Social media character counter: titles and captions within the limit.

2026 character limits at a glance

As of October 25, 2026. Characters visible before “more” are rules of thumb and depend on the device.

Why the preview matters more than the limit

The allowed length is almost always enough. What counts is what people see before “more”. On Instagram that is often just the first two lines in the feed, on LinkedIn about 210 characters on desktop, and for YouTube titles in search and suggestions around 70. Whatever comes after is only read by people who are already curious. So put the important part first: what it is about and why someone should watch, then details, links and hashtags.

Hashtags: less is more

Since December 2025, Instagram has been gradually limiting posts and Reels to 5 hashtags. YouTube ignores all hashtags on a video if there are more than 60. On TikTok, piles of generic hashtags do little too. Two to five relevant hashtags that describe your topic are almost always enough.

Why X counts differently

X uses weighted counting. Letters and punctuation count once, emojis and, for example, Chinese or Japanese characters count twice. Every link counts as 23 characters, however long it is, because X shortens it. A post full of emojis fills up faster than it looks. Without Premium, 280 weighted characters are allowed.

Tips for clip titles and captions

• The title says what happens, not just who is talking.
• The first line of the caption adds to the title instead of repeating it.
• Put links to the full video or stream in the second line.
• Hashtags go at the end, not in the middle of a sentence.
• Go easy on emojis: they count twice on X and often distract in titles.

The tool counts visible characters. An emoji with a skin tone counts as one character, even though it is technically made of several parts. Some platforms count these differently internally, so stay a few characters under the limit when it is tight.