X character counter
X does not charge one for every character. A link costs 23 whatever its length, an emoji costs 2, and so does each Chinese, Japanese or Korean character. This counter follows the same rules as X's own counting code, so the number below is the one that decides whether your post fits in 280.
0 / 280
280 left
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How X counts
- Most characters count as 1
- Letters, numbers, punctuation, spaces and line breaks are 1 each. That covers the Latin alphabet and also Greek, Cyrillic, Arabic, Hebrew, Thai and the Indic scripts.
- Every link counts as 23
- X swaps each link for a t.co address of a fixed length, so a link costs 23 whether it is 12 characters long or 200. A bare address such as example.com counts as a link too, with no https:// in front.
- Every emoji counts as 2
- One emoji is 2 however it is built: a flag, a skin tone, or a family joined together from several faces.
- Chinese, Japanese and Korean count as 2
- Each character in those scripts is 2, which makes the real limit 140 of them. A few common symbols are 2 as well, including the ellipsis (β¦), the bullet (β’), arrows and the euro sign (β¬).
- An accented letter counts once
- X counts the composed form of a letter, so Γ© is 1 whether your keyboard sent it as one character or as an e followed by an accent.
- Photos and reply names are free
- A photo, video or GIF attached in X uses no characters. Nor do the @names X puts at the start of a reply for you. Hashtags and @names you type yourself count like any other text.
Worked examples
| What you type | You count | X counts |
|---|---|---|
| Launch day is here.Plain text is 1 a character. | 19 | 19 |
| Read more: https://example.com/blog/2026/10/our-autumn-menu-is-here?utm_source=xA long link is 23. | 80 | 34 |
| Read more: example.comSo is a short one, with or without https://. | 22 | 34 |
| Launch day πππEach emoji is 2. | 14 | 17 |
| π¨βπ©βπ§βπ¦A family is four emoji joined together, and still 2. | 1 | 2 |
| ζ°γγγ‘γγ₯γΌγε§γΎγγΎγJapanese is 2 a character. | 13 | 26 |
| Waitβ¦ it costs β¬5 β really?The ellipsis, the euro sign and the arrow are 2 each. | 27 | 30 |
Every number in this table is worked out by the counter at the top of the page, so the two always agree.
Questions
- How many characters can a post on X have?
- A standard account can post 280 characters, counted the way this page describes. X Premium accounts can write longer posts.
- Does a link count as 23 characters on X?
- Yes. Every link counts as 23, however long or short it is, because X replaces it with a t.co address of a fixed length.
- Do emoji count as two characters on X?
- Yes. Each emoji counts as 2, including flags, skin tones and joined emoji such as a family.
- Do spaces and line breaks count?
- Yes. A space is 1 and a line break is 1.
- Do hashtags and @mentions count?
- Yes, like any other text. The exception is the @names X adds at the start of a reply for you, which use no characters.
- Do photos and videos use up characters?
- No. Media attached in X itself counts as 0.
- How do I know this matches X?
- The counter is a port of twitter-text, the open-source library X publishes for counting posts and tells developers to use. It is checked against that library's own test suite and against 20,000 generated posts. It departs from the library's last release in one way: emoji added since 2020 count as one emoji here, as they do on X.
- Is anything I type stored?
- No. The counting happens in your browser and the text is not sent anywhere. It is kept in this tab so a refresh does not lose it, and it is gone when you close the tab.
Also here: Bluesky character counter, and the limits for every platform.
Once it fits, see how it will look in the feed.
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