When do you need a character counter?
Social media platforms, SMS messages, and SEO meta tags all enforce character limits. Twitter caps posts at 280 characters, Instagram bios at 150, and Google typically displays around 155–160 characters for meta descriptions. A reliable character counter helps you stay within bounds while crafting the most impactful message possible.
Characters vs bytes
A single character can occupy more than one byte in UTF-8 encoding. Accented letters, emoji, and CJK characters may use 2–4 bytes each. If you are working with systems that measure storage in bytes — databases, APIs, or file formats — the byte count shown here gives you the accurate figure.
Completely private
All counting is performed in your browser with JavaScript. Nothing you type is transmitted to any server. Your text stays on your device.