How do I count characters in my text?
Paste or type into the box. There is no button to press: the character count, the count without spaces, the word count, and the line count all update live on every keystroke, and Clear resets the box for the next text.
Is this character counter free?
Yes, with no signup and no length cap that costs money. It is a small script running in your browser tab, so it also works offline once the page has loaded.
Does it count words too?
Yes. Words are counted as whitespace-separated groups, alongside the two character figures and the line count. For deeper text stats such as sentences and paragraphs, the separate word counter tool reports those as well.
What is the character limit on X?
The standard limit is 280 characters for most accounts, with longer posts available to subscribers. X counts most characters as one but weights some, including emoji, as two, so for a plain-text post this counter matches and for an emoji-heavy one it will read slightly low.
Is there a limit on how much text I can paste?
No practical one. The counter recomputes a few numbers on each change, which stays instant even with a book chapter in the box, and because nothing is uploaded there is no server limit to hit.
Does it work on a phone?
Yes. The page runs in any mobile browser, so you can paste a caption or bio on your phone and watch the counts update as you trim it.
Why does an emoji add 2 to the count?
The counter uses the string length, and JavaScript stores text as UTF-16. Characters outside the basic plane, which includes almost every emoji, are stored as two code units. Composed emoji such as flags and family groups are built from several of those plus joiners, which is why one visible glyph can add 8.
Does this match the character limit on X or LinkedIn?
Not always. Those platforms apply their own weighting, and some scripts and emoji count for more than one unit in their scheme. For plain Latin text with no emoji, this count and theirs agree.
Do spaces and line breaks count?
Yes, in the Characters figure. Each space, tab, and line break is a character. The second field, Characters (no spaces), removes all of them, which is the figure most word-limit rules for essays and abstracts mean.
Can I use it for a meta description or title tag?
You can, but treat it as a guide. Search engines cut on rendered width, so a title of 60 wide characters can truncate where a title of 65 narrow ones does not. The count keeps you in the right range, it does not guarantee the snippet.
Is my text stored or logged?
No. Everything is computed inside the page as you type. Nothing is sent anywhere, so a private bio, a password hint, or a confidential message never leaves the tab.