Character counter for social media posts
Count a post against X, Bluesky, Threads, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest and Facebook at once, with X’s weighted count. Free; nothing is sent.
By Mellow · UpdatedCount your post
Fits every network below. One link found: X counts each as 23.
- X219 / 280Weighted the way X counts: a link is 23, and an emoji or a Chinese, Japanese or Korean character is 2.
- Bluesky211 / 300Counted in graphemes, as Bluesky does: an emoji is one, however it is built.
- Threads214 / 500Counted as Threads does: an emoji is its size in UTF-8 bytes, so 👇 is 4.
- Pinterest212 / 500The Pin description, as Mellow Hub checks it. Pinterest itself allows 800. The title is separate: up to 100.
- Instagram212 / 2,200
- TikTok212 / 2,200
- LinkedIn212 / 3,000
- YouTube212 / 5,000The video description. The title is separate: up to 100 characters.
- Facebook212 / 63,206
Counted exactly as Mellow Hub checks a post before sending it: X, Threads and Bluesky the way each of them counts, the others in UTF-16 units. The limits are the ones Hub checks before it sends a post. Where a network’s own number differs, the table below says so.
How long can a post be on each network?
X allows 280 weighted characters, Bluesky 300, Threads 500, Instagram and TikTok captions 2,200, LinkedIn 3,000 and Facebook 63,206. The same words can fit one network and be refused by the next, so count a post against all of them before you cross-post it. Paste it above: every network is counted at once, and X is counted with its own weights.
The limits, network by network
| Network | Mellow Hub checks | Title | The network’s own number |
|---|---|---|---|
| X | 280 | — | 280 weighted; X Premium subscribers up to 25,000 |
| Bluesky | 300, required | — | 300 graphemes (Unicode grapheme clusters) |
| Threads | 500 | — | 500, with an emoji counted as its UTF-8 bytes; no more than 5 links |
| 500 | 100 | Description 800, title 100 | |
| 2,200 | — | 2,200 through the API; the Help Center gives no figure. Up to 5 hashtags | |
| TikTok | 2,200 | 90 | 2,200 through the API; TikTok’s help gives no figure for the app |
| 3,000, required | — | 3,000 | |
| YouTube | 5,000 | 100, required | Title 100, description 5,000 |
| 63,206 | — | Meta publishes no figure; 63,206 is the number reported elsewhere, and the one Hub checks |
The middle columns are the limits Mellow Hub checks before it sends a post, generated from the same registry as its validator and the rules for every network; TikTok Business follows TikTok’s. The last column is what each network publishes, linked to its own page, read on 1 October 2026. They differ in three places: X Premium subscribers can write far more than 280, which Hub cannot see, so it reports anything longer rather than sending it; Pinterest now allows 800 characters in a description where Hub still checks 500; and Meta publishes no limit for Facebook posts at all.
How each is counted: X weighs characters, a link 23 and an emoji or CJK character 2; Threads counts an emoji as its UTF-8 bytes; Bluesky counts graphemes, what you see; the rest count UTF-16 units, in which most emoji take 2.
Three ways a count goes wrong
- Links on X. A 90-character link counts as 23 on X, and a 12-character one counts as 23 too. Counters that ignore this are wrong in both directions.
- Emoji. A thumbs-up with a skin tone is one symbol on screen, two to four units in most counters and one on Bluesky. A post full of emoji can be under the limit in one counter and over it in another.
- Styled letters. Bold and italic letters made with a text formatter are two units each, so a styled post reaches LinkedIn’s limit sooner than it looks.
Questions
How many characters can a post have on each network?
In Mellow Hub: X 280 (weighted), Bluesky 300, Threads 500, Pinterest 500 for the description, Instagram and TikTok 2,200, LinkedIn 3,000, YouTube 5,000 for the description and Facebook 63,206. These are the limits Hub checks before it sends a post.
Why does X count my post as longer than it looks?
X weighs characters. Letters, digits and most punctuation count 1; an emoji or a Chinese, Japanese or Korean character counts 2; and every link counts 23, however long or short, because X replaces it with a shortened link. The counter applies the same rules.
Why is an emoji two characters in some counters, and four on Threads?
Most emoji sit outside the range a single UTF-16 unit can hold, so they take two units, and joined emoji such as families or flags take more. Web text boxes, and Mellow Hub for most networks, count those units. Bluesky counts what you see, one per emoji; X gives every emoji a weight of 2; and Threads counts an emoji as the bytes it takes in UTF-8, so a pointing hand is 4.
Do spaces and line breaks count?
Yes. Every space and line break counts as one character on every network in the table.
Is my text saved or sent anywhere?
No. The counter runs in this page. Your text is not sent to Mellow or anyone else, and refreshing the page brings back the example.
Write once, fit every network, publish in one go
Mellow Hub sends one post to up to nine networks. When a caption is too long for one of them, give that network its own version, or let the composer shorten it; Hub checks every limit before anything is sent and names each problem with its network. The free post checker runs the same checks on media counts and titles too.
See how Mellow Hub cross-postsThis tool is free and needs no account. Mellow Hub is paid, after a 7-day free trial, and publishes only what you, or an assistant you have authorised, send or schedule.
More free tools
- LinkedIn text formatter: Bold, italic, underlined text and bullet lists for LinkedIn posts, with a preview of where the post folds.
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- Carousel maker: Type one idea per slide and get designed carousel slides: PNGs for Instagram or a PDF LinkedIn shows as a document.
- YouTube thumbnail tester: See a thumbnail in YouTube’s home feed, search and sidebar at their real sizes, then export it at 1280×720 under 2 MB.
- Instagram grid maker: Split one image into 3, 6, 9 or 12 posts that line up on your profile, numbered in the order to post them.
- Instagram carousel splitter: Cut a wide image into seamless carousel slides at 4:5, 3:4 or 1:1, ready to swipe.
- Social media post checker: Check caption, title and media count against Mellow Hub’s input rules for each destination.