Toolsel

Character Counter

Runs in your browser

Count characters with and without spaces, against common platform limits.

Text

Words

0

Characters

0

Characters (no spaces)

0

Sentences

0

Paragraphs

0

Lines

0

Reading time

0 sec

Speaking time

0 sec

What is a Character Counter?

Character count matters wherever a system enforces a hard limit: a meta description that Google truncates around 155-160 characters, a form field capped at 255, a social post with a fixed ceiling. Unlike word count, character count is exact — there's no ambiguity about what counts as one unit, which makes it the number to check right before you hit submit.

This tool reports two numbers because "with spaces" and "without spaces" answer different questions. A platform's character limit almost always counts spaces (it's counting bytes sent, not linguistic content), so that's the number to check against a limit. The space-free count is more useful for comparing the actual density of text between two drafts.

How to use it

  1. Paste or type your text.
  2. The character count is highlighted; characters without spaces sits alongside it.
  3. Check the count against whatever limit you're working within — the full stat grid below also shows word and sentence counts for context.

Frequently asked questions

Does this count emoji correctly?
Most emoji are counted the way JavaScript's string length counts them, which can differ from how a given platform counts them internally — some emoji are made of multiple Unicode code points (skin-tone modifiers, ZWJ sequences like a family emoji) and platforms vary in whether they count those as one character or several. For platforms with a strict limit, treat the count here as a close estimate rather than the platform's exact number.
Why do spaces matter for a character limit?
Because platform limits are almost always defined on the raw text a user submits, spaces included — a tweet, an SMS, and a meta description are all measured that way. The space-free count exists for comparing text density, not for checking against a platform limit.
What is a typical meta description length?
Google generally displays up to roughly 155-160 characters before truncating with an ellipsis, though the exact cutoff varies by device and can change without notice. Aiming for under 155 keeps the description intact across most search results.