WordCountDesk

Your text

| Common limits: Twitter 280 · Meta description 155 · SMS 160 · Instagram caption 2200

Letter density (top 10)

Letter frequency will appear as you type.

What is a Character Counter?

A character counter is a tool that measures the exact number of characters in a piece of text — sometimes with spaces, sometimes without. Unlike a word counter (which measures word count), a character counter focuses on the smallest unit of writing: letters, digits, punctuation and spaces.

Character limits are everywhere online. Twitter's classic 140-character limit has been expanded to 280, but the concept remains. Meta descriptions cap at ~155 characters. SMS messages are limited to 160 characters per segment. Instagram captions max out at 2,200 characters. Yelp reviews, Reddit titles, eBay descriptions — nearly every platform has some kind of limit.

When to use this tool

What's measured

Character vs word counting: which matters?

It depends on the platform. Twitter, SMS and meta descriptions use character limits. Essays, articles and book manuscripts use word limits. Many academic assignments specify both (e.g. "2,000 words ± 10%" or "maximum 15,000 characters").

Our character counter gives you both numbers at once, so you always know where you stand.

Privacy

Everything runs locally in your browser. Your text is never sent to a server, stored or shared. You can use this tool offline once the page has loaded.