it leaves just 2 characters to spare — checked against the X (Twitter) preset (280), it has 122 characters of room left.
Tips for staying within a limit
- The character count is the raw length of your text, so some emoji and symbols outside the basic character set can count as two characters even though they display as one — if a platform's own counter disagrees slightly with this tool, that's usually why.
- The 160-character SMS preset matches a single standard text message segment using plain letters and numbers. Messages with emoji or accented characters are often encoded differently by carriers, which can lower the real per-segment limit to around 70 characters — something worth checking separately if your message will be sent as SMS.
- Word and sentence counts use the same splitting rules as Word Counter: words are separated by whitespace, and sentences are split on periods, question marks and exclamation marks.
- Switch the dropdown to "Custom…" to check your text against a limit this tool doesn't have built in, such as a form field's maxlength.
Is Character Counter safe?
Yes. Character Counter measures your text's raw length locally, including the emoji-width and SMS-segment quirks covered in the tips above — none of it is uploaded to a server, and nothing persists once you close or refresh the tab.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the character count include spaces?
The main character count includes spaces. A separate count without spaces is also shown.
What limits can I check my text against?
You can check against common presets like X (Twitter) posts, SMS messages and meta descriptions, or enter your own custom limit.
What happens when I go over the limit?
The progress bar turns red and the message shows exactly how many characters you're over by.