Every platform you publish on enforces a character limit, and exceeding it silently truncates your message or blocks the post entirely. Knowing the exact social media character limits, meta description length and SMS rules saves you from cut-off tweets, hidden calls to action and doubled SMS bills.
Social media character limits
| Platform | Limit | What is actually visible |
|---|---|---|
| X (Twitter) | 280 characters | Full post for free accounts; Premium allows up to 25,000 |
| Instagram caption | 2,200 characters | About 125 before the "more" link |
| LinkedIn post | 3,000 characters | About 140 before "see more" |
| Facebook post | 63,206 characters | Under 80 usually earns better engagement |
| TikTok caption | 2,200 characters | About 90 visible on mobile |
| YouTube title | 100 characters | About 60 shown in search results |
| SMS segment | 160 characters | Only 70 if you use emoji or accents |
One quirk to remember: on X every link counts as exactly 23 characters regardless of its real length, so a long tracking URL does not eat your 280. Instagram and TikTok count hashtags and mention handles as ordinary characters, so five long hashtags can consume 100 characters on their own.
Meta descriptions and title tags
Google does not publish hard character limits, but it truncates by pixel width. In practice a meta description between 140 and 160 characters (aim for about 155) is fully displayed on desktop, and a title tag of 50 to 60 characters avoids being cut. Writing deliberately to 155 characters keeps your call to action visible in the search snippet.
SMS: 160 characters per segment
A standard SMS uses the GSM-7 alphabet and fits 160 characters in one segment. As soon as you add an emoji or an accented character (é, ñ, ü), the message switches to UCS-2 and the limit collapses to 70 characters per segment. Longer texts are split and billed separately, so a 200-character message is charged as two.
Why exact counting matters
- Truncated posts hide the link or the punchline.
- A cut meta description loses its call to action in search results.
- Every extra SMS segment costs money and can double your spend.
How to count quickly
- Draft your copy in a plain text editor.
- Paste it into the character counter, which updates characters, words and sentences as you type.
- Trim until you land just under the limit for your platform.
If you also need to know how long that text takes to read aloud, for a video script or a podcast, see our guide on how long it takes to read 1,000 words.